Completed and looking for suggestions on how to better paint the tires and how should I weather the tracks for the rocket launcher. I will not be weathering the tires yet as it will be going into a diorama and I am unsure of the ground cover. But I have to admit... the tires came out awful.

SB
Perhaps you could use a pencil for the contact surfaces on the tracks/rails for the rockets. I'm not overly familiar with the type of vehicle, but I would imagine that the tracks/rails had metal to metal contact with the rockets.

As for the tires, it looks like to me they just need a good weathering. That is once you figure out what your ground conver is going to be. I think once you get that done, they will look like they belong on the vehicle. They will look showroom fresh until that happens.

You've got a good start! Keep us posted on the progress. Looking forward to seeing it in a dio.

Cheers
Dave

Since I read this tip somewhere, Ive used it everytime since with great results. The only thing is, I keep wheels seperate to do it.
Mix some earth colour pastels with thinner to a wet consistency. Brush this mess all over the tire areas, making sure you get plenty between the actual tire-grooves.
When completely dry, brush off again with a light brush (the make-up type).
Then, using your finger, dip it in dry black pastels and rub it over all the surfaces. This darkens the peaks and leaves the previous step visible between the grooves. Looks great and is suitably flat.
The thing I like best is, its natural and and basically fool-proof for top results!

Thanks for the tips and I will use those techniques for sure.

Just a little about the weathering on the main chassis. I used a "salt weathering" technique that I recently read in the FSM Magazine. I found out the color of the primer used for Soviet armor/vehicles which was a zinc oxide. It was Yellow-Greenish in color so I used Tamiya Yellow-Green. I sprayed two coats of that color on the body and let it dry for 24 hours. The next day I used a wet paint brush and added grains of salt in certain areas. You can see where by the pictures. After that dried I sprayed 3 coats of Tamiya Olive Green mixed with a bit of Black-Green and Olive Drab. After that dried I simply wiped off the hardened salt and the primer color was exposed. Three coats of a Black wash gave it some depth and blended in both colors nicely.

The salt weathering technique worked nicely and was rather simple. My only caution would be to use just a little water on the paint brush when you wet the area for the salt. Wet only the area that the grains of salt are going to be placed as the salt melts a little leaving a whitish stain around the edges where the water flowed.