How do you go about painting link tracks?

Do you start by painting them black and then go on to weathering them?

Or do you paint them Gun Metal first instead of black?

Or do you use a totally different base color for them?

Thanks
Hisham

It depends on the tank,when I build WWII German I basecoat them Tamiya Red-Brown and then wether them. I have build a Soviet T-72 basecoated them black and then weathered them,Shermans I basecoated black for the rubber pads and then handpainted the metal using steel. So it depends a lot on the tank and your personel taste.

Depending on the tank, I will paint them a base coat of some sort of dark metallic color. In my years in the Army, I've never seen a flat black track link (except painted spare track on some Iraqi vehicles in 2003). I do use flat black for track blocks if that is appropriate.

I then weather the tracks depending on the intended operational area or the effect I'm trying to achieve.

To do steel tracks, I paint them gunmetal first. Then I paint them with craft paint, brown oxide. Then I do a black oil wash, a burnt umber oil wash, and finish by drybrushing with metallic grey. Hey cool this is my one thousanth post.

Thanks for your replies, guys.

Hisham