As I was biking past the beach today I noticed these large dirty construction machines, with tracks looking alot like tanks.

So I have taken some pictures which I hope will give you ideas about weathering tank tracks.

As an electrician I work around alot of construction equipment like what you have posted.

I always try to check out the tracked stuff to better weather my tracks etc.

I find that the tracks are not as rusty as so many like to think they should be. If they are used regularly they have little rust and are bare metal for the most part.

I hear so many talk about painting tracks in dark rusty shades to give the right look but I am not sure.

If they are left to sit for a couple days then you get that bright orange rust that you see in the above pics.

I suppose different kinds of metal will rust differently and maybe WW2 era tracks were more prone to this??

Thanks for the pics Benjamin

I think different kind of metals must have been used for tracks though time. I once read the memoires of a Russian tank commander, and he said that two hours after a new tank had left the factory, the tracks would be rust red.

I would be surprised if the technology hadn't improved since then. Do we have any metal specialists here?