I needed a quick way to paint track and I have found that a base coat of Tamiya gun metal then heavy wash of Poly-s Grimy black and Testors Acryl Raw Umber provides a nice finish the red of the umber sticks to the high details giving it that rust look. You could leave it be at this point as the gun metal provides a bit of shine simulating the steel undersurface. I choose to go a little further then drybrush with humbrol steel metalizer and a bit of silver. You can tone down the red by adding more grimy black. This is similar to FSM's method but less labour intensive.

Sounds like a winner to me.... Think that I'll try it on my next tank...

I usally paint my running gear all one color, usally Tamiya Khaki and weather it with Tamiya buff and some burnt umber oils.

1. (Monday's session) ModelMaster Burnt Iron metalizer base coat
1a. (Monday's session, an hour later) Floquil (or Polly S/Polly Scale) Grimy black for any rubber parts
2. (Wednesday's session) Black wash
3. (Thursday's Session) Very light steel drybrushing on contact points
4. (Thursday's session one hour later) Appropriate pastel dust

Nice and easy this...
Try getting a load of iron nails / screws and placing the in a shallow tray of salty water.
Let them rust for a while and hey presto.....rust...and as much of it as you like....

Hello, Godfather. What more can I say, You just gave me the best track-painting tip!

Thanx a lot, John.

Thanks It's good to give and not always take.

Godfather,

Anything that is quick and easy sounds good to me.

Cheers,
Gabe

I like to do my tracks with pastels rather than with washes.

This is what is do:

- First paint the tracks flat black or dark grey
- Than apply orange and dark red pastels (well, the rusty colors)
- Now apply some dust with pastels, like earth or beige colors
- Finally use regular 2b pencil to show bare metal where desired (i don't like drybrushing with silver or steel because the tracks look too shiny)

That's, it, easy and quick way to finish your tracks. See the results:


(these are Italeri Panther A tracks)

I hope this helps

Depending on the type of track modern US vs WW2 German, I go about it differently. For German pretty much the way you do with the metallic steel and then washes and touch up, but for US because most of them have considerable amounts of vulcan rubber track pads I go black then catch the edges with steel then I run my wash. Contrary to popular painting concepts tracks really don't rust a lot. They are constantly in motion therby scrapping it off. If the vehicle has been sitting for a bit it might have some surface rust..so don't go to over board doing rust on your tracks.

For tracks with rubber pads, I paint the metal color, then using a permanent black marker (I use a Sharpie) I color the pads. Before dullcote they have a kinda weird purple-tint to them, but afterwards they look great. It saves time and, IMHO, is more accurate than brush painting all those little devils.

Wish i could get my tracks to look that good, well practice makes perfect. Think i will try your way on my Elephant.

Hear! Hear, Blaster 76. That's exactly what I said about not rusting tracks in an earlier thread. The constant motion and abrasion against the ground wears off and prevents most rust.

For the metal on your tracks, try Rub-n-Buff. Found in craft stores, in small tubes, in various colors. Just put a thin film on your finger and then rub it flat over the track so you just hit the high spots. Quick, easy and one tube will probably last you for years.

Art