Me again, first off I wanted to thank all of you who gave tips on fading OD, I tried some out and it looks rather good... anywho...and this may sound like a stupid question.
This is the first time I'm building a tank with rubber pads on its tracks and was wondering what a good base color for the padding may be. I often use Tamiya's German Grey on the tires and then monkey around with washes and drybrushing to get a really good looking rubber tire, but I think this technique might be too light for the track (what with the greater surface area and all). BTW While the tank is weathered and looks scuzzy, it's not encrusted in wet mud, so I'd rather not go with the brown base color on my tracks... imagine here French countryside, dirt road, dry spring weather. It's dusty, and grimey but not muddy.


Ralph

For the dusty road I paint the tracks as per usual,then pick out the pad surfaces with a dark grey/almost black (I find German gray too light). Then weather as per usual and for a dusty look I use the dust color for an additional wash to recess into the nooks and crannies of tracks wiping off the wash from the pads about to be "placed".Dust on the pads would be light on the pads so you don't want it to heavy,just a light coloring.My method but not everyones.

Foquil has a great color for track blocks. Grimmy Black its a grey black premix. I use it and their Weathered Black lighter more towards grey for tires. Hope this helps.

What environment is the question tankers ask.

On M48/M60 tracks I use the old Grimy black as a base, as they get dusty, then use flat black to paint the surfact of the pads where they meet the road. Then I dry-brush silver or gun metal, depending on what I am looking for, on the end connectors where they rub and the center guides. If it is meant to be a "static" display I would add rust to the wear points on the end connectors and center guides.

Once the track is painted I then use pastels or mud to "dress" them up, again, depending on the environment.

As for others they are much the same. I just did a Leopard and will be doing the same tricks to it.

i use testors modelmatser aircraft interior black for all black rubber surfaces, it's a little more grey than flat black and shows good wear with one coat. it also works for black leather after a semigloss coatjust rember not to dry brush silver on it when you weather the dust. stug



stevus khan
pig 23
Der Sonntag Bund

I use Humbrol track color as a base and lpaint the pads with grimy black. then I drybrush the metal parts with gun metal and dry brush the pads with lighter shades of grey.

Real-life observations: First, the color of the pad will depend on age and environment. After some use in the field, the pads will fade to dark (sometimes not so dark!) gray, with a hint of the prevailing dry dirt color in the area. Once a rubber pad or track link has gotten dirty, it will rarely return to it's original black color without scrubbing and detergent. Since plain water is the most common cleaning agent, this doesn't happen much. I'd go with a dark grey/black...except for the contact surfaces.

The coloring of the contact surfaces will depend on the surface the tank is depicted on. Even a short distance on a somewhat hard surface (hard dry road, asphalt pavement, or concrete) will scrub the contact surfaces to an almost clean (nearly) black condition. So the pads may be two toned, with a dark face and lighter sides (non-contact surfaces). This same effect can occur on rubber roadwheels, after a longer run on a clean (paved) surface.

Also, modern replaceable pad tracks have a rubber insert on the inside surface of the track, on either side of the center guide. This is where the roadwheels run on the track. The rubber insert quiets the sounds of the track and running gear, and softens the vibration and bumps from the road. These rubber inserts are typically pretty clean, and still mostly black or very dark grey. The effect is of a dark grey/black 'clean' strip the runs down along sides of the center guides, even in very muddy or dusty conditions.

Personally I use Tamiya nato black for rubber portion on road wheels and tracks It will look almost green when being painted on,but dries to a faded black
Chad