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| Build the tracks as per kit instructions - I find it best to build up short sections then connect them together until I have two full length tracks. Then I put them onto a sheet of A4 glass and make up a thin solution of Humbrol 50113 (acrylic rust red) dab it all over and let it dry. As it's thin it soaks into the crevices and provides the background tint of weathered steel. Another much thinner wash of Humbrol 5029 brown gives the road dirt that builds up in all tracks after running only a few miles. |
| Now depending on what type of tracks you've chosen the next stage is different.Injection Plastic tracks like Model Kasten, and the link tracks in some kits fall in camp one and metal tracks fall in camp two. Resin items like Trakpax can be treated like camp one - but they don't flex and need to be warmed to be bent around road wheels and sprockets before being painted. This can be done in warm water or with the use of a dowelling jig and a hairdrier. Resin tracks are not for the beginner, try either Model Kasten or Fruil Modellismo first. | pic of track packs and links |
| Injection plastic or Resin tracks are given a light drybrush with an enamel steel on all wear surfaces. For the T-34 that's pretty much all of the road face, so I have a jig to do the next bit. I've glued two lengths of square section plastic tube onto a piece of plasticard, with a gap between them that will accept the drive tooth, so they can sit down flat and be supported while I run a piece of fairly coarse sandpaper over the roadside face of the track to scrape off the acrylic mud. Then I drybrush a dull shade of steel or even mid grey to simulate a dusty bare metal. |
| Camp Two - the metal tracks are pretty much the same except that being metal they don't need a steel drybrush, a simple polish with fine sandpaper will make the most realistic steel finish you can get. After all - nothing looks like metal like metal :-) | The kit tracks can be treated pretty much like the Injection plastic types with washes and drybrushing - but test the sprue first to make sure the paint you are using won't damage the tracks and will dry properly on the vinyl surface. |
| Before finishing the top and bottom contact points between track and road wheels will need to be scraped back to bare plastic on the inside (hidden) face and glued. Metal tracks respond better to superglue or epoxy resin glues.Consult your instructions if you are using Resin tracks, they may be ok with epoxy or superglue too. |