 Extra Crispy  | 26 Jul 2016 4:13 p.m. PST |
When a section of extra tread is attached to a vehicle – say on the front slope of a Panzer IV, what color would it be? Steel? Would it rust? Would it get painted in camo? I mean what color before it gets covered in dust  |
| Rich Bliss | 26 Jul 2016 4:36 p.m. PST |
Panzer IV would be steel. And yes, it would rust. On Sherman's, the majority of the tread is rubber and therefore black but the connecting pins are steel and will rust. |
| Mako11 | 26 Jul 2016 5:33 p.m. PST |
Yea, steel with perhaps a light dusting of rust and dust. Look at tread on construction vehicles, and/or tanks in the field. They're usually a dull, metallic gray due to the dust. Only time metal gets really rusted heavily is after it has burned, and then been left to sit in a field somewhere for ages. Most people way overdue the rust detailing. Only exception I can see to that is for engine exhausts, which quickly rust heavily. |
| jowady | 26 Jul 2016 5:58 p.m. PST |
On Sherman's, the majority of the tread is rubber and therefore black but the connecting pins are steel and will rust Sherman end connectors were primed, as were the Sherman steel tracks. |
| Extra Crispy | 26 Jul 2016 6:08 p.m. PST |
Thanks. Normally I'd go for metallic but these are sitting, not getting worn. Okay so for my German half tracks I'll go dark metallic, rust spot or two and dust. |
 Doctor X  | 26 Jul 2016 7:28 p.m. PST |
I would skip the rust and go more dust/weathering. |
| Mako11 | 26 Jul 2016 8:20 p.m. PST |
Yea, rust doesn't show much on equipment in regular use. |
| Nick Bowler | 26 Jul 2016 9:12 p.m. PST |
"Yea, rust doesn't show much on equipment in regular use." Tell that to my car!!! |
| Hornswoggler | 27 Jul 2016 7:08 a.m. PST |
I think we've been over this one at least a couple of times. The answer (as usual) is it depends. Extra track sections attached to the vehicle might be spares or they might have been added as extra armour protection. In either case this might have been done before or after the vehicle received its most recent paint job. And in the case of spares those doing the painting may or may not have taken the trouble to remove it or just painted straight over the top. So I think just about any combo of normal track colour, weathered or rusted, oxide primer or camo'ed like the rest of the vehicle can probably be justified. |
| DeRuyter | 27 Jul 2016 7:34 a.m. PST |
Every piece of our M60 and M1 track that was metal seemed to rust unless the tank was deployed and covered in mud or dust. In NW Europe you get a lot of rain and after every maneuver what do you do, why wash the mud and dust off the tank of course! This means one thing for steel track parts – rust. For spare track blocks rust would be the predominant color unless it was a new one with anti-corrosion stuff still on it. That's my 2c from having changed a lot of worn out track blocks! |
| Garand | 27 Jul 2016 9:16 a.m. PST |
ISTR talking on a modeling site that a PzIII/IV track link had been recovered, and still showed evidence of paint in the deepest of cracks. IIRC it was dark gray, so I think these may have come from the factory primed in the same way barrels were primed (with a dark gray primer). Of course once on the tank as part of the suspension, the paint would wear off very quickly. But spare links might still retain this coat… Damon. |
snapped some photos of games he didn't get a chance to play in at Council of Five Nations.
