HL M41 Walker Bulldog: My First Tank

[skyowa]

Looking for something for the winter months to take the place of my boats and cars, I decided to run with a "someday", I decided to go the tank route and got the Walker, started playing around with it, and decided to go all in for a complete repaint and a few more upgrades (if possible), got it tore down and painting started

[Zippersnapper]

Nice paint job

[skyowa]

Thank you sir, it's rattle can Tamiya lacquer, 85028. I have to go back and some places I didn't pick up on though

[Meter Rat]

Good start.

[skyowa]

all the details that will be the same color as the tank are glued on, ones that need finer detail are just press fit, basically ran out of paint, no one in town sells Tamiya so I had to order more, went ahead and put everything back together except for the smoke generator, tends leave a slight film under the exhausts, thinking a clear coat once the painting is done might address that.

[skyowa]

also added a link to each track, there was zero slack, I mean tight, I've ran the heck out of it, tracks refuse to come off so I'm calling it good.

[skyowa]

[skyowa]

Couldn't stand the silver tracks any more

[keilau]

Couldn't stand the silver tracks any more

Is the back side of the track solid or hollow?

[MrChef]

Couldn't stand the silver tracks any more

Gunblue?

Just did my metal tracks last night. Played with rust on the spares.

[skyowa]

very nice, I used Presto Mag, had some left over from an air rifle resto

[skyowa]

Is the back side of the track solid or hollow?

I don't understand the question I guess

[keilau]

Is the back side of the track solid or hollow?

I don't understand the question I guess

I answered my own question: "The HL Walker Bulldog metal track has a solid backside." In many earlier HL metal tracks, such my Pershing track, HL made it hollow to save weight and cost, making the track a dirt and debris trap. I have to fill the cavity with rubber blocks.


Other HL track features that I don't like are the single pin design and exposed pins. For the HL Sherman, I use the Mato T49 metal tracks to avoid these issues.
Mato Metal T49 Tracks With Duckbills For 1/16 Sher RC Tank MT150T TH00841 - AliExpress

[skyowa]

Ah, I see. I have zero idea who actually made my tracks, they came with the tank si I assume HL

[keilau]

Ah, I see. I have zero idea who actually made my tracks, they came with the tank si I assume HL

Yes, it is a HL track. I can see that from MrChef pictures. The single pin design and exposed pins are obvious.

[Chillibadger]

very nice, I used Presto Mag, had some left over from an air rifle resto

Presto mag so that blackens the tracks?

[skyowa]

Presto mag so that blackens the tracks?

well at the very least it darkened them and gave them a well used look, after running a test on one of the spare links, I washed the tracks with a degreaser I have, rinsed them off and then a good rinse with alcohol, stole one of my wife's containers and soaked them for about 15 minutes, rinsed them off again and that was the result

[Chillibadger]

Looks great. .I've got exactly the same tank on order and will be doing the same. Dunno why they can't do that from factory

[skyowa]

Looks great. .I've got exactly the same tank on order and will be doing the same. Dunno why they can't do that from factory

Probably because everyone has their own ideas of what they should look like and detail to taste, I'm not entirely happy with them, would have preferred a darker color, might try soaking them in some homemade walnut stain for a few days, think that might darken them a bit more.

[MrChef]

Probably because everyone has their own ideas of what they should look like and detail to taste, I'm not entirely happy with them, would have preferred a darker color, might try soaking them in some homemade walnut stain for a few days, think that might darken them a bit more.

You could always paint over the blued/blackened tracks. The solution creates a great base to paint over it's an etching metal primer. Here is a pic of the same metal tracks that I used Brownells Oxphoblue on to blacken above then I used Other weathering product to get what you see. You can paint them any color you like.