Airbrush painting the tracks

[imthercguy]

Hello, I am new to these tanks, I have the Heng Long M1A2 and I am adding color to this tank, I want to paint the tracks is this ok and has anyone else done this? Thank you in advance for your input

[SoCalBobS]

No problem painting them, but just remember that a thin airbrush coat will wear off where it rubs almost immediately when you start driving it. A judicious choice of color will actually work to your benefit.

[761st]

I have airbrushed, painted and burnished. Of the three, burnishing has worked best for me. There are a number of brands out there, Hope this link gives you some insight. I don't add pigments or aging effects. Just drive through dirt and the results are perfect.

tank tread burnishing - Google Search

[keilau]

I have airbrushed, painted and burnished. Of the three, burnishing has worked best for me. There are a number of brands out there, Hope this link gives you some insight. I don't add pigments or aging effects. Just drive through dirt and the results are perfect.

tank tread burnishing - Google Search

I second. A painted track looks really bad. However, I do not recommend doing burnishing for large scale tracks. The toxic fume is very harmful in more way than one. If you really want to try burnishing, do it outdoor on a quiet day.

If you do not like the bare metal look, the best way is to spend a little more on an electroplated track pair.

[quitcherbitchen]

Plastic or Metal track? I have painted plastic tracks with Tamiya Light earth and they look great after they wear a little. Bluing works good on metal but not all metal tracks blue the same. You might have to repeat it a few timea to get them dark.

[MrChef]

Hello, I am new to these tanks, I have the Heng Long M1A2 and I am adding color to this tank, I want to paint the tracks is this ok and has anyone else done this? Thank you in advance for your input

If you are talking about the white metal tracks, you have a couple of options. You can burnish them using a Cold Gun Bluing solution (actually blackens the metal).This can be left alone or painted over as it acts as a primer for the metal tracks. You can also just paint over them, but a good metal etching primer is the best way to start this after a good full degreasing, then airbrush right over to the color of your choice. If you have plastic tracks you of course can paint them.

Then you can also weather them with washes and pigments or just run em in the dirty wild till they develop a natural patina.

This is just gun blue. I used Brownells Oxpho-blue.




These were primed with Rustoleum Automotive Primer then airbrushed, washes applied and then pigments.