I have discovered a much simpler way to turn tank tracks black. I notice most of you prime them then paint them flat black.
When I built my Panzer tank it came from Armortek with the tank tracks anodized black making it simple to give them a coat of MIG track wash and I was done. The FAMO I am building came with the tracks bare aluminum. The tracks are rather complicated castings and would be a real pain to paint. While looking for a company to anodize them black for me I discovered Insta Black a cold anodizing process you can do an home. I bought a gallon of the recommended cleaner E-Kleen 154 and a gallon on Insta Black A-380. Not being familiar with this process I decided to hang each part from a wire and dip them one at a time in each product. I left the part in the cleaner for 1 minute, rinsed it in clean water and dipped it in the A-380 for 20 seconds and I came out a dark grey black. This is the color I was after. If you want a darker black just leave the part in the A-380 longer. I rinsed the part in clean water and hung it to dry. It took me a few hours to do all 100 tracks. If you had a larger tank and a basket with holes you could dip all the tracks at once or large batches. The anodized finish is very flat and takes the MIG track wash very well. I have never tried to paint tracks but I have to believe this is a much easier method.
Here is a link to the company:
https://www.epi.com/black-oxide/aluminu ... lak-a-380/
I used about 200ml doing all 100 tracks so the sample pack they offer would be enough to do one vehicle and would be less expensive.
- 154 cleaner on the left. Clean water in the middle. 380 on the Right
- Parts after anodizing
- A coat of MIG track wash
- A coat of MIG African dust effects
