Armortek

Hello! how is everyone, today I have taken my first steps adding texture to a 1/6 track with a dremel and some putty with super glue. Pretty scary but also highly rewarding. Next will be matching color to picture of real track.

Although there's no rusty red oxide on that track link, the pitting was not there when it left the factory, and has been caused by corrosion over the years. It looks as though it's been treated with a rust inhibitor such as Jenolite, which tend to leave that sort of blackened finish.

The tracks on Tiger 131 are the same age but still have a smooth finish.


Compare that to the Vimoutiers Tiger tracks, which have been exposed to the elements for 70 odd years:

Adrian.

Ok interesting!

Hey all, I got more red primer and paint. My plan now is to paint all the big components that have etch primer on them hull red and prep the remaining small pieces of metal with red MMP primer and a topcoat of red oxide. This way I can paint in the House with an airbrush. And get everything red oxide for a complete test fit of parts and hopefully an all red tank before final zim then dunklegelb. MMP says the primer is good on the aluminum. I do like their primer a lot and it’s a relief from etch primer rattle cans and with their fumes I was having to paint outside in a tent!

Edit; I blasted through two bottles of mission models primer on just one wheel. I am going back to etch primer for obvious reasons. Lol.

Good technique Brian. I stressed over weathering my tracks before I assembled them. I wound up leaving them natural as I was trying to capture an active duty tank as opposed to a museum piece or relic.

I gave a lot of thought to military weathering. I put armored divisions on the beach in the Pacific during the early 80's. I remember the M60's had very clean tracks. I know this because I fastened hundreds of them to the deck for transport. These were old tanks and rust was very rare.

In the US Navy rust any where on a ship was a direct reflection on the captain and crew. Most of my Naval career was spent dealing with potential rust outbreaks. It was a ready made gift for the boswain. It meant we always had something to do. I would have to assume that the German Army would have had similar attitudes.

We have such excellent weathering techniques available, it seems a shame not to use them everywhere. However, as others have pointed out, WWII military vehicles probably exhibited very little rust. I would guess it was probably limited to high stress areas like the exhaust.

I do wish I had followed Stephen's technique for painting the tracks detailed out in the knowledge base. I will probably try some sort of wash on the assembled tracks. I do feel that they need a little "something".

Here is a sprocket I am test fitting. It feels really awesome. Can someone tell me how I can keep the hubcap on it’s a loose fit and not threaded. To file champfer on the teeth next...

I can't remember when I test fitted the hubcap if it was loose or not and I cannot try it out at the moment because that area in the sprocket is all covered in masking tape. I wasn't really worried because there is a mod which uses the bolt used in the middle of the hubcap which screws into the threaded hole of the shaft in the running gear. I can't find it at the moment. I know I read it in the Tiger 1 forum.

Vince

Vince Cutajar wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 01, 2018 3:05 pm

I can't remember when I test fitted the hubcap if it was loose or not and I cannot try it out at the moment because that area in the sprocket is all covered in masking tape. I wasn't really worried because there is a mod which uses the bolt used in the middle of the hubcap which screws into the threaded hole of the shaft in the running gear. I can't find it at the moment. I know I read it in the Tiger 1 forum.

Vince

Yeah, the hole in the center is 4mm and the hole in the drive gear shaft is 5mm. So the center cap hole may require some drilling. Seems simple enough.

Still can't find the mod that I mentioned but here is another one:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5945&start=45

Vince

What if I used a magnet or Velcro for the center cap. Seems the easier solution, no?

If it works, why not.

Vince

Doing some carving on the teeth this morning. I sure love working on this model kit.

Brian, today I removed the masking tape from my sprockets and tested my sprocket hubcaps. In one sprocket it is a slip fit and in the other sprocket it is a push fit.

Vince

Vince Cutajar wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:44 pm

Brian, today I removed the masking tape from my sprockets and tested my sprocket hubcaps. In one sprocket it is a slip fit and in the other sprocket it is a push fit.

Vince

That’s funny Vince, I had the same exact scenario. I ended up widening the hole in the tighter sprocket with my dremel tool. Now the caps are interchangeable and will slip into either sprocket.