Bluing Metal Tracks

[mike1268]

My super blue has turned up! wish me luck .... lol

[Panzerhun]

Mike, if you ready with blueing, show for us.

[mike1268]

So, looking through the above methods, I had a go myself and thought I would try a few things different.

First, wash the tracks with washing up liquid to de grease them, scrubbing them with an old tooth brush

Then wrinse with hot water while still scrubbing with the tooth brush, this is to clean the tooth brush as much as the tracks of washing up liquid.

I got the biggest pyrex boal we had and put the tracks in and the boal in the kitchen sink (stainless).

Rather then spray the tracks or poor the liquid on, I just dipped the toothbrush in the pot and scrubbed it in to the tracks, rolling the tracks over my fingers as i do this to open up the joints. I did the road serface side first, then turned them over and repeated. This only used about .5oz and it does say if you want a better coat, you can apply again. I found this to be plenty for the stug tracks which are half the size of a tiger1's.

once coated, left the tracks to stand for 1 min then dipped them several times in a bucket of warm water, rolling the tracks to make sure the bule was out of the joins.

I then got some old work trousers and dried the tracks on the radiator




once dry, they seem to have rusted and got a powder layer on them. I really like this look

[Panzerhun]

Perfect!
Thank you.

[edpanzer]

Looks great....my tracks are painted though

[jackalope]

Looks great....my tracks are painted though

Aircraft aluminum paint stripper is your friend! Either get the aresol and spray the tracks down or get it in liquid/gel for and dunk them for a few minutes, remove and wash in hot soapy water. Allow to dry and then use the gun bluing.

[jtracks]

Just did a set of JS-2 tracks from ETO Armor, they came out great.

[mike1268]

Just did a set of JS-2 tracks from ETO Armor, they came out great.

Nice! I will never paint metal tracks again. I love the look of them, esp once they have been run outside. They naturally weather and wear.

[SovereignZuul]

Hey guys, nice posts, sorry I didn't check in till now. Really glad this technique is working out well for you! That King Tiger looks fantastic with those tracks!

[greengiant]

There is also a cold bluing paste that will give the bluing a chance to penetrate deeper into the metal. Have used it on real guns and it wears off much less then the liquid cold blues.
You still have to start with a perfectly clean surface and be careful not to leave it on too long before cleaning it off as it will etch the metal slightly.
To get shiny worn portions look just get bluing remover and wipe the places that you want to look like they had their surface polished by ground contact with a stiff but absorbent piece of cloth.