Painting my UC plastic tracks???

[AlwynTurner]

Hi Folks, I've searched the tips and tricks but can't find anything, does anyone have any techniques to share as to how to paint/weather my plastic tracks on the Universal Carrier. I've seen some pics of BGCs with rusty/muddy tracks and that's the effect I want to go for? Are acryllic paints the way to go or should I perhaps use oils?

Alwyn

[43rdRecceReg]

From a quick scan of Youtube, it appears that it's possible to dye ABS and other hard plastics permanently..and there are numerous products out there (e.g 'Rit Dye') to achieve good results.. Maybe you've considered this method already, instead of painting it or painting in combination with it, if so, forget it.. if not, it's possibly worth a search

[AlwynTurner]

Hi, I had a look at the Rit Dye video and I am thinking more colour wash approach. I might try a water-diluted acrylic brown on the spare links and see what effect I get. Thanks Alwyn

[43rdRecceReg]

I was fascinated by the method you used to create the tracks. In fact, your whole approach to the Bren Carrier scratch project (from one here who has never attempted one...yet) intrigued me. My father, and uncle, had the carrier as a standard vehicle (with Mortar and Bren options) in the recce regiment they were in, in WW2 (Their other main attack entity was the Humber Armoured Car) Thus, the carrier has a special significance, and I'd love to build one myself... eventually. How did you come by the blueprints/1/16 scale plans for it? I took some detailed pictures of an example in the Swiss Military Museum last summer...to get some idea, but then I saw your contribution.

[jarndice]

If you are after TANK Blueprints why not try -
http://www.the-blueprints.com
then type in bren carrier
shaun.

[AlwynTurner]

Hi There, if you go to the Universal Carrier build thread and right click on the blueprint, do 'Save As' to save the blueprint to your pc, and then use pc Paint to chop up the blueprint into view sections, then use PC Paint to print to scale - use the page setup to change the margins to 5mm and print - I suggest 70% size initially until you get the scale right, and away you go!

The bluprint did come from the website that Jardice pointed you to - it is an invaluable source of great scale blueprints. Alwyn

[43rdRecceReg]

Many thanks, Mr J. and Alwyn for that tip. There are so many threads to follow here, it's easy to get distracted...or even tied up, so to speak I'll certainly check that link out, though.

[43rdRecceReg]

Just checked out the Blueprints website, and it would be way to easy to spend weeks poring over the vehicles there...had to drag myself away. As a Mac user, Alwyn, I don't use PC apps, but I noticed a useful Mac compatible freebie on the website 'Google Sketch Up' which renders blueprints into 3-d and more, along with a neat user guide...so that's all for the future. Meantime, thanks again.

[ausf]

Here's a set of WSN tracks I am using on a Trumpeter/Tamiya conversion.

It's been battling for years now, including running on hard surfaces, dirt, stone and concrete.

It's base coated with Vallejo acrylic, then covered with dry pigments in an acryic binder. It's as rough as sandpaper and is not coming off.

Here they are in use:

[AlwynTurner]

That looks like the answer, I need to get hold of some pigment and give it a try. Many thanks Alwyn