Tracks

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ronnie42
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Tracks

Post by ronnie42 »

Searching for Kingtiger info, noticed that pictures of tracks in museums are a greenish-grey-brown colour .
What metal was used for tracks and why are all tracks black or silver when you buy them?
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General Jumbo01
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Re: Tracks

Post by General Jumbo01 »

That's how they typically came off the build line, though there are variances. How you decide to weather them is a personal preference thing, anything from new to clagged in mud, but the plain metal gives you s realistic start point.

As a general rule, sadly museum finishes cannot be relied on. Period photos are often monochrome but some documentaries find colour film.
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jarndice
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Re: Tracks

Post by jarndice »

There was quite a lot of colour film used in the Pacific Campaign but unfortunately the same cannot be said of the European Theatre of Operations,
Most of the colour film we see of WW2 in Europe has been colourised post 1945,
Most colour film shot in the ETO was taken after 1941 by American reporters who had ready access to Kodak Colour Film Stock,
The German Propaganda ministry's publication "Signal" was an officially sanctioned organisation that had access to colour film,
There were not many others.
You can believe their footage if you want to but never forget everything they filmed was first seen by Josef Goebbels before the German public saw it.
This is the primary reason why the colour of German Tank Turret numbers has been in dispute since the end of the War.
The reason why so many post WW2 Feature films based on events in the ETO such as the Dambusters, The Longest Day et al were filmed in Black and White is because they looped stock footage into the narrative,
Whereas feature films set in the Pacific were often shot in colour because of the availability of colour stock footage.
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jhamm
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Re: Tracks

Post by jhamm »

The tracklinks of German tanks, half-tracks and crawler tractors were painted gray.
Of course, it can not be completely ruled out that, depending on the supplier or period,
there were also unpainted or differently colored chains, but the following examples speak a very clear language:

Image

Image

Image
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Son of a gun-ner
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Re: Tracks

Post by Son of a gun-ner »

I believe the Germans painted transport tracks a different colour.
It may have been green for the Tiger 1, possibly red for the king tiger.
This evening, I'll try and find where I read about it.

Edit; c.rainford73 did some research on the colours of transport tracks. Usually the only ones "coloured"

Tiger I Transport tracks - RC Tank Warfare
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