Help on armor - making vinyl tracks look OK

[Joe C-P]

I have some old armor models, with the classic "rubber band" vinyl tracks, and was wondering if anyone had any ideas about improving their appearance.
I'm not going to buy the fancy new-fangled single-link stuff for some fun, quickie whifs, but I would like them to look like they have tracks and not rubber.

Thanks in advance!

[frank2056]

Joe - I paint them with either a dark gray or Testor's Titanium or Dark Anodonic gray metalizer paint. I then just drybrush some rust or shinier spots. One common problem is that the tracks are too short by just a hair, and they tend to bow in the center as they get stretched. Not realistic. One way to fix this is to adjust the position of either the front or rear wheel to prevent stretching the track. This may involve some plastic surgery.
I always, always, always have problems closing the loop on the tracks. There is no glue that really works well on vinyl; either use a heated screwdriver head to melt the "pins" together, or use some fine wire 30 gauge or so) to sew the ends together. Some tracks are made of a soft plastic that will respond to styrene cement, but I've only seen them on Emhar WWI tank tracks.

Frank

[nev]

Depends on their base colour - the darker ones are easier.  I give them a dark brown/black wash, then drybrush with a silver/metallic grey (but not parts that are rubber pads!).  Then a load of pastels etc to dirty it up.  Unless its a silly colour (like some that are yellow), thats all you need.

The problem that Frank mentions of being too short, if for the wash or pastels you use an enamel type thinners it tends to just loosen the rubber a tad giving you that little bit of stretch you need to get all the way round without surgery.

[Joe C-P]

My tracks are melted together; I originally built these models when I was in my early teens.

Thanks for the tips! I'll especially try the enamel wash to stretch them out. They are a bit tight right now, and I don't want to risk snapping anything off.

[frank2056]

Nev, that's a great suggestion for "relaxing" vinyl!