I’m looking for a more accurate modern Russian tank tracks blue steel paint color. I have only found one brand which is Tamiya X10.
Can you post a picture or link to one of these blue steel tracks? I would like to see what the real thing looks like. Thank you.
Looks like gloss black to me.
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I have used Matt black and gunmetal paints mixed. I didn’t like the look it had after drying.
There is a lot of picks out there of the buk missle tanks. I have seen the “glossy” black to a dull blueish steel.
For gunmetal/parkerized finishes on weapons and tracks, I mix flat black and silver. It looks right to me. This may be what you are looking for on the tracks.
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The gloss black is characteristic of parade or exhibition AFVs. The operational ones look more metallic and to get this hue I use Tamiya XF-84 Dark Iron.
Olivier
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@Shortfuse thank you for the pictures, much appreciated.
FWIW - in my opinion once those vehicles are out in the dirt the actual color of the track metal becomes largely irrelevant as the vehicle moves around and dust, dirt & grime accumulate.
If parade ground or just washed & cleaned vehicle is the goal, I think a tire-black or dark gray would work as a base coat color. Even if black is the actual color of the track due to scale effect on color black will be too dark on a scale model.
Weathering looks nice and for a scale model is really a matter of personal taste as to what looks right. For a vehicles in the field I’d start with tire-black and build up layers of dust, dirt & grime accumulating as weathered effects.
My short cut back in the day was a coat of Floquil Antique Bronze (sounds wrong but looks right, its a metallic dark brown) plus a nice dark wash, dust and dirt highlights drybrushed and chaulk dust aka pigments. This worked very well for T-72 tracks etc.
Not sure if that helps but my .02 opinion
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If I can chip in a bit, what sort of finish you going for @Shortfuse ? A new or parade tank ? A new UK track comes with a Black gloss finish as @HeavyArty mentioned, although its more of a semi gloss black.
once they get a bit of use and few exercises under their belts that soon goes to dull black and the dirt and crap starts to get ingrained into them.
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As has already been mentioned Tamiya dark iron is good for cleaner tracks, personally for dirty tracks I use Vallejo 304 track primer, which is in their Panzer Aces line. To me it gives the rusty brown colour that tracks go once they are run in and is a good base colour for washes, weathering etc.
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Here’s how the tracks look on an operational Buk. Typical dirty bare Steel with earth ground into it.
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That’s the look I’m going to go with !
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Thank you to those who helped me out! I’m going to go with the in operational look !
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Then you need Tamiya Dark Iron!
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For in-use tracks, I start with flat black. Then a couple washes of earth tones (brown or sandy, depending on location), then a light drybrushing of bare metal to show worn track. That is about it. Looks right to me.
The Tamiya Dark Iron looks very close to the old Floquil Antique Bronze. Seems like definitely the go to color.
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It also looks very close to the old Humbrol “track color” that was so great back in the day.
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Humbrol has started to sell Track Color again. I picked up a couple of new tins two summers ago at Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove CA. They reissued the color when they expanded their paint line around that time. Now if they would only bring back a few more like Brown Bess, Unbleached Wool, and French Artillery Green.
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