Hey All,
Well, I’ve managed to complete the 2 complete track run for my Meng Leopard 2A7 tank. I’m now at the point of waiting and weathering those tracks, and I have not been able to figure out an aspect of the track from photos. Clearly, the ‘bottom’ of the tracks, the part that contacts the ground, have rectangular rubber pad, similar to the M1A1/A2 Big Foot tracks. However, the photos I’ve found are less clear about what the material(s) is(are) on the ‘top’ of the tracks, that is, the part that the road wheels ride on. To the best of my ability to discern, unlike the M1A1/A2 tracks that have another set of rubber pads on that top of the track, it appears that the Leopard tracks are all metal on top, and the part that the road wheels contact look to be almost ‘polished’. However, that could also be rubber that is compressed and polished to an extent. Can anyone tell me for sure whether the part of the Leopard 2A7 tracks that interface with the road wheels are all metal, or is the outer part metal (the part that is indented, near the outboard part of the track) with a rubber inner pad. PLEASE help!!
Hi Curt.
The Diehl Type 570 tracks only have rubber faces
Outstanding, petbat, exactly what I was looking for!! I’ve seen builds of this tank where the inside face is shown/painted like rubber, where the wheels ride. The few photos I’ve seen of the actual tank look a lot like smooth, polished metal. So, you’ve confirmed my suspicions! Thank you SO MUCH!!!
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It doesn’t only look like smooth polished metal,
it is smooth, polished metal.
Not quite a mirror shine …
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There is a lot of good info in that one color picture. Notice the paint is gone on the road wheels were the center guide makes contact. Also, the mold seam is present on the road wheels. I was on M1’s and even high milage road wheels would have some of the seam still visible. Enjoy your build!
Part of the confusion is the transfer of a thin amount of rubber from the road wheels that makes the smooth metal look a bit like it too is made of rubber, but it’s just a rubbery greyish tint further dulling down the metal.
Pay attention to the reflection (did I say mirror shine sometime??)
of the guide tooth on the track link.
Dust will settle on everything so dusty surfaces are possible on tanks that have been standing still for some time (some time = the time it takes for dust to settle, dust will settle on top of my shoes in two to three hours of walking on a dusty spring day, minutes can be enough if there is dust in the wind).
The funny polished edges, looks like a faint smile, comes from rubbing the edge of the track link against the sprocket wheel.
In case someone asks about mud and dirt:
It gets squashed out after a short distance
Looks like a Leopard 1 …
Standing still in a museum, dust has settled, maybe some “rust” has attacked those polished edges
Nice and clear reflections but no “smiles”
Robin, thanks for the photos and your commentary! I have now painted my Leopard tracks to a point. I started off with the new (to me) ‘metal’ color Stynylrez primer, followed by manual brushing of a medium gray between the track links to make sure that all spots got some paint or primer on them. I then airbrushed a combo of some of the LifeColor rust tones on the tracks everywhere except on the rubber pads on the bottom and the metal where the road wheels run (except for overspray, that is). I am going to hand paint the rubber pads on the bottom, probably with a rubber black color, but I’m trying to figure out what color (either paint or metalizer) the top metal pads should be. It seems like a gloss dark gray might be appropriate, perhaps Tamiya gunmetal? Anybody have any thoughts for me on what color (or mixture of colors) the top part of the tracks where the road wheel run should be painted?
By the way, thanks so much for all of your input thus far! These forums are so great…don’t know where I’d be without them (and you)!!!
You have quite some “wiggle room” when it comes to the shiny surfaces.
From Alclad polished chrome or similar all the way to some rusty brown.
First of all you need to decide what your tank is, or has been, doing.
Sleeping in a museum? Parked outside in the rain for a week?
Parked in a sandstorm? Fresh out of a mud puddle?
I go for the shiny look, it adds some visual interest and it may (if I am lucky)
trigger someone into commenting that tracks are rusty. I just LOVE showing
those images. The one with shiny surfaces framed with mud/dirt is interesting,
it gives you both the mud AND the shiny bling.
Doing Alclad on all those little rectangles sounds like a ticket to the looney bin.
I have used Humbrol 11 (Silver) for those areas, not really satisfactory but I haven’t
taken the step to polished aluminium or chrome. I need to do it sooner or later,
I have an AMT Cord 812 lurking in the stash which needs chrome and shiny paint
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Well, I bit the bullet and decided to try using Tamiya gunmetal. I’d forgotten that the gunmetal color is an X- paint, which means gloss, not flat. I masked off the outside edges of the tracks, and sprayed gunmetal, thinned pretty well. It came out PERFECTLY, exactly what I was thinking of before I did it. Looks like the pictures, even! Of course, when I do more weathering be it dust or mud, which will likely be in pigments, some of the glass will get toned down, which will make it even more perfect. Next up is going to be hand painting the rubber pads on the bottom of the tracks. Spraying would be faster and easier, but the edges of the ‘rubber’ require the rubber color to be present on the sides of each pad, and the spry won’t do that well enough. This is no big deal…I’m used to painting those by hand on all the M1A1/A2 tracks I’ve done.
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You could just use these:
