No trees but some tracks today and the cats help out with a diorama although they don't know!

After the last two days of tree matters it was nice not to have to deal with any more tree related disasters. It allowed me some time to do a bit more on the Egyptian T34 tank, namely finish the tracks. 

Being metal, tank tracks rust! However because they also run on some metal wheels in the tanks running gear there are also areas where that metal to metal contact leaves a shiny surface on the tracks. In the case of this tank the drive of the powered rear wheels leaves a shiny surface on the track guides as well as on the inside surface of the track links. To replicate this I used some aluminum paint (for some reason the WMD HQ stock of paint did not have a suitable silver in stock) literally dry brushed onto the parts of the track that would be shiny. In addition the outside faces of the track links run on various surfaces which in effect abrade the metal of the tracks and leave a shiny finish on the raised parts of the links. Again I replicated this with some dry brushed paint. 

Track awaiting being 'shined up'.

Track now with shiny parts!

Once the tracks were treated it was time to mount them to the tank hull. I had some time ago glued the rear drive wheels in place as I needed them securely in place to construct the multi part track links. The rest of the wheels were left loose until the tracks had been painted. I used some UHU glue to fasten these to their mounting points. I use this glue rather then plastic cement as it allows the wheels to be removed relatively easily and without damage later on if for some reason I end up with a broken track which I need to repair. Working smarter not harder!

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One side finished - just the other to do.

I also managed to do a little more to the diorama base. The trunk and leaves of the two palm trees have been toned down with some stone coloured paint which worked better than the grey I had planned to use. I also added a few enhancements around the two palms with some rocks and grasses. The rocks are selected from a clay cat litter (unused!) that my cats were using until we moved onto a wood pellet one. If I run out of rocks the cats may have to get used to the clay type litter again! The long grasses are a piece of sisal string that was from a well used and much clawed cat scratching post. It was cut into suitable lengths and glued into PVA. The cats have certainly helped out with this project! The rest of the shorter grasses are static grass and pre made tufts from PECO. Not much more to do now.