Rusty tracks!

Having climbed all over the Rocks By Rail Museum's dragline excavator yesterday I was quite familiar with rusty tracks which was useful as today I had to make the tracks for the second amphibious vehicle rusty! Firstly though I had to finish assembling the second set for the other side. I followed the same method as the first and it went well - learning as I get older! The bits of card along the top of the track are there to induce the sag that the real track would have between the idle rollers. As I had used Tamiya Extra Thin glue the joints between the track links were still flexible some time after being glued allowing the sag to form

And this is how they set - nice!

With the tracks assembled on both sides they had to come off for painting. As I had not glued the drive wheels or rear idlers this was reasonably easy as the wheels came off with the tracks. Both sets of tracks went into the WMD HQ airbrushing booth (cardboard box!) where a mix of Vallejo Rust and Flat Earth was applied and rusty tracks appeared!

I just need to highlight the polished areas where the various wheels keep the track links free of rust and then they can be put back on the hull. Luckily these rusty tracks do not need to be greased unlike the dragline!