Merkava MK.IV Tracks Update.....

I took a small strip of the final design Merkava Mk.IV tracks and really put them to the test.

The printer (Print-A-Part) recommends that each strip be soaked in Acetone for a few minutes to help remove any wax residue that sometimes clings to the parts surface.



The Acetone bath will turn the parts white in color, but it has no effect on the surface of the piece.



Once this was dry (about an hour to be safe) I sprayed the tracks with a layer of Krylon flat red primer. All in all I was quite happy with the strength of these tracks and the way they took paint and weathering. If the tracks do break anywhere while working with them, they can easily be superglued back together or if you wish, you can drill out the broken pin and use a length of .005 wire to join them.






Because I wanted to put these tracks through a rough test so I could see just what type of handling they would tolerate before breaking, I decided to spray them with another layer of Krylon paint (a tan color), and then strip that tan layer of paint off using paint thinner and scrubbing with a flat tip paint brush.




Surprisingly the tracks proved stronger than I thought and they did not break anywhere.

After the tan paint was removed, I was left with the red primer layer which I covered with a coat of powered graphite. I next sprayed a coat of Testors Dull Coat to seal the graphite powder on the tracks.



Finally I gave the tracks a wash of Humbrol Khaki Drill and let them dry for a couple of hours.



Once they were dry, I rubbed the front of each link with a silver color pencil to show a little high lighting and then I laid them onto the sprocket for this photo.

Those tracks look's Uber-Cool!

wow! those tracks look awesome dave!

Printer? As in 3-d printer? OMG! A new era, indeed!

Dave
tracks look great!
Panzer

Not a bad way of doing it! Going to have to refer back to that the next time I'm doing tracks.