After everything had dried, a coat of AK Interactive acrylic satin varnish was applied to the entire assembly. This finished the main painting stage and the satin coat gave a good base for the weathering stage later on.
Wheels were painted and added and the tracks were assembled in sections (a bit fiddly to be honest!). Trying to fit the sections and individual links around the sprockets and wheels, and then glue them into place without sticking everything to the wheels, was a bit of a chore. It came together with patience, and once dry, the track sections were removed for painting and weathering.
The tracks were primed and sprayed. I used Mr Color Metal, Dark Iron. This is a buffable paint, and once dry can be rubbed with a soft cloth or cotton bud to give a superb metal finish. I then used my usual track weathering method of first applying a matt acrylic varnish and dabbing various pigment powders onto the wet varnish to give a good grubby finish. While the varnish and powders are still wet, I rubbed the surface of the tracks to expose the metal colour underneath.
A panel wash of Mig Afrika Korps Wash was applied to the entire model and once dry the tracks were fitted.
Weathering
After the washes were dry, I then carried on with other effects. Streaking was randomly applied and scratches & chipping were added using the AK Interactive Chipping Colour applied with a fine brush. I enhanced the chipping on the edges of panels using a soft pencil rubbed along the edge. This gives a nice shiny bare metal effect.
Dust and pigments were added for the mud. This was randomly applied by mixing various pigments with flat varnish and just slapping it on with an old brush. This makes a hell of a mess of the workbench so lots of kitchen roll was put down first!!
I finished off the weathering with a final layer of AK Interactive Africa Dust Effects and North Africa Dust pigment.
