Lower hull ready

My friends, the tracks, wheels, and the lower hull are all out of the way. For some reason, I started at the end - with the tracks, and then painted the rest accordingly. Maybe I just wanted to see how 3D-printed tracks perform under that heavy enamel treatment :) 

I went for a semi-muddy finish because reference images of King Kong show quite a lot of dark, wet mud in the tracks, and also, when I was searching for color images of dirt roads on Saipan, the best I could find was a muddy road after some light rain. 

When traveling via Google Street View and looking for vignette ideas, I didn't notice that every road on Saipan (at least those documented by the Google car) is either paved or covered with gravel... so that alley didn't lead to too many dirt references. So when you combine the historical photos and only one usable color image... that's the finish you'll come up with! 

But also, I'm glad how the earth tones on the running gear complement the wooden planks. The whole thing is starting to get tied together IMO. Also, Sherman's lower hull is one of the most boring areas to paint because of the bogies. Good thing I kept them movable so I could always push the road wheel out of the way, but still, it wasn't too enjoyable. 

However, the earth tones on the lower hull are purposefully left lighter and more dry. I think it creates a nice contrast with the tracks, doesn't turn everything behind the wheels into a dark void, and it'll work pretty well with the earth tones on the upper surfaces, which, again, I'd like to keep rather light and dry. 

Lastly, enamel thinner makes the resin pins somewhat "alive", so to speak. The track was much more flexible while soaked with thinner, and this actually allowed me to remove one link from each track and achieve tighter sag! 

Oh, and as per tradition, the texture was done with AK acrylic texture paste, pre-dusting with Tamiya Buff, and the rest was Africa Dust Effects, Earth Effects, and Fresh Mud :)