Renault FT and TSF - Track Links - Inside Track | Renault TSF Tank Kent

A fortunate by product of the investigation into the grey required for the brake drums was the analysis conducted on the paint fragment found on the original track-link. This provided a very unexpected outcome. Two colours were found on the track link. One of them was the grey selected as a potential colour for the brake drums. The other was a lot darker. These two coatings were however…… not paint!. The last time we encountered a non-paint colour in the Renault FT TSF project was when the bogey wheels were examined. Further analysis proved metal spraying, a relatively new process at the time and quite unexpected in tank production, had been used in the preparation of the bogey wheels in 1918. This process had been patented by Dr Schoop of Zurich between 1910 and 1913. According to our information the first commercial use of this unique process were made in France and Germany during WW1. Now we discover that track links on the Renault FT assembly line had also been subjected to the same process. Not painted but metal sprayed. How were we to produce the same end result as that seen in 1918? Metal spraying was out of the question. What would provide the same visual end result?. Our paint conservation expert suggested we sand blast the tracks and coat the now clean links in a hardy rust inhibiting wax based sealant. The problem is that any paint or sealant applied to the track links is soon lost due to the excessive wear through driving. The solution we had worked out a long time ago was to use Hammerite – a very robust, hard wearing rust inhibitor paint which has stood the test of time very well with our Jagdpanther and StuG.

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