Original track finish
 

I know this has been done to death....but.....what was the original wartime finish on carrier track made in the uk or Canada? Was it simply a raw cast finish or did it have a blast of oil or paint?

My opinion, from what I have seen, Raw, Alistair. Not paint anyhow
We will see what others have to say?

I had some NOS sections from my local surplus yard.....plain finish with a hint of black, likely from the preservative.

As a thought, The mould "break free" agent what ever that might have been, may have had a secondary purpose?

when i was still in the reme cvrt and 432 track always came with a black bitumen based preservative coating. i'm going to do the same with my carrier when i get round to it. i'll use bitumen roof paint thinned down with petrol and a splash of black gloss (to make it last a bit longer). did it on the T16 and looked great

I did a couple of sets of track in black concrete floor paint, just dipped them in and hanged them up to drip dry. Original factory nos track that I have came in cosmoline coating, I chucked the whole lot in molasis and it took the cosmoline and surface rust right off.

Kevin.

I bitumined mine, they came up real nice ! Not strictly correct though.

Makes a huge difference to a fresh restoration though.