After a backbreaking house move I’m starting to look at some bench time over the holidays – I don’t have my lighting system or cutting mat, haven’t unpacked my tools yet and don’t have my painting gear set up, buuut, the spirit is willing. I’m looking for a quick project to get back into it, and pulled off the shelf a nearly-complete ESCI BMP-2. There are a couple of fixes to do, sweat the fact the plastic is unenthusiastic about responding even to cya, and then face the L&L tracks, which I hate.
I was wondering – do any kits out there have an even halfway decent flexible vinyl track? I could maybe scrounge a set via a replacement parts service or find something on evilbay. I found Trumpeter’s BMP-3 online but have yet to discover if it has the vinyl option in the box, or if the -3 has the same track as the earlier mark. I’ve seen Acc. Arm.'s resin replacement but it appears to be L&L as well, and costs a lot more than I gave for the ESCI kit.
The Trumpeter BMP-3 comes with individual links. I believe they are different than BMP-1/2 tracks any way.
I do know the ancient Lindberg BMP-1U did come with one piece vinyl tracks. Trumpeter now makes a BMP-1 too, but the reviews I’ve read say it comes with individual links.
All the other BMP-1/2 kits by Dragon and reboxed by Revell, Zvezda and Italeri used individual links.
Skif did a BMP-3 10+ years ago too. It included 2-piece vinyl tracks (two lengths of vinyl made up each side of track). Again, I do not believe they are the same as -1/2 tracks, but it may be an option.
Hi Rob – thanks for the info, you’ve more or less confirmed what I was scouting earlier. GRRR, looks like I’ll have to take a shot at the kit tracks afterall, but the plastic is a formula that doesn’t stick very well, I foresee the tracks simply falling apart when touched… Unless I treat them like Friuls, drill and pin the segments together… It might be practical.
Skif is rare over here, and very pricy – and again there’s the accuracy factor, as you say.
This is a subject AFV Club would probably be well rewarded for offering in their vinyl replacement selection – it would make a whole lot of kits easier!
Except for Dragon DS and Tamiya glueable vinyl, the modeling world has moved away from one piece vinyl tracks and towards individual link tracks.
I have several BMP kits, among them the Skif -3. I will dig them out and compare the vinyl Skif tracks with -1/2 tracks from my Dragon kits to see if they are compatible.
I did find the old Lindberg kit on eBay, it was $19 or best offer. The kit itself is not very good, but it does have vinyl tracks.
Hi Rob, I did some more research and it looks like the -3 has completely redesigned running gear, with paired roadwheels and a central guidehorn on the trackplates, the opposite of the -1 and -2 settup. Poaching the vinyls from the Lindberg kit looks like the only option for a flexible track…
I’ve looked at the ESCI parts and there’s an outside chance I can join them by drilling and pinning as if they were whitemetal workables. It’s not something I’ve done before, but it might work – shave off the trackbolt head from the outside of the connecting lug on each side, drill through and drill complimentary holes in the next link, then glue in a tiny piece of either metal or plastic through each, the challenge being to keep them from locking up by capillary action to the next link. It’s worth a shot, though vinyls look awful attractive by comparison!
Rob the quality of the tracks for Trumpeter’s BMP-1/2 and BMP-3 are actually quite similar to ModelKasten tracks and are workable. The Trumpeter BMP-1/2 tracks look like they would work with the DML/Skif BMP kits.
Telling me about Trumpeter workable tracks doesn’t help Mike find one piece vinyl tracks for his BMP kit though. Personally, I can make do with vinyl, individual link, as well as link and length tracks; I use whatever happens to come in the box unless the specific vehicle I am making calls for a style of tracks that requires a purchase of aftermarket tracks or the kit tracks are wrong or not very good.