Ok so I’m ready to get the tracks on and I’m about to start breakin stuff. They are magic tracks for a 1/35 jagdpanther. I have them glued into two runs top and bottom. They are also already painted. I’ve got the top run on and they’re acting like rubber band tracks. Didn’t keep shape that well. They are floating bout 5 mm above the wheels and it takes a lot of pressure to get them to lay down. I need to fix this without turning the whole thing into a steel turd.
Did you try glueing them down? Can you provide a picture?
I don’t have a computer right now just a dumbphone and I can’t get pictures to load from here. The best way to descibe it Is: I don’t remember the mfr but I built an m60 yrs ago with the rubber band style tracks and they came in a metallic silver color. And they were super stiff and I remember having to tie them down with super fine thread. I could glue them but everything has paint, filter, wash, and pigments now. I’m worried ill make a mess of it. I’ve had to rework every single other technique I had from back then so I thought maybe there was something new for this. Do you guys still have to wire them down. I’m thinking I didn’t let them set on the wheels long enough the first time so they didn’t retain their shape. ???
You said that the tracks are glued together in two runs. Did you shape them to the road wheels when you glued them?
There is a great tutorial on here by ‘the doog’ on how to construct indy-link tracks. The key is to assemble the tracks on a strip of tape. Apply your glue of choice, then let it begin to set up. While it is still drying, so it is strong enough to hold the links, but not so set up as to make them rigid, you drape them over the wheels, conforming them to the shape you want. They can then be removed for painting and final assembly.
If you did it that way and are still having that problem, I’m afraid I can’t offer any real help.
Sorry.
Once the glue fully cures on Magic tracks, they become “static”…so it definitely sounds like you didn’t leave the runs in place long enough on the vehicle while the glue dried for them to retain the required shape and that’s why they are now floating. 5mm above the wheels is a lot to overcome considering the length of the suspension on a JP. The easiset fix is replacing the tracks and starting over…if you don’t want to do that, then you’ll have to break up the run and try to fix at the sprocket (and idler too depending) section. The kit should have had some extra links as safe-guard but not a lot, so if you use a few new links, should be able to correct the sag issue and get them to sit properly on the wheels.
Her’s my indy links tutorial: DOOG’S INDY LINKS
You can actually gently "crack: those links between your fingers, and then apply some slow-setting liquid glue like Testor’s to the break, and let it soften them a bit. Then form them around the wheels again, and put little balls of tissue paper in between the tracks and hull, and let it sit OVERNIGHT. That should fix it.
Come on doog your tut is what got me through this ordeal so far. And it worked perfecty. I think I put some excess tension on them while painting. I only cracked one link by the sprocket and noticed that the tamiya cement mottled the joint too much so I didn’t go further for fear of mixmatching the tracks later. I was able to mark each attachment point and scrap some paint away. And I must say gel super glue is a life saver. No mess. And I stuffed some paper towells in there over night per doog and viola. But alas still found an issue. I attached the arms where dragon has points for and it sits way too high. According to my picks there’s way too much space between hull and tracks. Also I think I have too much sag. Most of the jags I see have a fairly tight run that barely touches the middle road wheels. Promise to have pics soon
Hmmm…have you thought about needlepoint? [;)]
Only kidding! Well, we’ve all been there no matter how good we think we are. I had a mess of a time with my M48 tracks, and superglue saved my butt there, too. Hope you get an acceptable result in the end? [:)]