i am building a trumpeter KV-1 and am trying to build the plastic track instead of using the rubber track. this is quite annoying. are there any tricks? i have plans B, C, and D but would really like to use the plastic. it’s already painted and weathered. all i have to show for my attempts is a nice blister on my right thumb.
Take a picture of those links. If they are similar to ones I have done I’ll post my exact method up. Actually I think I may do a tutorial and post it on my model building site. Incidently I’m going to be using my yahoo name fantacmet under 360 as a model building portal. If anyone is interested it’s http://360.yahoo.com/fantacmet . I did a review of the Tamiya Abrams with mine plow already. Thats about all I have up there for now. More will come, as I have time and builds completed. Will be doing the reviews and such in my blog most likely. I just got started in building armor and I was a bit put off by the tracks myself. After doing them though, most of them aren’t too bad. The ones on the Marder II I am working on however are going to present a challenge, due just to their design.
Michael
I’m not familiar with the kit your working on, but maybe I can help.
Here is link to some pictures on how I do it.
http://matt24.fotopic.net/c778272.html
I hope this is what your looking for.
i suspect this is similar to all individual link/track block tracks. this has 1 length for flat bottom, 1 length for sagging top and individual links for around the sprocket and idler. this may actually make it harder.
doh never though of gluing the links to the road wheels a little bit at a time. i have been trying to just click them together. will use white glue as that will give me some flexibility with moving them around and drying time. they are already painted and weathered, just some touching up when done. at least with the trumpeter kit the fenders are separate so i have plenty of room.
Mathew, your method, along with a couple of tips from an old issue of finescale modeler, helped me to design my own method where the only $$ expendature is a couple of inexpensive rulers. Works GREAT. Either way I strongly recommend using Testors Model Master Liquid Cement as opposed to Tenax or Plastruct as they don’t give anywhere near enough working time in my opinion. The Testors sets up enough to keep things together after about 20 minutes but provides many many MANY hours or working time to get things just right. I found after not even 5 minutes when I tried to form my tracks using tenax they endedup busting apart. Glad I had extra’s or that woulda been an expensive kit in the trash.
My method basically involves an empty cigarette pack, and I use the self grabbing tweezers to to grip each track section by it’s guide horn, to dip the part to be glued barely into the small pool of cement I’ve put on the empty pack, then I set it in place on the track in front of it. After I get the length I want(I usually do 40 at a time or so), I press them up against the side of one ruler, and then use the next one on top of the links and next to the guide horns. I then press them together a bit to keep them straight. Then with one hand I hold both rulers and apply just enough pressure to keep them in place. I use my other hand to compress each end of the length that I just glued together to get all the links together like they should be. So far I’ve done this on Dragon StuG III tracks and Academy PAnzer IV tracks where you can’t go too far. I am going to have to modify this method alot for the Dragon Marder II I have as it is easily possible to go too far in any direction except side to side with them.
I hope my information along with Mathews has helped to give you your own best method or at least some starting points. If you need more info, I still need to do more tracks for my StuG III, I would be happy to photograph a sequence of my method on it.
Michael
thanks to everyone. am taking the day off from it to let my thumb heal. i have a kursk GB 76.2 at gun to work on. also going to paint the black rubber band track and weather it and see how that looks. if it looks good may wimp out and use it on the KV-1 and use the KV-1 track blocks as welded extra armor for PZ-II and PZ-IIIs builds down the road. i will keep you posted.
Hey Wanyne, if you go to this address, I wrote a thorough tutorial on my method of doing individual tracks–I’m too lazy to type the whole thing here! Honestly, I’ve gone through every method I know and this method works awesomely!
Don’t give up ! Once you get the knack of indy tracks, you’ll never use rubber bands again!
The tutorial starts midway through my post…
/forums/729330/ShowPost.aspx
no kidding doog! No matter how nice vinyl tracks are I can’t resist indie tracks
Waynec, these are some good tips. I’ve built a Trumpeter KV-1 and have another waiting to be built. The link & length tracks are pretty easy to assemble. White glue is probably not the best as it won’t hold very well, even with painted parts, however if you’ve already got them assembled and on the tank then you’re done! Some other tips for future builds:
- Don’t paint the individual links before assembling the track set. Painting is best done after the tracks are assembled and glued and prior to permanently attaching to the wheels and suspension.
- Most indie and L&L tracks can be assembled in two runs, upper and lower. Glue all the links except for the ones that will attach the two runs together. This is a set of tracks for a Sherman. First photo is a set after they were assembled, glued and then wrapped around the suspension. Second photo is after they were removed and ready for painting.
Notice how the two runs are not glued together. The glue points will be covered with tape, then painted and weathered, the tape removed, the tracks installed back on the suspenstion and then finally glued together. This is how I did the tracks on my KV-1.
- Some like to assemble their tank models with the tracks totally glued on and don’t bother removing them for separate painting. The entire model, with tracks on, is painted as one unit and then individual painting is done later. That means some careful hand painting of the tracks so that the rest of the wheels and suspension don’t get messed up with sloppy painting, or vice versa! I think this works best if the tracks and suspension are being heavily weathered with dirt & mud.
Well I hope this and the other tips help you out! Happy building!
tracks are on. this time around took about an hour to get both tracks on. in the pics some track blocks aren’t weathered. that wasn’t some bit of artistic genius, simply forgot to weather that part of the sprue. anyway tracks are on and the fenders are on. a tad rough at the bottom but the diorama base will cover that up. thanks for the help. plan on having the tank together tonight, touch up painting, decals and start weathering on sunday. thanks for all the help.
Hey Wayne, that’s looking great! You’re on your way to being an indy-link master! Congratulations!
Make sure you post that baby when it’s finished!
i know its probably already too late, but all these techniques are great. espically the one from matthew and doog. couple bits of advice, when you make that mark on the drive sprocket, make sure you don’t fiddle too much with it, i had mine move on me and it took awhile to get it back in the right spot, i would recommend glueing the sprocket, and leaving the idler free to adjust the tension, or making a mark on the sprocket, AND on the hull.
and when you make both of your track runs, mark which side is left side, and which is right side. another trial-by-error. its really sucks to put everything together, then find out that you have them on backwards, then once you switch them around,…your track ends don’t meet up, or you end up having them connected wrong, (like two track horns side by side when they are suppossed to be alternating one with a horn, one without) because…you have the top left run paired up with the bottow right run. pair them up and mark them L/S and R/S, then its all downhill from there. HTH
never too late to pick up new techniques. i was completely anal about checking and rechecking the track to make sure it wasn’t on backwards.
done. will post new topic with more pics.
Hey waynec, that’s the same Trump KV-1 that I built! Yours looks much better though! Great job, but only one pic?? Oh, looks like you’re gonna post more pics? Looking forward to them!!
thank you. additional pics at this topic /forums/819516/ShowPost.aspx
Nice job! The tracks turned out good.