I have a Testors/Italeri M4A1 Sherman which comes with one-piece vinyl tracks. After mounting them, I find that they pull up the bogies on each end. They should be flat on the ground…correct? There’s no extra links to put in to lengthen the track, so what are my options?
Thanks much,
Mike in The Villages, FL
Just did Italeri’s M7 with DS track and had the same problem. My only solution was to sit the model on its base just the way I wanted it and while pressing down firmly apply cement to the pivot points of the front and rear bogies of each side. It is necessary to hold it in this position until the cement sets. If the tension is high enough, a drop of CA may be necessary. Hope this helps.
With the Italeri Sherman based kits (and indeed their Dragon descendents) you are better off cementing the bogies, as they are not correctly articulated to move correctly anyway. Italeri presents tbe bogie arms as a solid inverted “V”, whereas in the real thing, the two arms moved independently. (for want of a better description, hinged at the point of the “V”).
Like Phil says, the Testors/Italeri Sherman style bogies are incorrectly articulated. They “rock” back & forth like a rocking horse instead of articulating up and down from the end points. They would really work as your arms would if you were flapping them like chicken wings with your shoulders as independent pivot points.
The best bet is to glue them in place to handle the stiff Hersey bar-like tracks of the Italeri kit.
Thanks guys…looks like the glue route is last resort.
Or you can replace them with some Dragon/CyberhobbyDS styrene Sherman tracks. The kit tracks are of the type not commonly seen on US Shermans. T48 or T48 with end extenders (duckbills) were more common. The DS tracks only cost around $10-$12 for a new set.
Also, the DS tracks are very well detailed, and lay down nicely, especially if you pay attention to their length. I’ve had to take out two links on every set I’ve used, but they glue together nicely with regular cement.