i’m usually an airplane guy but have also done 1/48 Tamiya Tiger I and Hobby Boss T-34. (Hobby Boss didn’t have the best tracks to work with.)
i picked up the Dragon 1/35 T-34 “Krasnoe Sormovo” smart kit as I am realizing that 1/35 is the scale to do. The reviews look good for it!
I have a general question about track assembly and painting… Does this method make sense? 1) Paint tank and wheel wells without wheels 2) paint wheels separately 3) assemble unpainted tracks with testors “pink” bottle glue, set for 5 min and then wrap around wheels/gears and put whole assembly on tank to let dry (will tracks glue to wheels???) 4) pull off wheels/gears and track assembly once totally dry 5) paint tracks 6) put tracks/wheels back on tank 7) weather tank. This was the only way i could think to paint the tracks off the tank AND not get glue all over the place. Would like to hear other methods from more experienced tank builders.
Andy that technique is the way to go, return rollers or not. It might even be a bit easier for a 1st go at it without them. Check some photos of T-34 tracks. If they were put on a bit loose they will sag a tiny bit between the road wheels. Don’t worry about the tracks sticking to the road wheels or what ever you use to stuff in above the tracks sticking either. Trick is to get them to look exactly as you want them to while they still have some flex. Let the glue cure really hard… 2 to 3 days.
Andy; Go to the search our community box at right, there is an excellent tutorial there I had a lot of problums with Dragon tracks also but this tutorial smoothed it all out for me try good luck. Aceses5[snWcm][proplr]
thanks guys. yeah i think i can adapt the tutorial for the t-34 by only gluing on one half the road wheels. while still setting up i can put on the other half of the wheels with a tiny drop of white glue and just pop them off to remove the tracks assembled. this could turn into a very frustrating event! [:P] proper planning will be essential!
There are as many ways of applying tracks are their modelers. I have tried almost all of them, and favor this way because it has a very low risk of damaging anything. I prefer not to cross painting and gluing, and prefer to do all my gluing in one stage and all the painting in the other. Glue+ Paint= BAD! I tack the the wheels, sprockets, return rollers, and idlers to the model using a small amount of glue, CA, or blue-tack (you just want the glue to hold it in place, but weak enough to break it off later.) Then, i make long lengths of tracks about 30 links in length, glued together with Tamiya Extra Thin cement (green lid) and let them sit for five minutes. You want the links to be flexible, but not to loose that they fall apart. I then drape and mold the links to where they need to go. Once this is finished, i lock them in place with the Extra Thin to all the wheels and sprockets. This makes the entire running gear and tracks one piece. When it is time to paint, carefully pop this off to get the paint where you want it. Dont worry about getting paint on the tracks and wheels and stuff- greens, yellows, grays, etc. blend in fine with washes and weathering. Model on!
yeah i guess that was sort of my over-arching question: where does the gluing and painting intersect? or do they? i agree, gluing after painting is risky unless using micro crystal clear or something.
ideally i think i want the tracks glued and shaped but off the tank so i can prime, paint and attach later. then weathering would be part of the overall effect of the assembled tank.
I am buzy with a 1/35 M1A2 and it has the tracks that have to be assembled from individual pieces, man this is very frustrating and fidly for me[:@]
I have temporarly installed the wheels and sprocket, than started to assemble the track arround them so that I can ,when fully cured, remove it as a “whole” track for painting.If it will work I have no idea, but I can,t see any other way to paint it after it has been installed permanently over the wheels.
You tank guys seem to have aloy more patience than the plane builders[:D]
it seems the general consensus on individual tracks is to lay them out on tape (sticky side up of course), apply some Testor’s “pink label” glue liberally, let sit for 30 min and then gently lift the flexible assembly off the tape. then wrap it around the tank’s wheels, gears, etc, glue together the ends and let it cure. if all goes well you should be able to pull the whole assembly off. at least this is my understanding. now whether or not i do this successfully is another story!
i agree, airplanes are just a lot easier than tanks, at least to me too. i sense a debate coming on but seriously… tracks are just a pain to assemble and paint. it’s good to challenge our skills though. then when we build a Dragon TA-152 it’ll be a cinch! [:D]
Andy if you follow the procedure as you just descried you should do just fine. You really those glue joist rock hard before you take them off.
Debate? Hmmm? Maybe[;)] Having been an all aircraft all the time guy and being pulled over to the dark side, easier may be too broad of a comparison. Basic building skills are what they are. If parts fit great all the better but if they don’t you still have to know how to fix stuff. I used to think there was a potential for a lot more detailing on a tank. Then I take a look at chukw’s Helldiver and Me-410 and I am not sure that is a valid statement.
Both have similar steps involved as far as building and finishing. Weathering my be one of the biggest variances. Takes on a whole new dimensions when you take aerodynamics out of the equation. And decals… I most of my tank molders have as few as zero decals and a lot would be like 6 or 8. I just dusted off a 1/48 F-15 built 25 years ago and I estimated 180 +/- decals (I counted one side x 2).
So I would say both have their easy and hard aspects.
Wow, isn’t it just amazing how a simple eligant solution to a problem it just sitting there in your face and you don’t see it[sn]
I like the idea of the sticky tape and will give it a go!I see that I had glued the series of links to the sprocket…that will make for some interesting painting later[:$]
I don’t know the pink testors glue you refere to, will have to go and find uot from the model shop.Its it a slow setting glue?
i think it’s the armor-specific aspects that make it daunting for plane guys and probably vise versa. and yes, when i saw how few armor decals are used it made me realize that you have to make the vehicle stand out in other ways: good tool painting, color variance, washes, pin washes, dry brushing, mud/dust/pigments/weathering… there is some crossover to airplane modeling as you state but still questions like “ok, what goes on and in what order?” or “when do i paint that and how?” or my favorite: “do i paint this on the vehicle or off it?” I’m sure it’s because I’ve built enough airplanes and now i know the order of operations simply from practice. I’ve only taken on two tanks thus far and frankly they both turned out mediocre at best. oh well. the breakdowns were in the tracks and the weathering, the latter being one you pointed out as a big difference. (altho the Hobby Boss T-34 was going really well until the tracks. they are just abysmal to work with.) so now the T-34 is my test tank to try out different techniques and such.
And of course there is the whole figure painting and diorama aspect that just scares the he11 out of me and gets me jazzed to take it on. if only i had more time to practice it all and try every technique i’ve read about. dang.
Thanx, I will see if we have the stuff here in SA.
The other thing I find a little intimidating with armour is that my know-how lies with planes and I have very little experience with armour in general, perhaps I should have paid better attention to the details when I was on deployment with the tanks as a combat medic.
Here is a dumb question, with this method of tape and liberal amounts of slow glue wraped arround and left to cure…how do you stop the tracks from sticking to the wheels?
valid question!! i have that same concern. With all that glue… how can the tracks NOT stick to the road wheels? All i can hope is that maybe after 30 min they are glued together and flexible but not tacky… ???
When you apply the glue you are not going to slather it on like you are in a BBQ contest. Just paint it down the length of the track so it it well covered. You definitely don’t want any puddling. When you wait the 30-40 minutes, the glue on the flat surfaces will be basically dry having evaporated. The glue in the joints will have softened the plastic to weld together but will still be just pliable enough to from it around the tracks. I never had an issue with it sticking to a road wheel.
Well, I tried the sticky tape thing and was pleasantly surprized with the good results.With this tecnique I was able to line up the fidly individual links and put them tightly around the front wheel and the rear sprocket.Only trouble isthat the links stuck to the sprocket, some fine scalpel work should sort it out.
I used the normal yellow needle tip humbrol polli cement and hoped for the best[:D]
Big thanx for this tip.I might just so another tank!