Thanx for the info on the idler wheel, too late to fix it now without messing up the paint
I wont tell if you dont LOL
I got a 1/72 Dragon Bradley IFV today and already assembled the wheels and rear hatch, the level of detail is remarkable in such a small kit.
Are the “elastic” tracks that we get with the kits these days vinal or rubber? I recall a 1/32 Trumpeter MiG 17 that had vinal tires and after a year or so it melted the plastic rims, do I need to take any special steps with these tracks before I put them on?
Depends; originally, Dragon kits came with black vinyl tracks that did not take paint too well and they remained tacky to the touch if enamels were used. Then later kits came with flesh colored Dragon Styrene (“DS”) tracks. Some of these DS tracks crumbled into pieces either while painted and weathered on the vehicle or while untouched inside the box. Later DS tracks were better and didn’t have the problem.
Most of the “bad” DS vinyl tracks should be around a decade old and if they were going to deteriorate, they would have done so by now. But on the safe side, just use acrylics to paint and weather.
Dragon black vinyl tracks should be painted and weathered with acrylics as well so the paint dries and doesn’t have the tacky feel to them.
The tracks on the sherman was also a black soft plastic of sorts, I did have quite a hard time when I put them on that the mud fell out in places where it bends.
I primed them with tamiya primer and painted with enamels, dried completely and does not feel tacky, it is very hot and dry here or maybe I was just lucky!
Even when I had to stretch them a little to get over the wheels, they did not feel like they were about th crumble.
The tracks on the bradley is also the black stretchy plastic and feels nice and plyable sofar. However I will heed your warning and do this Irak Bradley with acrylics, maybe the weathering will als stick better.
The DS tracks on the Churchill worked better than I had expected after I had heard the same awful things about them. They did accept glue and paint without issues.
Same on the M-103. Glued fine and accepted paint. Primed with Krylon. No issues.
Seems Tamiya is doing this now as well. The instructions for the new M4A3E8 mention that the rubber tracks can be glued. I have not tried it yet, however.
You’re confusing the old issue with the original Dragon black vinyl tracks with the black vinyl tracks issued with your Trumpeter kit. They are most likely different types of vinyl and will not have the same issues. If you happen to buy an old Dragon 1/72 scale armor kit with black vinyl tracks, they may have an issue taking paint.
Likewise with the Dragon DS tracks. Some of my old kits, the tracks deteriorated, but on the newer ones, there is no issue. There is also a problem with some of the old diecast metal hulls of Dragon kits, but not all. Some of them have started to crumble and split as the metal starts to deteriorate, I have a Panther G that is crumbling, but a Sturmtiger built at the same time has had no issues.
I’ve posted this a few times before but what the hey? A friend recommended auto store flexible trim and bumper paint as a primer/undercoat for flexible tracks. So far I’ve had no issues with it myself. This is the brand I’ve been using, not sure if it’s available there or not but I’d think there’d be something like it in a South African auto parts store.
I wish I had posted a response earlier. Its important to support the modelers that take on builds in this scale, and you have done an excellent job. Hope to see you build more.
Only a handful of their early kits that included their Panther/Jadgpanther, Sturmtiger and the USMC AAV7A1. The Amtrac was reissued later as an all plastic kit as were the Panther hulled kits.
