Hey all - I’m in the process of building up my first armor kit that doesn’t employ rubber band tracks (Dragon Pz.IV + friuls), and I’m just curious if there’s a best practice for when to mount the tracks. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about anything actually obscuring the tracks, so I’m hoping I can put them on very late in the game, but I’m a bit concerned about the guide horns and the wheels.
I’ve been thinking I might install the inner wheels first, then the sprocket and idler with the tracks attached, and then put the outer wheels on last. Does that work? Is that feasible? Is there a better way?
Like a number of things, differemnt people do it different ways. I know some guts on here add the tracks before painting. Personally, i add them as near to the end as possable. In fact, i don’t add anything to the vehicle before painting it, painting and then adding the tracks tools and anything else after the vehicle its self is finished.
I will add the weathered tracks to the tank close to the end as possible,and yes leaving different wheels off and some on works well also.When I did my JSU-152 I installed all the road wheels + the drive sprocket,but left off the idler till after the runs were in place,whatever works best I say.just have to experment
I’m a put the track on then paint guy, but if you’re using fruils they’re very easy to mount after the fact. As has been mentioned, just leave your sprockets and idlers so they roll and thread the track on like the real thing. Then use a pair of tweezers or some such thing to hold them together while you put in the last pin/wire. If you don’t like your track sag you can adjust very easily then too by dropping or adding a block.
Hi, I always try to put the tracks as late as possible.
usually I get both the tank and the tracks painted and weathered and everything, then put the tracks together with only the idler wheel and the sprocket, and then add the middle wheels, that will put the track in tension and will come in pretty easily. Of course you will need one or two dry fit tests, but it is worth it.
Fellow-Doog, read through my indy track tutorial HERE I outlined a great way to mount the tracks that works especially well for any tank that has road wheels and return rollers. German panzers are particularly well-suited for this method. I hope you;ll find all the answers you need in it.
I’m with the others here who say that tracks get mounted near-last. The less you have to handle them when they’ve been put on, the less chance there is of fracturing them.
When working with Fruils, what I usually do is as follows. I’ve found it works best for me.
Complete lower hull and temporarily or permanently affix all of the roadwheels, return rollers, idler and drive sprocket. Do not join permanently to upper hull.
Assemble the fruil track runs for both sides and mount, leaving that last pin unglued. This allows me to adjust for track sag, length, etc.
Dismount tracks. Complete model, and complete the tracks separately. Once everything is finished, join the two. I usually leave the last pin to be joined on the bottom run of the tracks, and obviously facing the inside of the hull. The fruils, when properly assembled, are extremely resilient to handling, and I’ve never had a run fall apart on me.
So long as you don’t install the sprockets and idlers in a permanent position, installing the actual workable tracks as the last step should be fairly easy, just use the sprockets to “feed” the tracks into position, then secure the final pin, and voila! track installation is complete. You should have no problem painting/blackening and weathering the Fruils off the kit prior to installation.
I do it all the time with the MK tracks I use on my builds and don’t have any issues. So long as the Fruil guide-horns fit correctly through the return rollers and the road wheels (and there’s no reason they shouldn’t on DML kits), feeding them into position and then permanently fixing the sprocket and idler once the tracks are in place is a snap.