Rubber Tank Tracks breaking in the cold .

[cocky05d]

Hi ,has anyone had tracks breaking after they have been on the finished model for a while ?

I store my built models in one of my sheds so it might be the cold doing it.

Also didn't like the paint scheme after i had weathered it to death ,so i gave it the oven cleaner treatment .

In the process of wiping the gunk off broke a lot of the breakages and lost one of the turret hatch covers ,i think it might be easy enough to scratch build another one .

[SleeperService]

Hard to answer without knowing more. There are reports of Dragon DS track simply falling apart after a while. Ordinary black vinyl can rot, melt or split when the plastiser leeches out. It it's styrene then it could be that the paint stripper has dissolved the glue as well.

[AgentG]

Dragon's DS track will simply fall apart in some instances. I have two finished builds right now with broken tracks. Tamiya's current one piece tracks don't seem to have that problem. I have some old, and I mean 35 year, old, Tamiya tracks that still look good.

 

Indy link and link and length tracks are subject to separation for the above mentioned reason. Solvents penetrate the glue joints. 

 

I live in the desert so cold is not an issue. Heat and extremely dry air though are an issue. I have discovered that individual link tracks "shrink" while they set. Dragon's Magic Tracks are my favorite but.... I have to use masking tape cut in thin strips around the road wheels, sprocket and idler. This gives just enough play to account for paint on the wheels and track. Otherwise I'll get everything painted and they will be too tight upon final assembly. 

 

G

[cocky05d]

Thanks for the replies ,the tracks in question are rubber band type from the Tamiya Churchill tank ,but in the past tracks have broken on a comet and a bren gun carrier .

The track broke before i gave it the oven cleaner treatment .

Any way all the broken bits are back on ,except a front headlight .Got round that by putting a German helmet where it should be ,same with the other headlight .

A bit of Tommy humour to have German gear on their tank ,also scratch built a hatch cover .

Want to add some storage on the rear ,not a lot of room on a Churchill ,would the crews have stored stuff over the exhaust pipes guard ?

 

Talking of individual link tracks ,i am starting to get used to building them and i now prefer them to the rubber band type .

[Kiwidave4]

I have never had that problem, but did have the tracks for an Italeri M109 disintegrate when I did my usual pre-build degrease in sugar soap.

 

It may be caused by paint....rubber band tracks dont seem to like enamel paints. I always paint them with acrylics and use very thing coats, more of a wash than an actual coat.

 

But I prefer individual link, and now there are lots of affordable plastic sets available I tend to use them. 

[rayprit]

Tracks not effected with any of my kits at the moment - but, I do expect them to crack over time?  

 

I built 2 x Tamiya Chieftains over 10-15 years ago........I had reason to check them this month and was shocked to see the hub caps(the rubber like grommets)holding the roadwheels on have ALL cracked..............these end caps are the same material as the rubber tracks and put it down to perishing...........seems they are ecco friendly and just break up in situ................I read somewhere on the net about problems with Chieftain hub centres and the person concerned ended up casting a set in white metal.  Had the same thing happen with my Tamiya L.R.D.G. chevy truck tyres, but theirs plenty of replacement resin wheels around, so, managed to correct that easily enough

[Kiwidave4]

1 hour ago, rayprit said:

Tracks not effected with any of my kits at the moment - but, I do expect them to crack over time?  

 

I built 2 x Tamiya Chieftains over 10-15 years ago........I had reason to check them this month and was shocked to see the hub caps(the rubber like grommets)holding the roadwheels on have ALL cracked..............these end caps are the same material as the rubber tracks and put it down to perishing...........seems they are ecco friendly and just break up in situ................I read somewhere on the net about problems with Chieftain hub centres and the person concerned ended up casting a set in white metal.  Had the same thing happen with my Tamiya L.R.D.G. chevy truck tyres, but theirs plenty of replacement resin wheels around, so, managed to correct that easily enough

You were lucky they lasted that long! First Chieftain I built about fifteen years ago the hub caps cracked when test fitting them! I had to squash mould replacements from styrene, though when I was building my second Chieftain I was fortunate to have someone offer to cast me a couple of sets in resin. 

[cocky05d]

Glad someone mentioned Tamiya's Chieftains ,in the instructions it gives dark green as the main colour ,is that correct?

[rayprit]

1 hour ago, cocky05d said:

Glad someone mentioned Tamiya's Chieftains ,in the instructions it gives dark green as the main colour ,is that correct?

Chieftain roadwheel colours are as per instructions

[cocky05d]

Hi ,i meant the tank it's self ,the instructions say Tamiya dark green ,s that correct?