nolan24 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Just wondering if anyone could help with how to build seperate tank tracks so they can be removed from the wheels for airbrushing ? I have not built a tank before only aircraft , am currently building a Trumpeter ASU-85 in 1/35 . The tracks for this kit are seperate plastic links and am a bit stuck with what to do with them . Many thanks . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jumbo Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Put the tracks on after you have finished airbrushing the hull and chasis is one option. I did this when I built my Dragon Sherman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy K Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 The way I do it is to dry fit the wheels to the axles, make up your lengths of track to suit then glue them to the wheels. When dry you can remove the whole lot as a sub assembly and it makes life easier for painting. Also I HAVE had a situation where the track links did'nt fit on the teeth of the drive sprockets so if I had tried to fit the tracks at the end of painting I would have probably ruined the model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artie Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Try to assemble them by sections of, lets say, 20 links. Use a straight edge to get them in line. Leave some individual links to be fitted around round shapes (traction and tensioner wheels). Before the glue is completely dry, shape the upper sections around the return wheels to give some "weight" appearence. When airbrushing, I prefer to give the main paint coats while on the sprues, then some touch up painting will be neeeded,of course. But the main thing that i use to do to avoid messing up with track links is: DON'T BUILD MUD MOVERS. :yahoo: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jumbo Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Try to assemble them by sections of, lets say, 20 links. Use a straight edge to get them in line. Leave some individual links to be fitted around round shapes (traction and tensioner wheels). Before the glue is completely dry, shape the upper sections around the return wheels to give some "weight" appearence. When airbrushing, I prefer to give the main paint coats while on the sprues, then some touch up painting will be neeeded,of course. But the main thing that i use to do to avoid messing up with track links is: DON'T BUILD MUD MOVERS. :yahoo: I agree with Artie. Building up the tracks on the Sherman I did almost made me go mad - it take patience to a whole new level! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séan Pádraig Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I am in the middle of my own first tank build... (I did a couple of Armourfast tanks a few years back but I don't really considert them as proper kits) and I was not sure how to approach the painting of the tracks. Here is my Tamiya 1/48th scale Cromwell Mk.IV tank (I bought it last year to build as an Irish Army vehicle only to discover that the Irish Army DID NOT operate the Cromwell...DOH! So almost straight away I started to lose intrest in the build) and then when I saw that each of the tracks were made up of 17 parts it was placed on the shelf of shame to gather dust... I needed a KUTA to complete it so I dusted it down to try and finish it over Christmas... this is how it looked was when I opened it up. Here are those gwad awful tracks... one mistake was that I found that I had started to remove them from the sprus without noting the part numbers so first I had a little jigsaw to do of the layout before assembly. And in unpainted sub assembly... Then it was off to the paint/spray booth... Sub assembly of the lower hull... Dry fit of the upper hull... I am reasonably happy with how it turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolan24 Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 (edited) Thank you for your replies , glad im not the only one who has trouble . The tracks your Cromwell have turned out well. Edited January 5, 2013 by nolan24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 If your tracks are completely indy link then use a straight edge, put a run of 20 links or so together then apply glue. Leave for a while until the link are stuck together but still flexible then apply to roadwheels etc. The flexibility still there will help you mould the tracks round sprockets and idlers etc. just make sure you add 1 extra link because as the glue dries the tracks will contract and lift away in places. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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