stevehnz Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 A huge departure for me, joining in with an Armour GB, in fact joining in with a GB at all this year, though I did do one early in the year & now, this is the third I've signed up for tonight. 😮  The Heller Classic & MTO GBs being the other two. Chances of completing all of them? A bit iffy I'd say but I'll do my best. This job looks like a simple enough build, once I've got the wheels painted. The tracks don't look very nice so I'll have to see how I get on with them, any advice welcome. Box & Sprues. Steve.  7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonT Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Excellent stuff, can’t have too many wolves in sheep’s clothing!  I do like a Panther in fancy dress!  looking forward to seeing it come together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mig Eater Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Is this the third Ersatz being built now? It's Surprising how popular this rather rare vehical is. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, Mig Eater said: Is this the third Ersatz being built now? It's Surprising how popular this rather rare vehical is. Welcome to the build Steve... I believe so I still need to start my thread but I do believe its up to three. Anyone know if these carried individual markings besides the stars ? Edited October 13, 2020 by Corsairfoxfouruncle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 I've been having a play with this wee kit & quite enjoying it. I'd decided I would cut off the inner wings, for want of a better name, from the lower hull so I could paint , assemble & fit the road wheels & tracks more easily. To this end, I glued a piece of sprue between the wings to ensure they would go back in the right orientation. I also did some trial assembly of the turret, the instructions leave a fair bit to be desired but eventually I arrived at something that seems to work. Happy enough up to there but then, disaster. I decided to check out the tracks & as I tore open the end of their bag, they began to break up. What I had though were flexible vinyl style tracks a la Airfix kits were very biscuity brittle pieces that wouldn't take any handling or flexing at all as an attempt to try met with another piece broken off. Bugger. Dragon call them DS tracks, whatever that stands for. I could see nothing in the instructions re heating them prior to bending & fitting, nor what to use to glue them with once/if I managed to do this. I'm assuming they have some how deteriorated & gone brittle, or not? Any thoughts on this. What are Dragon like for spares. The website has a form for this but I haven't tried it yet. Steve. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mig Eater Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 (edited) The DS tracks (stands for "Dragon Styrene") are meant to work just like rubber/vinyl tracks, but they are made from a hybrid material that can be glued together with regular plastic cement. They are however notorious for becoming brittle & falling apart with age, you can often tell if they have gone bad if there is some moisture inside the plastic bag when you open it (the oil in the plastic seeps out of the material & they dry up becoming brittle). They also dont react well to any enamel paint or thinner, which will again make them brittle & fall apart. Dragon are now replacing the DS tracks in their newer releases(/reboxes) with "Neo" link and length tracks. PS: The "wings" are sponsons 😛 Edited October 18, 2020 by Mig Eater 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Oh wow Steve... Sorry to hear of this. I hope you can do something with what you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Oh wow Steve... Sorry to hear of this. I hope you can do something with what you have. It sounds from what @Mig Eater has said above (Thanks), I'm after some more tracks, trying to do anything with these one would be futile. I'll try Dragon, failing that there are the OKB after market ones but their website seems to inidcate they're not shipping to our part of the world just now, poor connections I'd guess. In the meantime time, doing it as I intend, I can carry on, though the other GBs I've been rash enough to subscribe better take some priority. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Can you take bits and pieces to make it look like the Tank has thrown a track ? And keep the other side away from the viewer, maybe a boxed vignette ? Maybe a shell hole through the drive wheel to give the impression of a knocked out tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Can you take bits and pieces to make it look like the Tank has thrown a track ? And keep the other side away from the viewer, maybe a boxed vignette ? Maybe a shell hole through the drive wheel to give the impression of a knocked out tank. I think even that would be a challenge with the tracks the way they are. Maybe I'll retire this one for now, see if I can get some AM tracks for it & possibly break out my Revell Jagdpanther. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonT Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Yes, bring out the mighty Jagdpanther! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 On 13/10/2020 at 17:31, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Welcome to the build Steve... I believe so I still need to start my thread but I do believe its up to three. Anyone know if these carried individual markings besides the stars ? Check out Aleran decals as they do a sheet for the ersatz M-10s. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 I've had the track issue a few times sadly. Â Dragon are useless when it comes to spares - never once had a reply from them from any ticket I have ever submitted! Â OKB would be my choice. Â Â Â 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 On 10/18/2020 at 11:48 AM, stevehnz said: Dragon call them DS tracks, whatever that stands for. Whenever we have nothing to do at work we are put on DSP, it stands for Dog S*** Patrol which basically means going around tidying up, perhaps the DS bit stands for the same thing with Dragon's tracks. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted December 21, 2020 Author Share Posted December 21, 2020 Two months down the track & no response from Dragon, a pox on them. Much what I'd come to expect from what I'd read though. I haven't proceeded this any further, I'll get some OKB tracks after Christmas & put it aside for a KUTA GB some time later, so I guess I'm formally withdrawing from this GB, I'm really hosed off about it, as of the 3 fairly coincidental GBs I'd signed up for, this was the one I attacked with the most enthusiasm.  Thanks all for your encouragement & Dennis & Sgt Squarehead for hosting it. 'nuther day. Steve. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 1 minute ago, stevehnz said: Two months down the track & no response from Dragon, a pox on them. Much what I'd come to expect from what I'd read though. I haven't proceeded this any further, I'll get some OKB tracks after Christmas & put it aside for a KUTA GB some time later Probably the best bet - I've recently discovered several of my dragon kits ds tracks have dried out and crumbled. Apparently a known issue with ds over time but chuffing annoying as OKB ones arent cheap (although they are fantastic!). 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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