Help installing tracks

Which kit are you working on? Some kits have more leeway than others to deviate from the instructions when installing the tracks. 

The kit is the M32 Recovery Vehicle.  It's a really tight fit but I installed everything movable so actually wrapping them around was not a problem just getting that connection fitting.

You have to do the pin melt thing before you put the tracks on. They go on afterwards without too much fuss on the Italeri Sherman family ones I have built

Glue does not work on the Italeri vinyl tracks. Super glue would flake off. The sprockets are attached from the inside of the hull. But you might be able to attach the idler wheels after prying the tracks on. It's been many years since I built one of these kits. But still, you need to get the tracks together first.

I've already found that Super Glue wont work also I have one the Bondic UV 'cold weld' things and this didn't work on it either.  I still have one good track and I'll try to melt the pins and put it on as a unit... taking the Ilder off isn't an option so it may be a battle to get it on but I'll try it.

Sounds like you may just want to get some AM tracks. Quite a few companies make replacements for Shermans

Those things are a real challenge. If you had fenders, I'd say just glob on a bunch of glue on a return roller and make your join on top of that, but in this case that would too exposed. How about making a splint out of a piece of flat plastic. Glue it to the underside of the top run of the tracks and make your join there. It would only be visible to people who pick up the tank and look at the underside. 

If you want to stick with the kit tracks, you can join the damaged one using staples or sewing it with thread and needle... Both are 70s vintage methods for 70s vintage track boo boos...

Stapler

HA, the thought ran thur my mind and it might just be the simplest solution.  But the fact remains these are a pain... I just didn't realize how big a pain.

Thanks, Tom

PS  I must have broken half-dozen pieces off the tank and I still only have 1 side one.  Just now when I thought I had them on I realized the sprokets broke free in addition to a varity of small pieces that went Zinging off into the atmosphere. I'm not very happy with these tracks... I think this is my first and last experience with them.  Very Frustrating.

So I finally was able to get the tracks on and get this one moved along in the shop, I tried to post an image but I wasn't able. In any case thank you for the help.  I actually have a new question about pigments which I'll post as soon as I finish here.

Still working on posting an image, I guess I need a Photobucket account...

If I was your neighbor I would buy you a beer.

Tracks are funny things.

Rubber band ones- melt the pins and they are too tight.

Too tight- snap the axles.

Switch to aftermarket- the sprockets don't match the holes in the tracks.

Switch the sprockets to match the tracks- they bind against the sides of the hull.

It goes on and on.

I've come to realize that in the effort to get away from running models and get scale, over the last 20 years; approach attaching tracks to your model like detail parts. Work in smaller sections, do glue and sewing or staple joints where they don't show.

stikpusher

If you want to stick with the kit tracks, you can join the damaged one using staples or sewing it with thread and needle... Both are 70s vintage methods for 70s vintage track boo boos...

I'll second sewing thread, too.  I remember some instructions that even recommended it, back in the day.  May have been Airfix, or an MPC boxing of an Airfix kit.  I built a couple of the diorama sets, when I was a kid, and the instructions for one of the armor kits--maybe the Sherman--even had a little illustration of the loop or knot to stitch into the track ends.