Hi all. I was putting together the Friuls tracks for the Marder III/M and figured I would take some pics and share what I have found to save a lot of time getting the track run together. Doog's indy tracks toot on Armorama gave me the idea a while back. Also, have you ever been sticking in one of the pins and it misses a hole and come out the other side in your finger. Not anymore.
A simple jig is made with some balsa strips and double stick tape. Line the "rail" up so the tracks edge is even with the base.
I use an angled tweezer... Walmart-cheap... to set the links in place. I don't bother doing any clean-up on the links. If one does not fit for whatever reason i put it aside and pick up another. So far I have never run out and had to go to the reject pile to clean some up to finish a run. Press the link down and in at sort of a 45 degrees angle. Holding the previous links down keeps them from popping up if you push a bit too hard.
The double stick tape, this is 3M Permenet... but it is not really permanent, just strong... should hold everything in place so the jig can be picked up and handled. Take the appropriate sized drill bit and chuck in the Dremel so you can move from one hole to the next down the run. Set the bit so it does not come though when the chuck bumps the wood.
I take the supplied wire and cut it into 6 more or less equal lengths. holding them together I cut the pins a little long and it they slip right in the drilled holes. Don't worry if they are not perfectly straight, a little bit of a curve holds them in nicely. I do not glue them and never had a pin fall out. Run down the line with nippers to take off the excess.
The red dots are every 10 links so if i get sidetracked it is easy to figure how many you need to go.
