Assembling track links

Hi buddy,

My current WIP is a Tamiya kit and comes with both link & length (L&L) tracks and one piece tracks. If it's a German or Russian build you'll want to use the L&L tracks so you can obtain some realistic sag. I only use the one piece tracks on armour with 'live' tracks like the Sherman where the tracks are very tight and don't sag.

Personally, I never glue the tracks onto the model. I assemble the top and bottom runs and use the single links to attach them being careful not to glue the tracks to the wheels. I leave it to so the very last joint is left unglued so after they have been left 'in-situ' & have fully set they can be fully removed in one piece for proper painting along with the wheels.

If you need to add sag to the top run I'd recommend packing outthe top track run between the return rollers with foam or foam ear plugs etc whilst the glue is still setting-this will push down on the tracks where the sag needs to be, just make sure you use enough links to compensate for te sag and don't leave yourself short of link for the other side!

This is my current WIP - see what I mean? It makes everything so much easier:

For any delicate work like this, particularly on track links, I recommend the use of Tamiya's Extra Thin Cement that you see in the square bottle at the back of this photo. It's very easy to use and leaves little mess.

Best of luck and remember - take your time and don't rush. Make sure you triple check your links against the instructions before reaching for the glue as it's VERY easy to get them wrong. Glue link and lengths in the wrong direction and you'll probably struggle. Been there and done that!

I hope this helps! 

Kind regards,

Ben  

That style of track is called link and length. I don't have that kit but, there should be a couple of long runs for each side that would be the top and bottom runs. There may be a couple of short runs to go from road wheel to sprocket/idler and several individual links that are to be assembled around the sprocket and idler. There are many ways to put these together and pretty much every builder does it his own and yet in a similar way. I basically pick a start point and build my way around the suspension with them. I use a slow setting glue and wait for everything to hang together, but still be flexible then I put them on  the tank. I personally don't care for these much because my building style means you have to paint the tracks on the vehicle. Not an impossible job but it's more difficult than painting them off the vehicle. I'm sure a few of the other folks will chime in and give some other workable ideas as well.

What you have are link and length type tracks i beleave, with two long pieces per side and indivigual track pieces to go around the return rollers and drive sprockets, once assembled they will not work like the one piece rubberband type tracks, they are assembled and glued in place permenently.

Here's my track links feature on Armorama. This should give you some good pointers.

If it has regular "link and length" tracks, where you have already-assembled longer sections of tracks, that's easy--just join the top halves and the bottom halves and then when you put the wheels on, slip he tracks on and join them at the ends.

Conceptualize it in your head, test fit it, think about what you're going to do, and it should fall together quite easily.