Vinyl tank tracks ideas

I'm quite fond of band-type tracks, provided there's sufficient detail. I've built a couple of Tamiya T34s recently and have had to resort to staples, but like said above, a bit of dark grey paint can hide them pretty well. 

I usually leave the drive sprocket or idler unattached to model. I join the track ends before putting it on model, placing wheel into the track loop and sliding it into position along with track run. Easier than fiddling abot trying to connect the run when on model.

Getting the 'sag' can be tricky, but a decent trick is to use a bit of painted sprue or something, to sit on top to press down to wheels if the clearance isn't too obvious and if the sprue can be hidden from view. Worked a treat on my Tamiya 215c, you can't see it.

I have a memory, of either Life-Like or Nitto kits having a "T" shaped dovetail than the "mash with hot screwdriver" Tamiya tracks.

One of the issues with some sort of keylock vinyl is that the tarcks are both slippery and stubborn-stiff at the same time.

So, by the time you bend the vinyl enough to get it in the hole provided, it's eitehr bent too much to return to shape, or too slippery to stay locked in.

And you will have wrestled the tracks enough to flake a bunch of your hard-earned paint & effects off, too.

Or, just use the tried and true techniques of old--put the join up top if side sikrts, or else at the botttom and cover with mud or similar effects.

use a stapler to join the tracks together with a couple of staples and then paint to hide them.

The alternative is to dump rubber band tracks and get metal ones which are going to look much better and will be easier to deal with.

Hi Barrett - the vinyl tracks I have come across all come with locating pins & holes, and the method I use is to leave them alone until the tracks are painted & actually being fitted to the vehicle.  Joining the ends & then trying to stretch the tracks over the running gear is bound to cause problems. 

When ready, fit the tracks in place so that the ends come together on the top run of the track i.e. above the road wheels/return rollers, where any imperfections are most likely to be hidden.  Engage the pins in the holes & hold the ends together with a spring clip, clothes peg, or similar, then apply cement - I find ordinary liquid styrene cement works fine with Tamiya tracks.  If in doubt (or if this doesn't work) very carefully apply a small, heated metal implement - screwdriver tip, nail, etc. - to melt the pins into the surrounding material & join them together.  I have not had to resort to this with any of the three AFVs I have built in the last year or so (all Tamiya).

Matchbox used an interlocking system on their tracks in the 70s, but that meant joining  the tracks before attaching them, almost always with broken wheels as a result.  A dovetail-type design sounds feasible, providing it can be made to hold without slipping or twisting - good idea!

        Hutch.