Now that I finished with my Su-12 I returned to my T-80.
Spent a bit of time sorting out the hull. Not happy with the bulge on the front - had to use Milliput - but it will just have to do. The real thing was fairly crude in reality.
Then I installed my suspension. Its fairly soft and “dainty” but the tank is-currently-light.
Then I painted it my standard issue gun metal to cover the rust.
And I made some wheels and idlers (same thing!)…
Then I had to deal with the tracks.
The T-80 uses some weird double toothed track with a single row of teeth on the sprocket engaging in the middle.
The only two toothed track I know of is the Sherman. So I got some metal ones. Then I filed, ground, Dremeled and sanded off the chevron things. Then I made a little jig and drilled a hole in the dead centre of each link. Tedious work. The aim is not so much to produce a T-80 track, but to produce any track that works and that doesnt stink of Sherman.
Then the sprockets wouldnt fit correctly. So I ground off the back of the sprocket until I had just a disk of teeth left.
Then I adjusted the teeth spacing with a file. Then I mounted that disk between two steel “rims”, checked that the “sprocket” was running true, then bolted the two “rims” together ending up with a rudimentary sprocket with a central row of teeth.
They need some finessing and a means of getting them on the drive shaft but that shoul dbe OK.
They engage nicely with the tracks at any rate.
Dont think I will be driving it on the wooden floors at home.....the wife will kill me.
p