What's the easiest way to clean up individual track links?

I guess it all boils down to what you are willing to spend...either time or money...to put the tracks on. I have a hard time personally spending $30 on AM tracks for a kit that didn't cost that much to begin with, but that's just me. Dragon ejector pin marks are usually face up on the links and over 90% of them are invisible because of placement on the wheels so I don't even bother with them. After painting, placing, and weathering them, you'd have to look real hard to spot them to begin with.

I've not yet graduated to the insanity level of drilling out the guidehorns but will probably get there one day I guess.

I personally believe the Dragon indy links (usually) clean up fairly easy if you use sprue cutters and my system is real straightforward. 1/2 the links are cut away from the sprue and placed in a glass bowl after they've been basecoated and washed. I clean up each link as I assemble it and so far have never had a track require more than an hour to build in this fashion (this ranges from monster Tiger tracks to teensy Kettenkrad links) so I'm happy with it.

Have just started this kit myself and after a good look at the links and links in my other dragon kits i came to the conclusion that the panther links are crap and not worth the effort to clean them up so aftermarket is the way to go either tamiya rubber tracks , there indi links ,fruils or ww11 productions , i will use the ww2 prod tracks as they seem the best. This kit was to be my first attempt at dragon indi links but i only paid 20 dol aus for it so i dont mind forking out for good tracks as the rest of the kit is very nice. Regards Bob.

Patience, persistence and perceverance.
Take the time to do it right and you'll be much happier for it in the end, regardless of how daunting a task it may seem.

Good luck and welcome. Pics when your done?

QUOTE: Originally posted by gigabyte120 Thank you very much for your assistance fellow modelers! However, I decided to proceed with AM tracks. I noticed a serious error on the links. The horns are all incorrect. They do not have the guiding holes but instead a one piece solid styrene. For all Dragon AFV Modelers who wishes to use the Individual Tracks, ensure the tracks are accurate before you proceed. Making them accurate will eat up your time unnecessarily. Again, my gratitude to all and for the WELCOME.

Be forwarned my friend, sometimes fruilmodel can exhibit the same issue, thier molds leak too, I've found myself drilling on Panther tracks too.

Steve

I leave them on the sprue and wrap a piece of sand paper around a popcicle stick for the sanding. After that it gets tedious as you have to cut them from the sprue and clean up the connection points. For me that's about as easy as it gets.

My fiance bought me the Dragon PZ I B kit by Dragon today.

Man talk about small track links!!

I am working on a Revell 72nd Tiger that has bigger links I think.

Havn't even begun to figure out the system I am going to use for these babys.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Foster7155 When I built my Pz IV for the group build, I drilled out every single guide horn in the Dragon links. They ended up looking great and I'm not sorry I spent nearly three weeks working on the tracks. Enjoy your modeling...

Did they haul you away to the padded room?

QUOTE: Originally posted by gigabyte120 Thank you very much for your assistance fellow modelers! However, I decided to proceed with AM tracks. I noticed a serious error on the links. The horns are all incorrect. They do not have the guiding holes but instead a one piece solid styrene. For all Dragon AFV Modelers who wishes to use the Individual Tracks, ensure the tracks are accurate before you proceed. Making them accurate will eat up your time unnecessarily. Again, my gratitude to all and for the WELCOME.

When I built my Pz IV for the group build, I drilled out every single guide horn in the Dragon links. They ended up looking great and I'm not sorry I spent nearly three weeks working on the tracks.

Enjoy your modeling...

I built the same kit and added Tamiya tracks links to the panther in my sig. Piece of cake.

Thank you very much for your assistance fellow modelers! However, I decided to proceed with AM tracks. I noticed a serious error on the links. The horns are all incorrect. They do not have the guiding holes but instead a one piece solid styrene.

For all Dragon AFV Modelers who wishes to use the Individual Tracks, ensure the tracks are accurate before you proceed. Making them accurate will eat up your time unnecessarily.

Again, my gratitude to all and for the WELCOME.

I don't think there is an easy way. Just the best way,which is to work at it. Indy links in DML kits make a fine looking set of tracks when done right. Just hang in there, take your time -it'll be worth it when you're done. I personally buy the Fruilmodel tracks. I just save those nickels and dimes until I get the $30. I figure my time is worth something, and since I'm a "get it done "guy, I like to finish my models in a reasonable amouint of time. I used to build OOB, but I find that with all the demands of life, I probably would never get a kit finished if I didn't hedge a bit.

Good luck on the Panther, I've got the same kit on the bench now, with a nice set of Fruils to go with it

Steve

what i like to do is to put two sanding sticks down and make a jig. If they are on the other side of the guide horns, then just put the track on and sand. This way you get a nice even sand. goes by real fast

One darn link at a time! I'm cleaning up the links to the Dragon Nashorn right now! I'm using some of my 'riffler files' to sand off the ejector pin markngs (2 per link in this case). It's tedious work, but in the end worth the effort!

Glenn

I was just reading an article about an IS-2 build with Model Kasten tracks, in which the author used a coat of Gunz Mr. Surfacer 1000 to rapidly clean up the ejector pin marks. I don't see any reason why the technique couldn't work just as well on plastic as resin. Then again, the pin marks were on nice flat solid surfaces on the inside of the IS-2 tracks...not sure that would be the case with a Panther.

Like many things, I guess it comes down to making a choice between a lot of work and a lot of money.


M.

Welcome to the forum.

From my point of view, the answer is, no. Other than creating your own "system" for getting through the links as fast as you can, there's not much you can do. Dragon links require time, patience, and tedious attention to detail to clean up. If you try to sacrifice time, you'll end up either damaging too many links or missing areas that need attention.

I agree with you that Dragon links are acceptable (sometimes, more than acceptable) are much cheaper than the AM alternatives.

Enjoy your modeling...