Individual track links advice

I made a jig for my tracks and it helped! My first attemt at just going for it made for some curving sections. So just come up with a little jig for the straight sections .

speaking of extra tracks. Ive been replacing all of mine with the fruilmodels, so now I have a surplus of Dragon and Italeri German track sets. Does anybody need any?

Brush painting the tracks is not hard as it's all done with brushes anyway (washes and drybrushing) with the exception of the base coat. I spray paint (can or airbrush) them flat black and let them dry several days. Then start washes with very thin burnt umber oil paint mixed with a little humbrol light brown. Then a few times with Rustall, and when everything is dry, drybrush with Model Master steel.

Bill

When I just did my Tiger 1 tracks I felt the same way before I did them.

What I did was lay my tracks flat on my work area and started glueing. Then as soon as I had them glued up I immediately started forming them onto my Tiger. I gradually bent them around the sprocket and idler then brought the ends around towards the bottom. I glued the ends together. Then I went back up to the sprocket and with a little pressure I formed the slack that you normally see.

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Then after they were dry I took everything back off for painting. I had left the wheels loose. So I just airbrushed my tracks, then washed em.... then dry brushed em off the tank.

Putting everything back on was a little tricky at first until you figure out a method. After that it went easy.

Thanks for the advice everyone...

I haven't taken the links off the sprues yet so I don't really know how badly they fit together... I think I'll give it a go at getting it to work as is, since I think it'll be a good experience... after that, I can tell other people what a pain in the ****** it is. I like the jig and masking tape idea right now, but I'm not sure how I can have track sag... do I kinda of use the masking tape and set it, then apply the cement to harden it? If i do that, I guess I'll have to paint it afterwards, which might be trouble too (I'm a brusher at this point in time...) Anyhoot, I'll probably give it a go this weekend. All additional advice, tips, methods of tackling are more than welcome.

Thanks all!

Oh yeah, I forgot we were talking Dragon links here.
That's a whole different ballgame! I haven't seen the Hetzer links, but the Sherman EZ8 links (my first single link attempt) required sanding on every single link just to get them to fit together. Then there were the sink holes...2 big ones on every link. So if you like sanding and filling thousands of sink holes, no problem! Not hard, of course, just very tedious.

ModelKasten or Friulmodel trax, just to name 2 brands, are much easier to use and much more accurate.

But you don't get all that sandin' and fillin' practice!

I like to use Tamiya Extra Thin liquid cement on the plastic ones. I glue up just enough to go around the sprocket (or idler) before they head off to the straight runs (usually about one or two links less than half way around the circumfrence) and let them sit flat for about a hlaf hour, then I bend them around the sprocket and rubber band them to hold them tight until the next day. Then I build up the straight runs and let them get good and hard, then put it all together with sincle links as needed. It's much easier if you can leave the sprockets (and idlers if they have teeth) free wheeling.

Good luck;

Bill

Dont mean to discourage you here but here goes...I got fed up with trying to build those Dragon ones. Im surprised those first few kits didnt go out the window. I found a great new alternative though, Fruilmodel white metal tracks. I figure, if Im going to but a kit just to steal its rubber tracks, I might as well spend the $25.00 on a great set of tracks that are easy to build and get the ultimate realism. you can get them at www.dicountmodels.com most sets are $25.00 and he has a great selection. If he has them in stock.

a few years ago fsm had an articule on how to build individual track links.it was about 4 or 5 years ago.if memorry serves me,one of the tips is to use masking tape to hold the links then apply glue.if the model is a dragan one i wish you luck,my father build a gragan hetzer several years ago and tryed to use the kit tracks.only problem was they didn`t fit all that well,with each link haveinng to be trimed to fit.he finally gave up and use one piece links from one of my old 38t kits.

Fine advice from Tigerman!
But ya know, I found that for me, just jumping in and doing it was the best way to "figure it all out." It's good to have a game plan, of course, but you'll be surprised at how it all comes together in a logical fashion once you get your hands moving.

Don't be afraid.

Just do it!

Very patiently. They seem daunting, but they are more time consuming then anything else. Some people like to make a jig to keep them aligned. Most modelers make subsections. Make a section that wraps around the idlers using slow curing glue, that way you can manipulate the shape before it dries. Make two long sections for the top and bottom and connect to the rest. I like to glue them to the wheels also. I prefer to paint mine before construction, thus only having to touch them up when built. Many seem to prefer building then painting. I have the same kit, but haven't built mine. There are alot of little tracks. I'd reccomend doing one side per day, so you won't lose your patience. If that just seems like to much, you might track down the Italeri kit and use the one piece tracks from that kit. Good luck.

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it."-R.E.Lee