Well its a hot Saturday night and I'm sitting at the work bench cleaning the individual track links for a DML "Korean War Series" Chinese JSU-152 Howitzer as part of our next club theme build. All I can think about is 20 clean 200 more to go! Lol
So let's hear your thoughts on some of the tedious joys of armour building
Well back at it 21/199
Darryl

For me it is the road wheels on armor. They just seem very tedious.

That's why I don't want to see any more pnzIV based armor on my desk for a while...
:)

Makes me wish this kit had magic tracks!!!
Darryl

I hear you, Brother! I am working on the AFV Club T16 workable track set for a Tamiya M5A1 Stuart kit. I've done 24 so have 108 to go. The end connectors aren't bad but the track blocks have an ejection pin mark in the middle. AFV Club mentions that a ring on the drive sprocket needs to be cut out for the track to fit (the guide teeth are taller than the Tamiya tracks) but they did not mention that the return roller mounts also must be cut down. This is best done before assembling the lower hull. Unfortunately, I glued that together several years before.

Gary
Will you be able to "fix" the return rollers? I hear the AFV club tracks are pretty nice?
These JSU tracks have two push out marks on each link, plus mold lines to be trimmed, lots of filing!!
Darryl

Hi, I have to agree, the most fustrating & tedious part of building would be the wheels and tracks. milvehfan

I've got a DML Sherman that's been on the bench for a while now (at least a year). Yep, you guessed it. Complete minus the track. I've got one of their new one piece tracks on order though.
Troy

The nice thing about the AFV T16 track set is that all parts have only one connection to the tree. It makes removal and cleanup a breeze. I've learned to clean up the pin marks while the track blocks are still on the tree. I have a Dragon Panzer I Ausf.B kit with non-Magic tracks. Each link is connected to the tree by 4 thick gates. I wonder how many I will break/bend when I make that kit.

Fixing the mounts for the return rollers right would probably mean chopping off the roller, chopping off the "axle" and replacing it with one crafted from plastic rod of thinned down lefover sprue. I was going to put the sand shields on the tracks anyway so I might just leave the rollers as they are.

I agree with Jeff - it's road wheels that get me down... just finished a set for the DML PZ IV Ausf E so I had to cut, clean, add tyres and then sand off the seam (for a worn look)... had sore fingertips for hours.

I don't really find anything tedious.

Frustrating sometimes maybe. Or fiddly. But never really tedious.

Tracks and road wheels are repetitive for sure, and can be time-consuming (Friuls for example). But I find that listening to some tunes while I'm doing it or having the TV on in the background to glance at from time to time pretty much alleviates any boredom that might otherwise creep in. Having said that, I still have to be "in the mood" to do them, if that makes sense.

Sometimes the Mrs may be in the room doing her thing as well, and we'll just natter away. That works as well.

- Steve

Hi

Here's James Tainton's excellent solution to the tedious job of cleaning up road wheels....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2h2Z4bpckQ

Of course this only applies if you want to remove the rubber seam mark which appears on brand new rubber road wheels for the more used in action, older vehicle look..

Alan

I agree that cleaning up individual link track is the single most tedious armor modeling job. The worst I ever dealt with was a set of AFV Club T84E1 tracks--4 pieces per link, two big ejection pin marks to scrape off every pad, and very fragile.

My number two would be cleaning up the seams on all 32 road wheels of a Panzer IV.

Number three would be building and installing a dozen German photo etch tool clamps in one sitting. That's tedious and frustrating.

Older models with heavy mold lines to remove off every part also get real tedious.

Scrape and sand. Scrape and sand. Why is this fun again? Sigh. Scrape and sand. ...

-Doug

I've heard that about them sometimes. I'll have to look into getting one of those.

Buyer Beware!

Make sure you do your research and get plenty of reference material, they can be a hell of a project (expensive aftermarket parts are almost compulsory)

The most tedious job I have done so far was to cut out all the parts for the tracks of my initial Tiger II.


+460 parts...it took over 16 hours to remove them from the sprues and clean them up.











But actually to mask the optics of a modern AFV is always very boring.

I am building all the tigers from the Tiger (p) straight thru to the Jagdtiger and the sturmtiger, Jagdtiger tracks look just the same as yours and I built three sets all at once then realized I was putting Fruils on the King tiger Henschel and did not need the extra set. That was an amazing amount of work.

I can live with the normal clean-up routines of tracks and wheels. Its part of the modelling routine of building a model. There is the sense of relief and accomplishment when done. These are elements of the production method and are hard to totally eliminate. Of course better machinery and fully optimised processes can help a lot, along with careful experimenting with the plastic used.
What I find most frustrating is the unneccessary work needed like huge ejector pin marks (if necessary have these pre-planned for on the model and they could be slightly protruding instead) and bad engineering/fit. These are short-cuts and cost-saving measures from companies, who purposly want to get the kit out as quickly and cheaply as possible and basically tell us they dont care but want our money anyway.
For all their bad press, Dragon have improved their processes in huge steps. the little nubs, that have to be cut off to allow for this are a downside, but one Im happy to have, compared to the alternative. The finesse in their current moulding quality is awesome.

I think if someone could come up with a quick seam eliminating tool for wheels and completed fruil type tracks for sale, I'd buy them.

For me its those damn Aber p/e sets. While they provide excellent detail I nearly go mad each time I work with a set. Insert rod here, look for pcs eaten by my carpet monster, etc.....

My current madness is the Basic T-55 set - Aaaaarrrgghhh

Chris

Agree to all but this last one the most.

Maybe they will come out with a working Padlock in 1/35 scale

along with the before mentioned, unusable warped gun barrels that no matter how you putty sand and file makes you wish you'ld spent less time and more money for metal ones.five tank kits left in yhe stash and it better be one ugly cool looking tank to buy anymore.

"Tedium" - thy name is Sheridan



I agree with you guys above, I just thought I'd share a photo instead of words - a picture is worth a thousand words litterally in this case.

I prefer individual track over rubber bands anyday, anytime, anywhere, anyhow or anywhy. You can control the track sag or tautness, the weathering can be more easily applied and they have a more 3-dimensional look and feel.

I have done individual tracks for Panthers and Tigers before the Magic Tracks with Slide Mould by cutting out the track guide horns. It was a lot of work, a ton of work and it went on and on but in the end the final result was fantastic. And now Dragon and some other companies are doing Magic Tracks and Slide Mould and it works and it looks better than rubberbands hands do IMHO.

I would even do individual live tracks for Shermans and Abrams with the end connectors and such, it just looks better.

Would I pay a couple dollars more if the model companies dropped both types in the box - Hell Yes! I would also like to see more options from Dragon or others, even in aftermarket choices for individual or rubberband tracks. The market is there and the manufacterers can make things to fit their products.

Look at my signature.