Hi guys,
I am a novice modeller, currently on my third build - Revell's 1/76 Jagdpanther.
I am looking for alternatives to the tracks that come with this model. I am really not having a good time with them. Apart from looking nothing like the real Jagdpanther, I found them really difficult to clean up with so much flash from ejector pin marks. To add to my woes I painted them before fitting, but when I went to fit them the whole paint flaked off.
I have them stripped down now back to bare rubber. Before I tackle them again (I will probably have to try a primer on them) I was wondering are there alternative tracks I could use?

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to Armorama and to the world of scale modeling.

I think that Part makes a PE set for the Revell Panther and therefore JgPanther. It's set P72086.

However,for a novice modeler I would not recommend investing in PE after market tracks. Your first models will look quite obsolete quickly as you progress in techniques and skill .

Allow me to give some hints on how to work on rubber tracks.

No matter what you do there is a possibility for the paint to flake as you fit them on the model because you need to expand/curve them so the layer of paint simply cannot follow that.

Instead if you fit them and glue them unpainted on the model with super glue and after that prime them and finally paint them the paint will behave like on any other plastic surface.. Try to use acrylic colors as some vinyl materials can be damaged by white spirit based paints. Priming is a must on vinyl tracks.

Good luck with whatever yo choose to do.

P.A.

Kevin, welcome to the site and Hobby!

The Revell 1/76 scale kits are reboxed matchbox kits (does it include a small base with a destroyed brick wall?). To my knowledge there is no AM for these kits. I doubt that 1/72 scale tracks would fit...

Cheers!
Stefan

Thanks very much guys, I am disappointed but not surprised there are no alternative tracks. I will take your advice, having primed the tracks, I will paint them when they are fitted.

Kevin

Kevin, yes, if it is the old Matchbox kit, perhaps a couple of photos of some decently finished examples of the Matchbox Jagpanther and Panther from this site will help inspire you. Notice how the tracks have been glued to the wheels on the top run to give some sag.




(Interesting now I look at these again for the first time next to each other, one of them has the tracks on the wrong way round!)

Hmmm... I thought that Jagdpanther looked familiar

Thanks for putting this up Matthew.

Kevin, I've used the same 1/76 Revell kit for the Jagdpanther shown above. It was my entry for the first Matchbox Campaign here in Armorama.

I doubt if there were any AM tracks for this (I guess for any of the 1/76 Matchbox kits as well???), so your best bet is to make do with the kit's tracks and improve its looks by putting on a sag. I've used stretched sprue to weigh the track down. I drilled small holes on the hull sides for the sprues and fixed them with glue. Additional hold was provided by putting small drops of super glue between track and wheel.



Fortunately, the Jagdpanther doesn't need much sag so it shouldn't entail much work:



You may use pins, wire, to weigh down the tracks. Other folks I heard just use super glue. Try and see what works for you. Here's another 1/76 Matchbox kit -- the T34. Same process, though I've used staple wire in this case:



GAP: Sadly there's not much one can do with the gap where the track ends meet. Well, you can probably try and fill it up. In my case I just let it be -- anyways, the base provided in the kit can be useful in hiding it.

PAINTING: I'd go with Alexander's advice. Paint the tracks when its already mounted. I prime it, and try not touching it as much when its already painted. Best if you can get hold of Future -- I use it as further protection against flaking. Here's more info you may want to read on: http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

Hope these help. Good luck on your project!

Cheers,

Tat

General note re Matchbox/Revell vinyl tracks... they shrink in boiling water and can be gently stretched by hand. Loose tracks ruin the look of a kit, so getting the track tension right really helps. Just don't try shrink fitting the tracks onto the wheels, the tracks can tighten so much the wheel axles break (voice of bitter experience here). Shrink fitting with a hairdryer might work, it certainly worked on an old Fujimi/ESCI M12 GMC that I'm building for Unfinished Business 2015.

Addition to my previous note re heat shrinking 'rubber band' tracks... Heat shrinking Airfix tracks does not work, they just don't seem to shrink. Turning the heat up further to see if they will eventually shrink only proved that:
1] they dont!
2] the Airfix 'replacement parts service' does what it says on the tin
3] the smoke detector in my kitchen still works (ho hum!)

For 1/72 Revell polystyrene link and length... IMHO bending the straight lengths around sprockets and idlers gives a tidier finish than trying to glue the individual links into place (I tried, but my best attempts looked gappy, my worst looked melted and mushy... deeply sad!). However, those straight lengths are none too keen to bend that far and much prefer to crack. So I tried dunking them in boiling water for a few seconds before bending them... ha ha!! Result! (happy modeller 1 - stubborn track length 0). Sadly this still means you have to glue the individual links into straight lengths to complete the track runs but straight runs are easier to make and hide. Of course, if the tank has side skirts and you're lazy you could not bother... but surely no, that would be heresy! (I might have to voice a confession or two at this point!).

John, bit of a blast from the past, this thread, with a few MIA Armorama personnel included...

Take on board what you say about shrinking tracks, though I have often found that too tight is more of a problem, and I empathise with you over that horrible moment when you realise that the idler or sprocket is about to give way.

On the original question, I had the paint flaking off experience recently with the Trumpeter E-100, a model where painting the tracks after fitting would be quite painful, so I just didn't bother with paint at all, just used pigments. Black pigment to matt them down and then a mix of greys, browns etc. to do a bit of light weathering, finishing with graphite to do the freshly worn tread highlights.

On the other part of that question, and I guess this may be a change since 2013, OKB Grigorov do "proper" resin tracks for 1/72 Panthers, both early and late.

Totally agree with you on hiding missing bits of track underneath side skirts if it is hidden well enough.

I know it's been an old thread, just saw it right now... Oh yeah, I remember those matchbox kits from my childhood way more than 20 years ago... they were my very first attempts in armor modelling and I was so proud back them... had a whole little collection of them back then... also the T-34, some German Halftrack, British stuff, the US AA Haltrack... It all comes back to my mind right now. I most definitely need to have a look into my parents' house if I can still find them there...

I used to buy those Matchbox kits as soon as they became available, in the 1970s.

"Ah, so there was a Panzer 3...and a 2. You'd never learn that from Airfix."

Then Esci taught me there was a Panzer 1.

So, at the risk of boring some, but perhaps entertaining others, we can recall yet again that there's been two Matchbox campaigns on Armorama:

Matchbox Nostalgia Campaign in 2010 (so long ago we can now be nostalgic about the nostalgia).

Matchbox AFV Nostalgia Campaign II in 2013.

I think there were still one or two of the "classic" two tone range that we didn't get, but certainly most were covered, and interesting it is to see different finishes on the same kits. Well, to me anyway.

Ahhhh, such pleasant memories especially about the first Nostalgia Campaign. Hmmmm, it's been a while since the last incarnation of a Matchbox related campaign? I for one have an original two colour Morris C.8. MkII & 17pdr Gun & Willys Jeep plus an M7 HMC "Priest" in the current Revell livery?

Cheers,
Jan

Funny that, I have a completely unbuilt Matchbox two colour M19 Tank Transporter...
Correction: three colour.

I'd sign up for Matchbox III guys, anytime.

Realised since above post that OKB Grigorov 1/72 tracks probably won't fit the Matchbox Panther, it being 1/76. Obvious, really.

Speaking of corrections, I had a look today at my Morris kit and it is indeed a three colour. As the box was rather old and showing signs of ware I had "reinforced" it with masking tape and covered over the three colour logo.

Tat, as for a MNC III perhaps I'll see what I can do a bit later after I can find and settle on a new image host since the "Great Photobucket Disaster".

Cheers,
Jan

I'd look forward to that Jan

I stopped using PB way before this disaster -- being a free account I had to contend with lots of ads that tend to really slow its use, quite frustrating. Been using the Kitmaker gallery but it will surely get filled up over time. I've read folks swear by Imgur though I still have to try it.

Cheers,

Tat