Hi, guys.
I'm considering to buy a set of Fruil tracks for the King Tiger "Ardennes front"by Tamiya. It's the first time I'm going to work with these tracks...so I have some questions. Do they stay flexible, or do I have to glue them with CA?, and can I use a common car-primer to prime the tracks before painting?

Thanx a lot in advance, John

John,
Friul tracks need not to be glued, ad they are held together by pin you'll have to make with the suuplied wire.Because of this they remain flexibele, and follow the coontours of the wheel perfectly. It is also easy to remove the tracks:remove one pin and you can take away the tracks. I would not paint them if I where you. You've got meatl tracks, why paint it when you can use washes and some rubbing with fine wet and dry to have the natural metal colour show through!

My local model shop sells fine steel wire of the same diameter of the wire supplied by fruil. I use this to make the track pins and as it is a hard material it has very little flexibility along its length and so is ideal for this purpose.

I drill out the track pin holes on each track element to a diameter just smaller than the diameter of the wire so that when I insert the "track pin" it is a nice tight fit and does not fall out. I never use glue of anything to fix the wire in place. The tracks stay perfectly workable when done.

Lee

Your basic idea is right you can paint them to a black color and apply a series of washes and then lightly rub them to expose the metal of the thread.
The wire included is fine to use with the tracks, but remember to leave at least 4 or 5 links loose at the end to get your sag right then leave just one when finished so down the road you can allways remove them. (++) (:-)

Hi. Fruil tracks are great. But be warned, once you do a set you will be addicted to them and will wnat a set on every model you make. Ha, ha! Also, the set I picked up for the King Tiger I did here a while back were the most complicated ones I've run across from Fruil. Many, many parts. Each two-link 'unit' consisted of 7 parts, which makes something like 200 parts per side! But just take your time and they will come out okay. And they will look fantastic when done and mounted.

I just spary mine with several light or medium light coats of red oxide auto primer and give them some dark washes with oil paints and a dry brushing of sliver or aluminum and they look great. As I get to the end of the run I test fit them to see just how many more links I need to add to get the correct sag effect.

Good luck and take care.