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Armor/AFV: Techniques
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Replacing poly-caps in Tamiya M41
hjholter3
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Tennessee, United States
Joined: October 08, 2013
KitMaker: 27 posts
Armorama: 25 posts
Posted: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 - 12:06 PM UTC
Hi! I'm a new member but long time reader and lurker and thought I would share something I discovered recently.

A few years ago my lovely wife bought a the M41 "bulldog" kit at hobby-lobby and I started but got bogged down with life, work and what have you. Fast forward a few years and in our recent move I got a rather large corner to work on models and I decided to pull the old girl from the stash, and lo and behold the poly caps where missing. I measured the stud and the recess for the cap and after some searching I found an excellent, CHEAP substitute.



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hope this helps someone else!

H.J
woltersk
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Utah, United States
Joined: May 27, 2003
KitMaker: 1,026 posts
Armorama: 654 posts
Posted: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 - 12:29 PM UTC
Nnnoooooo....it came a week too late to help me!!

I'm working on a Tamiya modern Gepard for the AA Campaign and found my polly sprue missing also. I decided to just glue the road wheels together and then glue them to the running gear and did so a week ago.

BUT...your wild idea may come in handy for the chassis polly cap under the glacis.

Thanks H.J.! And welcome aboard. Keep them out o' the box ideas coming!

Keith
PantherF
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Indiana, United States
Joined: June 10, 2005
KitMaker: 6,188 posts
Armorama: 5,960 posts
Posted: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 - 12:29 PM UTC
Good move and will probably last longer. I would have just epoxied the wheels on the axles as those 'poly parts' are meant for the wheel to spin... a hold over from back in the day when they were motorized or remote controlled.

Oh, and welcome aboard!





Jeff
hjholter3
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Tennessee, United States
Joined: October 08, 2013
KitMaker: 27 posts
Armorama: 25 posts
Posted: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 - 12:48 PM UTC
Thanks guys! I actually found them useful for getting the rubber band tracks on and positioned the way I liked, so not all bad!

Here is the dry fit on my Bulldog:



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woltersk
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Utah, United States
Joined: May 27, 2003
KitMaker: 1,026 posts
Armorama: 654 posts
Posted: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 - 12:41 PM UTC
@Jeff S.--epoxy would probably have been better than just styrene glue. Without the polly caps, or tubular equivalent to fill the space, the wheel fit was sloppy.

@H.J.--Good lookin' Bulldog. Looking forward to seeing it come along.
I replaced the drive and idler axles with steel rod to beef them up and prevent the 'rubber band' treads from causing bending or breakage.



Keith
hjholter3
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Tennessee, United States
Joined: October 08, 2013
KitMaker: 27 posts
Armorama: 25 posts
Posted: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 - 12:47 PM UTC
Thanks! The sloppy fit was why I ended up replacing the poly caps - I could have just glued them on but I was afraid of breaking something in final assembly. I may end up doing as you did and putting some rod stock in there but I'm far away from that point so it's up in the air.
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