Hi Dudes, My son gave me a Dragon Maus tank kit for christmas. While I was working on it I discovered that it was one of those kits where the plastic track was individual cleats that had to be glued together to form the track. THis normally wouldn't have been to much of a problem , but on this particular model there was next to " zero" amount of room in which to manipulate each of the individual track segments, and glue each one as you went on the model itself. Especially on the top of the track.

I first glued the track segments together that we going to be horizontal useing my usual liquid plastic cement. That left me with the horizontal ( bottom) segments and the horizontal (top) track segments. The pain was how to deal with the curves as the track wrapped around the drive gears in the front and back. So I came up with an idea that worked real well for me, and I thought I would share it with all of you.

My track segments were already painted.

I tacked the track segments down on my workboard, in a dry assembly in the order that they would have to be assembled to make a complete track. Then I took liguid latex and painted a thin coat down the middle of the track, and at each joint between links that I wanted to be flexable. Then I left them over night to dry. The liquid latex dried, to a fairly transparent color. When I removed the pins holding the track to the board I found that I had a nice continuous segment of track that was very flexible where I needed it to be. IT was super easy to mount the track on the model, and I was left with only haveing to make ONE on model glue joint, instead of 50 or so. It worked great for me and will now be my technique of choice for dealing with those models where they expect you to glue each individual track tread together.

I took pictures while I was doing this, and hoped to be able to post them here along with this message, but I don't seem to be able to. So if anyone would like to see them simply drop me an e-mail and I will send them to you. The pictures do a better job probably, then my text, at explaining what I did.

Druiddogzz-
Sounds like a great idea. Where can I find liquid latex?
Kyle

Hi, you can find it usually at any of the better craft stores. It comes in a white plastic "jar" about the size of a peanut butter jar ( for the large size). You can also find it in the MICRO-MARK catalogue, that is where I actually got my latest jar. It is used for makeing molds, and has a lot of uses in the train hobby area to, ( I have put it to use extensively there) so a good train hooby shop with scenery supplies might have it to. Its for makeing molds so ti will be in the casting section of your craft store, with the plaster , and casting resin and stuff.

Later,

Howdy druid,

First, welcome to the site, glad to have you aboard!
Your method sounds darn good on the surface (pardon the pun ). And it also sounds like it works pretty good as well. The first question that popped into my mind was one of painting the tracks you built with this method. I guess in my mind I'm likening the liquid latex patches on the tracks to patches of excess glue. Have you painted the tracks yet? If so, did you use enamel or acrylic, and how did it cover? I have seen excellent models built and painted up only to be able to see very clearly what looks like small painted 'blobs' of glue (I'm thinking of a ship model I saw that had obvious mini mounds of glue that were just simply painted over. Spoiled the overall quality of the model)
Was just wondering.
Otherwise it sounds like a fantastic idea!

Tread.

Hey Treadhead, I painted my track first, - first with flat black enamel, then dry brushed with rust acrylic, and then dry brushed again with two different colors of metallic acrylic. First I painted the latex on down the inside middle of the tread, so it was hidden bt the drive gears and drive wheels. Second, it drys to a real thin film, not blobby at all, and is transparent. When you do it before weathering, you practically can't see it at all. It really doesn't look very much different then if you actually glued each individual tread with liquid cement, but it amounts to more then 1000% less hassle. I didn't put any latex on the road surface of the tread, just on the inside.

You may have just convinced me to try indi-link tracks! Welcome to Armorama and thanks for the tip.
Chuck

Thanks, By the way I'm ex Air Force Too! SSGT - 1974 to 1980. AFCS, AFCC, SAC, TAC & PACAF. Keesler, Andrews, Camp Red Cloud Korea ( 604thDASS), and Edwards AFB.

P.S. I Like your Web Site. Question? Whats the procedure to use in order to post Digital Images of you models, and or your how to process. I took some pics of my track idea but don't know how/where it's appropriate to post them.

I was at Kwang-ju in 87-88. I was a medic for 23 yrs.
You can post your pictures in the gallery. Click on the "My Gallery" button on one of your posts. Then click on submit photo once you're there.
You should also consider doing a feature on your tip. You can click on "submitting Content" on the main Armorama page to find out how.
Chuck