Good day all!

I am a total newbie when it comes to armour modeling. I have always had an interest in tanks and AFVs and I also have a serious Matchbox addiction. In the last few weeks, I've come across about 15 old 1/76 Matchbox and Fujimi armour kits.

Now, I know that these are not the newest or best, and I know there are lots of aftermarket sets of newer, bigger scale stuff, but I want to cut my teeth on these older, smaller kits and just enjoy getting into the hobby of armour building. I'm used to planes, cars and sci-fi, so I'm working on expanding my horizons.

I'm very curious about the rubber tracks that come with these old kits.

Does anyone have any tips for how to paint them? They're so flexible and rubbery, that I don't know how something will stick without cracking.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Hello
I know quite well these old kits as I started modeling with them.
I would advise not to paint them but instead use pigments to weather them. I have had some bad luck with rubber parts I had painted which fell apart some years later. The rubber covered by paint is likely to dry, become less flexible and finally break.
If your kits are not re-issues wit hnew tracks but original ones, I fear that the rubber is already fragile. Nowadays, rubber tracks are made of a newer material which is more paint compliant.

HTH
Olivier

There is a whole thread on how to paint them at the top of the Painting Forum page. You can check it out here. There is no issue painting them. Read the thread and it will explain all.

Try the DIY and automotive stores. Duplicolor, Krylon, and Rustoleum all have rattle can paints and primers for vinyl and plastic.

Most of the time everything goes well and these paints stick on great. However, I have had bad a result on a project where the spray primer never fully cured and remained tacky for days and days and the plastic primer had to be cleaned off with lacquer thinner. So, lesson learned, paint a section of the track sprue to confirm that the paint dries well. Paint dries in 20 minutes on sprue => good to go.

BTW, the bad result tracks were still paint-able with water based craft store acrylics.

Awesome, thanks for the help, guys. I'm going to see what I can do with these things. It'll be a blast to learn some new stuff!

I'm sure I'll have other silly questions along the way, and I appreciate everyone's patience!

I still have the old tamiya kits from the 1970's , the rubber band tracks and battery powered motors . I never painted them and they have lasted all theses years , besides the paint would just come off them and the little kid in me still plays with those models .

So, will rattlecan primer actually work on these rubber tracks?

I like the idea of "training them", but even if I don't, will the paint still work on them, or crumble off when it dries?

How do you glue these thing? What glue will work on them?

I use super glu at the joint and paint them with cheap, rattle can flat black. I never prime them and have never had a problem with the paint peeling or cracking off. I don't roll them around the floor going "Vroom, Vroom" either though.

Most newer tracks can be glued using the typical model cement like tamiya extra thin. As for priming I haven't had problems of cracking using badger's stynylrez maybe because the name MIGHT be so that it can be used for styrene vinyl and resin.

I never intended to train the tracks when building but I tend to unknowingly do it. I usually test fit everything after assembly and you can attach the tracks without gluing them together for fitting purposes. After that, I just leave in on my worktable and in 1-2 days the tracks pretty much takes a general shape of the wheels and its final position.

I'm building the Panzer IIF right now, and I can't train the tracks since the road wheels don't stay on the tank - the fit is too loose!

However, I've tried to glue the tracks with everything I have (ProWeld, Tamiya Extra Thin, CA, Rubberized CA) and nothing even gets close.

Did I miss something?

Oh, on a positive note, I do like the kit. I'm an hour into my first tank, and I've got the hull together, road wheels sanded and I'm about to start adding to the upper hull. My only problem is that the previous owner stole the decals and diorama base out of this kit! Weak!

Thanks guys!

Which panzer IIF? If it is an old tamiya kit then you might need to do the hot screwdriver method to get them to bond

I use a stapler on rubber tracks- easy to do and holds strong, plus you can still flex them a bit to fit round the tracks. Thats on 1/35 tracks but I see no reason it wouldn't work on 1/72 ones.

No, it's the classic Matchbox Panzer IIF. It's the original, 1976 issue too. I can't believe some dude scooped the diorama base out of it. That's the base I wanted most of all!

Sheesh.

The Matchbox system of linking them seems to work well once the tracks are under tension, so maybe some CA will work. I don't know what you use on such slippery plastic, though. I mean, the tracks in 1/76 are so small that there's no place for a staple, either!

When I worked with such tracks I used to damp them with acetone before applying CA glue. The resulting bondage was really strong. The only drawback was you got a kind of white stuff after the chemical reaction.

Olivier

Adam, I've used a mini stapler for those Matchbox 1/76 kits -- Jagdpanther, Jagpanzer, Sherman, though not specifically on their Pz II, as I don't have one to build. The stapler box says its No 10 and upon googling it's is said to be a standard size for mini staplers. You may want to give it a try. I have painted the tracks already mounted on the roadwheels. I start with a lacquer-based primer, then put on a coat of Future before actual paint and weathering, and then a final coat of Future mixed with a flat base. So far it has held over time. Cheers, Tat