What's the best way to put together tank or halftrack treads?

Mike
I assume you are talking indy links here?
If so what I do with plastic ones is as follows:
1, remove links from sprues and clean them up

2, glue (use liquid cement) about 10 or 15 together along a ruler to ensure they are straight. Leave them to set for a while.

3, glue another set together and leave them to set for a while

4,take the first lot and gently put them round the drive sprocket making sure they fit properly,

5, repeat the process with other sets of links until you have a complete set of tracks on one side.

HTH
Pete

Ps can't help with metal indy link's,I've never used em.

Hi Mike:

Well, the answer would depend on what kind of tracks you are using.

If you are using the vinyl "rubberband" type tracks that are commonly included in kits, then the method I use is to heat up the tip of a flat headed screwdriver and gently press it into the vinyl where the two ends meet which will slightly melt the vinyl and fuse it together.

If you are using plastic individual link track, you need to carefully cut them off the sprue, clean up any burrs, and make sure to fill or sand any injector pin marks (I've had issues with this on a set of AFV Club sherman links). Then use some sort of a secured straight edge to line the tracks up. I like to make them in sub sections like bottom run, top run, and then the two sections that go around the idler wheel and drive sprocket. I usually use a small amount of Tenax to join the links, which is a plastic welder meaning it melts the plastic together.

When using metal links like those from fruilmodel (which I've just used on a Panther for the first time and absolutely love them), you need to clean off any flash from the links with a sharp hobby knife. The links will come with some wire that you cut into pins which join the links. I prefer to use .012 brass rod as it is more rigid and feeds into the holes easier. Some links may need to have the holes drilled out before inserting the wire. As with the plastic tracks, you should have a secured straight edge to align them. After putting the pins in you should put a small drop of Cyanocrylate glue at the end to keep the pins in place. Don't use too much though, as you want to keep the links flexible. After the glue dries, you can take a fine wire cutter and snip of the ends of the pins that are protruding from the hole.

Well, in a nutshell that is how I do all three methods.

Hope this helps!

John

Hi you can refer to my previous thread regarding Tips on dealing with tank treads. I will repeat the text here for your convenience.
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.

Hey Mike...
Check out my latest review about Master Box Limited's Tank Treads...might help you out a bit...
Gunny