HI, Another set of those wonderful Dragon "Magic Tracks" have been canned in the recycle container. Those link-to-link jobs, not those wonderful once-piece plastic tracks we've seen from this company lately. I can't say enough good about these tracks.

No matter how many how-to articles I've read on how to add these 'magic tracks' to the vehicle, etc. I have yet to be able to get a set on without eventually breaking off at least one or two parts on the vehicle, and finally ending up just junking the entire track set. The latest disaster is from one of Dragon's relatively new "Battle of the Bulge" Tiger II kits.

All I can say is Thank God for Fruil tracks. They have saved a lot more than one of Dragon's kits at this household, and will save this Tiger II as well. From now on these are pretty much going to be my standard addition to most any vehicle I get, even if this means I can only buy half as many models, they will be well worth it.

My apologies for venting here, but after breaking off a couple road wheels this morning after working for over 2 weeks on this kit, I am just a tad bit frustrated at the moment. But it will pass. By best to all those modelers out there who have had nothing but success with these tracks, but I'm not one of them evidently.

Take care, Sgirty

I feel your pain :-) If I could budge up and get a set of Friuls, by golly I would, just not in the budget, so I've been roughing it out with those *magic* tracks :-) You should sent your easylink tracks back, so they can recycle the plastic :-)

have fun
Shain

I thought i was alone in my dislike of the magic tracks.....don;t know why i can;t get mine to sit right, and no amount of "gentle" persuasion seems to help. Mind you others seem to manage ok, but i think i will stick with my Fruils as well.....virtually no clean up and they come with their own built in sag...waht more can you ask for............now if i can only find some smeggin' Blacken It i will be set

Regards from the Swamp

Hawkeye

sgirty,
Well, that's one of the reasons we're hear. To lend a shoulder to cry on .
Not meaning to make fun of your situation, but I can relate to the frustration when you encounter difficulties with something that should be a rather easy assembly, goes south.
Joe

Many times I've cursed those Magic Tracks. I'll dish out the extra money for the Friuls anyday.

What is exactly the problem with these magic tracks? Do they refuse to fit together? Or do they break off too easily? (I've built a universal carrier with model kasten indi-tracks, I thought that these tiny tracks would break extremely easily, but not a single link broke off) I'm interested to see how these new so called magic tracks perform when I build my intial tiger.

Well i love those magic tracks,there so easy to put together.i think most modellers or trying to place the tracks around the drive wheel and idler wheel in sections.i dont do it that way,i make one complete run then dab a little glue on every link.letting the first track dry i then start the next track.after that i paint and weather them then i begin to place the tracks on the Tank.using a hair dryer i soften the glue so the tracks begin to bend,once both ends meet i glue together with super glue,then i can add the sag by heating the track up again.
Easy
cheers karl.
if you wont more info just pm me and ill do more in-depth write up.

Hmm,
Any indy link track I do,magic or otherwise,I do the same way.I build a top run,going around the sprocket a bit,and around the idler.Then I build the lower run.Most of the time,I leave the sprocket loose,so I can slide it on or off.I do enough links to complete the run,with what ever sag is in the real vehicle's track.I dont do the same # of links as a reference says,I make the track fit the suspension,not vice versa.Granted,I have not used Magic track yet,so when I get to a kit that has them,I can see if there is something special I need to do to get them to behave...

(++) (++)

I'm in the same boat with you Tank carl. I HAve some kits with the magic tacks, but haven't gotten to them yet. but I figure they work the same as the standard ones...just glue some sections wrap them and finish off on the underside

Are all Dragon indy links called Magic Tracks or is there a certain style called Magc Tracks? I've been doing the Dragon Sherman indy links for years and have no problems at all.

Magic Tracks are sans sprues. Just glue and go. In other words they are pretty much indy tracks you just don't have to clip 'em off a sprue.

I haven't worked on them yet, but will all DML tracks I glue the entire run together and form them over the wheels (which are not glued to the vehicle). Once dry I remove the run and paint and weather to my hearts delight.

An example below:

Hey Stuke,
What kind of glue do you use for this? Once the run is made, how long do you wait for before installing them without them wanting to come apart?

I use good ol Testors tube glue. It takes me about thirty minutes to get the entire run together and from that point I immediately form them over the roadwheels, etc. They still have flexibility but have enough cohesion to keep them together.

Trust me, it took some practice!!

I can vouch for Stuke's method... though I made the track in steges.

I used it on my tracks for the Hornisse. It worked fine for me... hardest part was to me actually keeping the wheels on the vehicle when wrapping the tarck around them...

what I did was start with the part to be fitted around the drive-sprocket, and work from there. Make sure you make the bottom run (or at least the central part of it) last, so you can fiddle a bit with the links in order to make the length fit.

I build all and glue together as I go along. All wheels are fixed in place, including sprocket and the idler.
I start with a run around the drive sprocket, from the top (12:00 position) right back until its under the front road wheel. These are all glued and glued to the sprocket as well. The next day, I continue the run along the bottom of all the road wheels and glue these in place and to the bottom of the wheels as well. Third day, I continue this run around the idler to the 12:00 position again. Fourth day I make the top run. I leave this to last, cause if the fit is a bit off, I can incorporate any extra length into the sag.
This method is the only method sometimes, when I was building eastern block models, and it sort of became normal for me. I find painting afterwards easier, than struggling with short lengths.
I do both sides at the same time, and over 4 days. If the tracks fit better and hold better, this can come down to one day for all. Depends on the tracks. The main point is that I take no chances. I handle the model a lot while painting and like to have them sturdy and fixed well in place.