I just made my first attempt at assembling link & length tracks on my 1/72 BT-7A from UM Models. I've built indy links on AFVs. The detail on the UM tracks is crisp and appears to be well engineered, but I had a hard time with the assembly. Can anyone tell me if I just need to practice my skills or are the UM versions more difficult than others? I have a Revell Panther next on my build list and I'm concerned about those link & length tracks.

TIA . . . Kevin

I built the Revell Panther A/D as a bergepanther and did not have any troubles with the link & length tracks. I do recall having to work the track around the sprocket in order to get a realistic looking sag. The kit turned out decent enough and won several IPMS awards including a bronze medal at a regional show last month.

There are photos of it in my gallery.

Well that's encourageing news! I'll have to add some mud to my BT-7 to make it acceptable. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the Panther.

Rob, your version looks great. You did a great job getting that track sag in the front. Thanks again for answering one of my many queries!

...Kevin

Mac
Do a lot of test fitting on those small tracks I did a PST Kv-1 that has the link and length tracks They fit well However I had to shave some teeth on the sproket to fit the tracks on That was because the sprocket halves didn't line up It looked almost like an "X"

Thanks Mac. A word of advice, make sure you have all the track links trimmed off before construction. I placed all of the bits into a zip lock bag so I wouldn't lose them. Allow some lee way when assembling the track to make slack or tighten it up.

Thanks, guys. My ultimate failure was probably impatience with test fitting. I trimmed and cleaned all of the parts (learned that from my 1/35 indy track experiences), primed them, and painted them with Vallejo acrylics. I tried using that MicroScale temporary glue (I forget the product name) and test fitting on the model, but that just ended up a mess. The fit of the links is very tight, which is normally good, but maybe too tight in this case. I left one link out on each side as I found there was too much slack. So, of course, they ended up too short. Oh, well, it'll give me an excuse to experiment with Liquitex textur gel to create some mud.

It's one of those projects where I feel if I did it again I'd get it right. Maybe next time...