Thought I would share a quick technique I have used for years to get stiff vinyl tracks to sag. I am working on an old Italeria T-34 and the tracks are a nightmare. I tried to glue them to the roadwheels with CA and failed three times. So I went old school. Drill a hole in the side of the hull where you want the tracks to lay against the tops of the roadwheels. Straighten a section of paperclip and stick it through the hole, over the tracks. Prop up the inside end of the paperclip with a chunk of sprue and CA the heck out of it. Once you put the upper hull on, with the fenders, you really have to look for the paperclips.





Granted, if you are going to take the model to a contest you will want to pitch the vinyl tracks and buy AM tracks. But, if you are building for a diorama or just for fun this tip might come in handy.

Shaun

Great Tip Shaun, I have one of these in my to build pile I will keep this in mind when I get building my T-34

thanks
Bruce

Hi Shaun,

have you tried applying heat using a blow drier to the stiff track to soften it? Sometimes it works

Cheers

Good to see an old trick still working......
Thanks for posting and reminding us of techniques used before the advent of 40 dollar after market tracks.

That's a pretty neat and very cheap idea. I'll have to remember that one. Thanks.

I prefer using a single long piece of wire rod through both sides of the hull - there's less chance of a shorter piece becoming un-glued, or bending under the strain of really tight tracks. Of course this usually only works with tanks. With some open open-top pzjagers and SP arty you may find the hole accidently going right through the fighting compartment :-) ! You can hide the visible ends of the wire rod with mud and heavy weathering.

Thanks!, i knew about that trick but have never used it before, seeing it on the pics says to me its a good one to remember.

Mirko

great tip Shaun...I'm been using idividual links to get this efect for so long. MIght have to try this on one of my Tamiya KIng Tigers in lieu of getting the links for it