Need your help,
Finished painting my Tamiya M1A1 and went to put on the tracks and POP off comes the idler wheel with the pin broke in two. The rubber band track is very tight and I dont think supper glue will hold. Im sure I could by after market tracks that glue and would not put pressure on the wheel but have so little $ for models I dont want to have to go that way.

As always any and all help very much appreciated

Easy fix. Get a piece of thick plastic rod, sprue will work too. Drill out the back side of the sprocket and also drill out the hull. Glue the rod or sprue into the hole in the hull and let dry well. Once dry, attach the sprocket to it and you are set.

Two suggestions: drill matching holes in the idler wheel and the corresponding attachment point, and use a bit of stiff wire (like from a paper clip) as a dowel to give more strength to the join, and if there a portion of the track that will be hidden, leave enough of a gap to keep the track from being overly tight.

Hey Savoy

You have several options. I repaired almost 8 out of 12 broken of roadwheels of my warrior once. You can drill out the whole and use a metal or plastic rod and fix with super glue. To loose the tracks so they won't be so tight anymore I have also a nice trick. There is always a part of the tracks not visible. I mean the piece under the side armor on top of the idler wheels. Insert 2 pieces of metal wire 2 or 3 individual tracks before it ends on 1 side. Repeat this on the other side. You can choose how much you want to length the tracks. Or you can tighten tracks like this to very easy.

I hope you understand what I mean. I don't have a picture otherwise I would show you. Mail me if you would have trouble with this.

Cheers Roel

I had the same thing happen to me. I fixed it by running a piece of brass rod all the way through the tank to support the idler wheels on both sides. Now whenever I build a tank I do that from the start.
jim