the track mounts are there, but have not been done properly - they should be U's with retaining pins - the same as the upright ones holding the tow cables in place at the rear of the engine deck - the U shaped things they have supplied don't stick out far enough, and thus don't have retaining pins to hold them on - you can see the end one on this pic

It is quite disappointing that Takom could get the spare track mounts so wrong after Dragon has had them right for so long -what, they never look at competitors' kits? Sad.

The simple answer is ALL of them.[/quote] or to answer with a little sing-song: LINK / Robin

Some lengths of narrow PE-"sprue", a fine drill and some copper wire. Not a piece of cake but definitely doable, I did it on Dragons 9022 (FlakPz Coelian) 20 years ago. I also drilled out the holes for the pins on the spare track links to be able to show them hanging with the pins in place. Link to image which does not want to display properly: LINK Sometimes the track pins were inserted in the spare links and sometimes not. / Robin

My error, since you did not specify the pins in your first post, I did not know that is what you are annoyed about. I'll probably make one of the U fittings, and cast the rest, when I get to my Panther.

My error, since you did not specify the pins in your first post, I did not know that is what you are annoyed about. I'll probably make one of the U fittings, and cast the rest, when I get to my Panther.[/quote] I am almost 100% certain that it will be easier to make the U's from metal strips. Getting usable results from such narrow molds is difficult. If you only make one master you will have to get 7 usable castings from one single mold which means mixing and pouring 7 times. Make a width gage which has the same thickness, brass or aluminum sheet should work, as the inside width of the gap in the U and fold annealed brass strips around it. Drill a hole in the gauge first with a scribed line marking the centre of the hole. Drill the holes in the U while it is still on the gauge. Clamp, bend, drill, cut to size. It will be ready before the silicone for the mold has cured. Glue or solder the U's to a brass strip. / Robin

My error, since you did not specify the pins in your first post, I did not know that is what you are annoyed about. I'll probably make one of the U fittings, and cast the rest, when I get to my Panther.[/quote] I am almost 100% certain that it will be easier to make the U's from metal strips. Getting usable results from such narrow molds is difficult. If you only make one master you will have to get 7 usable castings from one single mold which means mixing and pouring 7 times. Make a width gage which has the same thickness, brass or aluminum sheet should work, as the inside width of the gap in the U and fold annealed brass strips around it. Drill a hole in the gauge first with a scribed line marking the centre of the hole. Drill the holes in the U while it is still on the gauge. Clamp, bend, drill, cut to size. It will be ready before the silicone for the mold has cured. Glue or solder the U's to a brass strip. / Robin[/quote] I agree, your method works. However, I can make one U out of plastic strip, and mold it with other parts I want. Parts that size are not a problem for me to cast, I've been doing it for about 25 years, and I have a good success rate. Since there is no rush I just run the mold when I have things to cast until I get what I want. Or, run the mold until I have enough good castings for one side. Make a mold of the those and run it with other parts I want. With two successful runs I will have all I need for a Panther. Even with a 25% fail rate I would only need three runs. Truth is, I don't like working with metal.

Can't argue with that Metal can be tricky as well as a lot more forgiving than plastic in some applications ... When I did this job on my Coelian I removed the U's from the strip provided in the kit, glued the strip to the hull, drilled a hole in the end of a styrene strip, rounded the corners slightly, cut off the correct length and glued these short stumps to the edges of the strip already on the hull. This way the stump got glued into a corner which strenghtens the joint a little. / Robin

Can't argue with that Metal can be tricky as well as a lot more forgiving than plastic in some applications ... When I did this job on my Coelian I removed the U's from the strip provided in the kit, glued the strip to the hull, drilled a hole in the end of a styrene strip, rounded the corners slightly, cut off the correct length and glued these short stumps to the edges of the strip already on the hull. This way the stump got glued into a corner which strenghtens the joint a little. / Robin [/quote] I more or less did the same thing back in the dark ages, when the only thing out there was the Tamiya A (I still have night mares), and the word PE meant gym class! It occurred to me I have a Panther spares box with most of the hull parts from a couple Dragon Panthers. Might just have what I need already.