First off the venerable Airfix T34/85. The kits were quite old and the tracks were rather inflexible and wouldn't bend round the road wheels, so I put them in the airing cupboard to warm up and they then bent into position. Next morning a couple had snapped so they were welded and glued back in place. Then off on holiday and on return, yes another one had snapped so another fix. No others have suffered the problem since then, but I do wonder what might happen once they get stored in the cold attic.
The nice thing about the kit is the second turret so you can also have a T34/76
Then there is a Fujimi KV1, I had track problems again, this time with them not being long enough (they must have shrunk) so I had problems fitting them, including snapping a front idler. I then had to drill it out and strengthen it with wire.
All now completed, but it shows the problems of leaving kits too long before assembly
5 comments:
Very nice models!
I don't like Airfix rubber band tracks, I always break them and can't get them to fit right.
I found the answer to those dratted tracks is to both glue and staple them together. The staple can be hidden easily by applying some gunk to give the effect of mud and vegetation caught up in the track links.
Mine are stapled, and I normaly don't have problem with kits made when "new" but I dodn't know the age of these.
The breaks occured on the tight bends, so I had to fix by a combination of glueing and welding, I did try staples but they were too obvious at this point.
I got out some 30 year old Fujimi pz1 and esci 38t tanks recently. The tracks had become so brittle that they crumbled at the slightest touch. In addition the esci track had slowly shrunk to snap off the driving wheel.
I am now a huge fan of the three parts or less tank with cast on tracks and damn the accuracy.
John
John, it seems to be a curse of the older kits. My ancient Airfix panthers had suffered over the years from contracting tracks that melted the road wheels, but a kid was so happy when I sold them for a £1 each.
I'm sure there is a market for complete replacement tracks as the rest of the kit is still as solid as the day it was built.
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