"Looking for Vinyl Tank Parts Help" Topic
3 Posts
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| vogless | 10 Oct 2012 11:03 a.m. PST |
I'm looking for some advice on vinyl 20mm tank parts such as tracks. Is there anything special I need to do with them to keep them in good shape for gaming? Paint, don't paint? Any chemicals I need to stay away from? Etc. OR, are they pretty much like palstic parts in painting and care? I've never had any, and am wondering if they are worth the trouble? |
 Tango 2 3 Ditto  | 10 Oct 2012 11:15 a.m. PST |
Hi vogless, I have heard folks tell of what many call "rubber tracks" falling to bits after many years. I've personally not experienced this myself (nor have I experienced the brittle plastic in soft plastic figures that does occur to some lots of sot plastic figs). I still have my first model tank, an Airfix Panzer IV I built when I was in grade 4 in 1972 and all is fine (the tank has been sat upon several times, crunched and re-crunched and rebuilt and repainted a couple of times – it's now retired after countless great battles on top of my shelf in my work room). I paint the tracks and have used enamels and now acrylics. Washing them along with the rest of the plastic (hopefully while still on the sprue) is recommended. The 800+ models I have in my arsenal are all plastic, except for 5 metal tanks which are not yet built. Good luck and all the best.
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Tim |
 Garand | 10 Oct 2012 1:25 p.m. PST |
I absolutely have had "rubber band" tracks from Airfix disintegrate and crumble. The kicker here, so I understand, is that it depends on production batch; some are fine, some are not. I don't know of a method to tell the difference unfortunately. Also had something like this happen to Matchbox models too, in the original packaging (i.e not Revel repops…) The problem, as I understand it, is that the plasticizer "leeches" out over time, and can lead to partial melting of the suspension components or other plastic areas it comes in contact with. I've seen this first hand, opening an Academy 1/35 M48A5 kit, which has vinyl tires, and finding all of the areas the sprue rested on partially melted. So while some are perfectly fine and might last for years with no changes, at other times this is not so. YMMV. Damon. |
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