"Replacement tracks" Topic

Does anyone know of a company doing affordable replacement tracks for 1/72 or 1/76 models? Or, barring that a material that tracks could be made from?

I have some made from duck tape. The durability of tracks in this scale is awful. What tracks are you looking for though?

Ace Models make a few photo-etch track sets for 1/72 models: link

Also found this: okbgrigorov.com

Damon.

I've used those plastic-lock ties (for sealing boxes) for my Nitto 250 Halftracks, which had the most awful crap tracks I've ever had the misfortune to deal with – admittedly I wargame and based the models once the ersatz tracks were in place. I have also heard of people scratching them form thin plastic sheet or even paper………..

If you search the Airfix Tribute Forum, you'll find this. It looks tricky but not impossible.

link

Tie locks of varying width make passable tracks for wargaming kits…..also the plastic sealing strip on top of some bottles (anti-tamper) can be handy- used these on some Matchbox FT-17's….drive belts from dead pc printers are a source too….(don't get me started on printers!!)

There are plenty available in resin, though they may not satisfy your "affordable" criterion and they are usually not generic – ie many are after-market for specific models by a particular manufacturer.

For German tanks your best bet is probably OKB Grigorov (Damon linked above) – but this is pretty expensive stuff really aimed at high-end/display modellers.

For a cheap and cheerful replacement to broken or rotted out "rubber band" tracks you can use just about anything bendy enough provided you slap on plenty of "mud" and probably base the whole mess for some extra strength and concealment.

So what happens to tracks? I have a couple of Airfix tanks from the 70's that are still fine, and more from the 80's. They have survived incarceration in a freezing/boiling hot garage. They have survived evacuation from a box file that had been leaked on and collapsed into a soggy mush.
So am I just lucky?

Seriously, I think they are ok as long as I don't try to do anything to them. Once you start to try to dismantle and re-assemble anything, then the brittleness starts to show.

So long as you paint them they should be alright, the paint should take the damage. I've seen older soft rubber tracks that stuck to just about anything and then pulled off after sitting too long on the same surface. Paint makes them brittle but not sticky.

So what happens to tracks? I have a couple of Airfix tanks from the 70's that are still fine, and more from the 80's. …So am I just lucky?

I have also been fairly lucky and have some models of similar vintage that are ok. The biggest problem is the so-called "track rot". The most common form of this is a chemical reaction between the rubber/vinyl compund of the track and the polystyrene plastic of the running gear. This usually occurs over an extended period of time ie many years.

It is unpredictable and a case of pot luck in that it only seems to have affected some production runs of various manufacturers. The most extreme cases I know of are certain Matchbox kits where the tracks more or less disintegrated in the box before the model was even assembled.

The prevailing wisdom is that painting both surfaces (ie track and running gear) prior to contact is the best way to avoid the problem. Modern kits may not be affected in the same way but who wants to find out in 10 years time that they were after all ?

I have a number of tracks that have cracked/stretched. This is with very old kits. 250s are awful. Some of my matchbox t34 tracks are twisted so bad I dont think I can straiten them. Many are also very hard to glue together.

Many are also very hard to glue together.

That's another can of worms !

I prefer staples. Some people sew them together or use the hot screwdriver melt. Others claim success with superglue gel.

I use staples too.

Staples. And ensuring that tracks and road wheels are fully painted. I've got Airfix kits from the late 70s that are still serving in my forces.

An option may be to contact some of the resin manufacturers and ask if they will sell you separate track and suspension sets. I'm thinking of S&S and Frontline.