In this scale it's hardly noticable, though I would not want to do it for a 35th scale buildup.
has been watching some documentaries lately set in the Western Desert, and was inspired to create this...
The roadwheels, compensating idler, and drive sprocket fit loosely on their spindles. To ease assembly and create a tighter fit, I put a small amount of two-part putty into each of the wheels before I attached them.
I aligned the roadwheels, and then fixed them in place with a touch of superglue.
While test-fitting the track around the compensating idler, I noticed that the center guides on the track were resting on the idler. I cut out sections of the idler so that the center guides would fit through them.
The track for the kit consisted of several sections of track block. I lined the track blocks up next to a straight-edge, and noticed that they were slightly warped. Fortunately they weren't too warped, and I was able to square off the ends of the track, assemble them, and fill in the small gaps with gap-filling superglue. To avoid gluing the sections of track to the work area, I elevated the track so that the joints did not touch the table. The alignment and elevated track are depicted in the following pictures:
While dry-fitting the track to the drive sprocket, I noticed that the teeth on the sprocket did not fit through the sections of the track. I didn't think it worthwhile to trim the teeth of the sprocket or increase the gaps in the track, so I removed the offending sections of teeth from the sprocket. The following picture shows teeth removed on the right-side sprocket and marked for removal on the left-side sprocket (left and right relative to the driver's perspective):
For me, attaching and shaping the track was the most difficult part of the project. Here's how I approached the problem: I glued the track to the bottom of some of the roadwheels. I started the attachment at the center of the bottom of a roadwheel, so that I would not have a joint hanging out in space (both ends of the track would sit against the roadwheel). Using a hair dryer, I carefully applied heat to the track and then gently bent the now-soft track around the drive sprocket. Once the track was shaped to fit around the sprocket, I glued the track to the sprocket. I continued working my way around the suspension, heating, bending, and gluing the track in place. Once I reached the start-point, I carefully trimmed the track so that the two ends fit flush. I repeated this process for the other side. The following pictures depict one completed side of track and the initial stages of the second side:
