Ralph Koziarski (Login Illinoisemaker) from IP address 129.89.206.231
Hi all,
I'm working on building up my M4A1 as Henry III from Tunisia and ran into a snag with the track.
It should be the plain rubber block (T-50 is it?) type.
I thought it would be a simple matter of sanding down the rubber chevrons, but alas when you get to the links on the sides get damaged and the track shoe isn't thick enough anymore.
I tried gluing on small rectangles of plastic to add some depth, but there is a visible seam on the side of each block now.
Ralph; Take a look in the articles section and you can find my attempts to do this very thing with the Tamiya Sherman track. I used skirts so it wasn't necessary to modify the track beyond what you can see of the front and rear sections that are exposed as you view the tank directly from the front and rear. As far as the lower run is concerned; all you would need to do here, in my opinion, is simply (and carefully) sand down the chevrons so that they are less apparent...being careful, of course, not to sand off the detail on the end connectors. If you are not using skirts (I believe 'HENRY..' has none) then you will need to carefully sand down the chevrons off of the top...and/or combine this technique with careful removal of each chevron with a sharp exacto blade (be careful here!!) and once they are flush enough with the remainder of the track (i.e., all the chevron being GONE, that is) then you find yourself a suitably sized rectangular piece of EVERGREEN STRIP stock plastic, available in most hobby shops, and cut identically sized rectangles to cover each block. That's pretty much it.
Pun definitely intended. For what it's worth, I have in front of me a set of rubber blocks from Tamiya's ancient 1:35 M5 (an otherwis worthless kit, the reason it's been in storage for donkey's years)...they do come close, buth the end connectors are somewhat biggish! I also have a set of AFV Club's T36E6 tracks...3 bar cleat for 1:35 M3 or M5, again in 1:35. They, too, come close, but if you're about to produce the real thing I'll hold off.(Always assuming the pound note doesn't go out of sight.
Ralph, Take a look at the "to Tim Perry" link.....Tim has artwork samples of the track pads he wants to do. Just hold on a bit.....you will be a happy man pretty soon!!!
Bruce, I have a friend who flies A330's to Europe. I'l talk to him about securing a bin for your pending purchases from Tim. I think in the quantities you need....Air Cargo is the way to go !!!!
He can get it into BNA....a 24' U-Haul ought to get it home to you!!!! Dave, just thinkin' the best for you!!!
The tips pretty given are pretty much the direction I've already been going in. My problem, and maybe I wasn't clear in my first post, is that when I glue on the new sheet plastic blocks, I get a seem on their sides (behind the connector links), and the edges look very prominent. Perhaps I need to slightly bevel each edge?
