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Modeling in General: Advice on...
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Vinyl Tracks
WildCard
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Texas, United States
Member Since: May 23, 2005
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Posted: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 10:10 AM UTC
Hey Guys,

Quick question, how do you make vinyl tracks sag? I have no experience in building vinyl tracks so your input will help me out!!

Thank you so much!!

WC
husky1943
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Florida, United States
Member Since: March 17, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 10:16 AM UTC
Ciao WildCard,
There are a couple of ways. You can glue the tracks down to the wheels with epoxy to make a sag. (I wouldn't suggest that one. I'm no chemist, but the chemical reaction will lead to the tracks, the wheels or the paint breaking down.) Another way is to drill small holes in the hull between the bogies, and then insert straight pins or nails over the track tops to make them sag. Another, although I've never tried it myself, is to dip the tracks in hot water and then put them on the wheels with weights, making the track contour to the wheels.
Hope it helps
Frag
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Member Since: January 27, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 01:21 PM UTC
Depending on the road wheels you can also use thread. Run the thread through a link or two and then wrap it around the inside of a hub and draw it tight. I have used this method on a Tiger I and it worked great.

As Rob said, be careful with glue. You can't tell what the reaction might be. I had a set of Italeri vinyl track disintigrate at each spot that I applied glue.
Moezilla
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Posted: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 06:43 PM UTC
Here's one I tried with one of the Hanomag's I was building a couple months ago for a test kit. To get the tracks to be a bit longer and have more play in them I attached a weight to the track, in this case a simple weight being a business card hold I had on my desk with a paper clip. I clipped the other end to my table and ran a blow dryer over it, up and down to disperse the heat along the entire track with most of the heat going to the middle section though.

Only did this for maybe 30 seconds, let the track hang for another minute until it cooled down a bit and ran it under cold water to help it set. I got an extra 1/2 inch out of the track doing this once, doing this more than once could give you the extra length you need for the sag. Didn't deform the track in any way or thin the vinyl that I could see, remember to do this slowly and a little at a time. Might want to try it on a spare track to see how it works for you first, just in case. Hope this helps!
WildCard
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Posted: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 02:43 PM UTC
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the input. Moezilla, I tried your method and it works!! Woohoo first try and only take about half an hour. Thanks for helping a brother out!

WC
Moezilla
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Member Since: June 01, 2004
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Posted: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 03:17 PM UTC
Nice, glad to hear it helped out! Feels good for a change to actually give a tip rather than always getting them.
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