I am about to assemble the tracks on my M10 (my first model!). I have built and painted the lower hull, built and base coated the upper hull, and base painted the tracks. One of the responses to my last post suggested leaving off the drive and idle wheels until fitting the tracks. TOO LATE. I had already glued all the wheels in place.

My question now is, what order should I assemble/paint, and how do I fit the track (before or after further painting, will it stretch over the wheels OK? They are vinyl tracks with the "melted pins" type of joining. How can I get the track to appear "tight" along the bottom yet have "dips" across the top?

Should I do most of the drybrushing on the sub assemblies/tracks and only finish off the final weathering after assembly, or will it be OK to do all of this after the final build?

I know these are fairly basic questions, but I thought I might as well try to do as good a job as possible and it seems as though you are the guys to ask.

Thanks in advance.

Roger

I don't know about the fit of the track for your kit but i've read that one of the ways you can simulate the slack in vinyal track is to tie sections of it down to the track assembly with string where it cannot be seen.

hope this gives you a start.

Don't try and put any sag on a sherman chasis...The tracks were tight so no need to any sag the only thing to make sure of is that they sit on top of the skids....If not just use a bit of cyano glue (crazy glue) to hold them down ... As for adding the tracks just slide them around the sprocket teeth and then hope nothing snaps as you pull them over the idler...No problems usually ....but there was that one ...lol another story...Keep up the good work .
As for the weathering I'd do it all at the end ,so that everything looks the same.
Rick
p.s. Happy New Year all!!

Rick is very correct about no slack in Sherman/M10 tracks. If you have the Academy or the AFV Club kit, the tracks should stretch enough to get on.

Whatever you do, don't glue the upper hull on until AFTER the tracks are put on. If you do, you're screwed. You'll never get the tracks up under that M10 hull's overhang and manage to stretch everything around the spocket, road wheels and idlers.

If I were you, I'd paint the tracks before putting them on. I'd also paint and weather the running gear. It's possible to paint it after everything is assembled, but I find that to be a pain.

Thanks for all the advice, it is the Academy kit I have so I am going to have a go at joining the tracks first, then fitting them. I have done some weathering on the running gear, so I think I will do some on the tracks, then assemble and do the final weathering/mud etc at the end to keep the colours the same throughout.

On a dry run the tracks did not sit quite right on the top runners, so I may have to glue them on a bit, but will try to keep them straight.

Thanks again.
Roger