1/72 Trumpeter T-55 1958

[Murad]

Hi folks,

Here's a T-55 that i've been working on for some time. Eventho it might look like it's finished, i need help with the tracks as you can see.
Tracks are kit's own vinyl type rubber bands. According to the instr. these should accept plastic glue however despite trying with these: tamiya extra thin and regular (white cap) cement, deluxe materials plastic magic and some generic CA as well - i couldn't fix them. I met the both ends via heated screwdriver as usual but that's of no help to me for the sagging effect.
They don't flex neither - the toothpicks are there for about 2weeks now and the moment i removed the left one, vinyl on that side assumed it's original position as you can see, which unfortunately is NOT how the T-55 tracks should look like, even in running condition.



coin is a .CZ 20Kc for reference. also i hope to complete this project with a vignette depicting Praha '68, hence the invasion stripes on the tank and lack of mud.

Weapons free lads, please fire away any kind of comments.
Cheers.

[HWGuderian23]

Great work Murad !
Keep it up mate.

[Coen]

So even if you put a bead of CA on the top of each wheel then jam the toothpick in on top of the track to hold them down on the wheels they still won't stay?
Hmmm... there are only two other ideas that I can think of that may work.
The pin method (last resort) and Epoxy.
First I'd try the epoxy, if that doesn't work then I'd use the pin method.

The pin method if you don't already know, involves drilling a hole in the lower hull adjacent to where the top surface of the track should lie. Then you move the track into position so that the hold is slightly above the track surface, then slide a tiny pin or piece of firm wire into the hole to hold the track down.
Placing a pin over the first and last road wheel usually does the trick. It's an old school fix for rubber band tracks that never took glue back in the day.

I hope that made sense.

[Murad]

Coen hello,

that's correct re CA, i've used a local brand and a generic one from henkel - both were liquid and quick drying type and not foamy - they couldn't bite. the moment i moved the wedges off the tracks straightened up again.

by epoxy do you mean 2 part epoxy putty or something else?

if i can find i'll do it via epoxy, otherwise looks like it's gonna be drilling time in that cramped space...

thank you!

[Coen]

By epoxy I meant the two part liquid stuff you can probably find in a local hardware store. Sometimes it comes in a syringe or in two tubes. It's a a two part clear gel.
The 5 minute epoxy is probably the better stuff.

[Paul]

Thats an awesome looking model, great work dude

[Murad]

Well, after trying almost everything mentioned, and failing at them one by one, i used sewing pins as a last resort mentioned by Coen and it worked! when checking out the model closely yes they are visible, but they surely did the job! The model itself is finished as far as i'm concerned, i'd like to do a vignette for it to stand on but that'll have to wait a bit.

Thanks y'all!