The Little World

And so I should – they are horrible.

The plastic track option for the TKS was all I feared it would be. I’d seen club mates constructing their own 1:35 tanks with separate track links and just thought it a charming pretension on their part. Hypertension more likely – what looked to be a difficult thing for them to do turned out to be just that for me – with the added factor of not coming out very well in the end.

But we learn. I learned that having to assemble the links on the wheels while they were under the hull mud guards was a losing proposition in every sense. I could use the mud guard as a solid point to lever some pressure onto the tracks, but after it was assembled there was going to be little I could do to paint or weather under there. Just as well I applied a base coat to the tracks before they went in there.

The actual assembly of the suspension was easier than the IBG model – if a little less accurate. In the case of that design, however, the track assembly was a one-piece moulding and the sub-assembly could be completed off the hull. A far better arrangement.

Fortunately a YouTube video from Uncle Kovacs suggested a way of masking that would allow some track weathering to be done by spraying. I do it only to hide the dismal contours.

My review of weathering materials in the Little Workshop has turned up a number of pleasant surprises – long-forgotten weathering pads and sticks that were purchased but never used. Now they get a run, if the YouTube can tell me how to apply them.