Airfix Tank Tracks - Straightening Up!

[dabhand]

..... in passing, the floppy tracks included in Airfix tank kits are often bent by way of getting them into the box.  What do I do to straighten them?

I use a low tack tape and fix them to a sunny window letting them hang for a few days.  That sorts them out painlessly.

 

 

[John Symmons]

Hi Dabhand

I had this problem with the recent build of the Airfix Tiger. I noticed it when I brought the kit. I dunked them into very hot water then whist still hot stapled them onto some very stiff board ( actually artist backing or surround board.) then when I built the kit I left them in the South African sun until needed.. It didn;t totally cure the problem but it certainly helped that the tracks wre usable without to much effort. 

 

I recently brought the re-issue of the STUG III and the WW 1 male tank and both had the same problem so I did the same thing and stapled them to some card and put them back into their boxes until I get around to building them. I think I mentioned this problem recently in the "What your latest acquistion forum. I don't recall having this problem when these kits were first issued in poly-bags.

 

Remember we do this for fun                               John the Pom

[Alan Hamilton]

Some time ago I had a problem with tracks on the Airfix Lee Grant tanks.  I had bought 7 for our grandson's birthday as he wanted to add them to his wargame army.  It was a several months before he decided to build them with me only to find the tracks were stiff and broke as we tried to fit them.  I contacted Airfix on his behalf and after a long conversation by email I sent the faulty tracks back and grudgingly received replacements. They were identical to the first lot.  They were brittle too and again broke on being fitted.  I could not face another interrogation so gave up. 

Now the useless models are in the scrap box where they remain and I bought him resin replacements.  These were the last Airfix tank kits that I bought.  Other manufacturers have far superior tracks and they get my cash now.  

[Peter s]

Hi Alan, I've only had to contact Airfix once about a problem (missing clear parts in 1/72 PIR spitfire XIX) and after 30 odd emails from people who were clearly 6000 miles from where I was i gave up, bought another kit (ebay) and used what was left for the parts box. TBH The prop and undercarriage improved another manufacturer spit XIV nicely.

The new tool kits are as good as any other kit you can source (and better than most), the older kits variable but the customer support if you have a genuine problem is utterly insulting (and below that required by basic consumer law)

[Kenneth ONeill]

Hi Alan, I've only had to contact Airfix once about a problem (missing clear parts in 1/72 PIR spitfire XIX) and after 30 odd emails from people who were clearly 6000 miles from where I was i gave up, bought another kit (ebay) and used what was left for the parts box. TBH The prop and undercarriage improved another manufacturer spit XIV nicely.

The new tool kits are as good as any other kit you can source (and better than most), the older kits variable but the customer support if you have a genuine problem is utterly insulting (and below that required by basic consumer law)

UK Customer Law says "In the event of problems/missing parts return to vendor". Airfix's spares service is "above and beyond". If you live in a non-EU market I'd suggest that your issues are with vendors or importers, who are not within Airfix's control.

[Peter s]

Hi Alan, I've only had to contact Airfix once about a problem (missing clear parts in 1/72 PIR spitfire XIX) and after 30 odd emails from people who were clearly 6000 miles from where I was i gave up, bought another kit (ebay) and used what was left for the parts box. TBH The prop and undercarriage improved another manufacturer spit XIV nicely.

The new tool kits are as good as any other kit you can source (and better than most), the older kits variable but the customer support if you have a genuine problem is utterly insulting (and below that required by basic consumer law)

UK Customer Law says "In the event of problems/missing parts return to vendor". Airfix's spares service is "above and beyond". If you live in a non-EU market I'd suggest that your issues are with vendors or importers, who are not within Airfix's control.

It was bought from a model shop in Nottingham but by the time I started it i'd lost the receipt. Hardly unusual given most of us have a stash. Airfix customer support messed me around for weeks. 

 

btw I'm not sure what the suggestion I'm none EU is meant to mean. I'm British born and have lived here 41 years. Given the time return on my emails I was clearly dealing with india.... Where the kits are moulded

 

As you will see from Alan's use of the word "interogated" that's two of us don't think airfix customer support is " above and beyond". Who the hell would go to this much effort to defraud them of some vinyl tracks or a spitfire cockpit??? Must be 20p worth of plastic.....

[Peter s]

Ps the claim that Airfix not including an essential sprue in a sealed plastic bag in a sealed box isn't Airfixs fault but that of the vendor is a very dubious claim. This incident reminded me of old Airfix in the 1980s where missing parts were so common there was a postcard in each box to claim what you needed. 

For what it's worth it's the only missing part I've experienced from dozens of new tool kits but the outrageous way I was treated has made me wary of buying really expensive kits from them. I cancelled a Victor on the strength of this. A spitfire without a canopy is one thing. A £60 Victor quite a different problem.

[Ratch]

The canopy was included in my Victor.

[Peter s]

The canopy was included in my Victor.

Reassuring.... It's been included in the dozens and dozens of Airfix kits ive bought too until I had a kit that didnt. Then I was given various impossible tasks to perform like send a photo of the unopened box (because I always do this just in case I find a missing part). It was very very telling that despite quoting the sprues ref numbers and taking pics of the instructions with the missing parts highlighted the person replying to me (as sir/madame/other throughout the exchange) argued i was wrong and quoted random parts from every other kit going back at me. After a fortnight a UK based manager took over said sort it out with my local model shop not our problem. Despite the PIR XIX spit kit being available on the Airfix website they wouldn't break open one to replace the part.....

 

 

[Ratch]

Get over it.

[Kenneth ONeill]

Hi Alan, I've only had to contact Airfix once about a problem (missing clear parts in 1/72 PIR spitfire XIX) and after 30 odd emails from people who were clearly 6000 miles from where I was i gave up, bought another kit (ebay) and used what was left for the parts box. TBH The prop and undercarriage improved another manufacturer spit XIV nicely.

The new tool kits are as good as any other kit you can source (and better than most), the older kits variable but the customer support if you have a genuine problem is utterly insulting (and below that required by basic consumer law)

UK Customer Law says "In the event of problems/missing parts return to vendor". Airfix's spares service is "above and beyond". If you live in a non-EU market I'd suggest that your issues are with vendors or importers, who are not within Airfix's control.

It was bought from a model shop in Nottingham but by the time I started it i'd lost the receipt. Hardly unusual given most of us have a stash. Airfix customer support messed me around for weeks. 

 

btw I'm not sure what the suggestion I'm none EU is meant to mean. I'm British born and have lived here 41 years. Given the time return on my emails I was clearly dealing with india.... Where the kits are moulded

 

As you will see from Alan's use of the word "interogated" that's two of us don't think airfix customer support is " above and beyond". Who the hell would go to this much effort to defraud them of some vinyl tracks or a spitfire cockpit??? Must be 20p worth of plastic.....

Well, Peter, "If you live in a Non-EU market" means that I don't know where you live, and hence what consumer rights legislation applies!

If you find that offensive "get over yourself"!

[Pretty Mediocre Modeller]

I've had to request missing parts several times from Airfix, and never had any of that type of issue. For the most part replacements have been sent out without any problem. The most recent was last year, but maybe they have had a change of policy since then.

By the way being rude and agressive to one another helps no one!

[Peter s]

Hi Alan, I've only had to contact Airfix once about a problem (missing clear parts in 1/72 PIR spitfire XIX) and after 30 odd emails from people who were clearly 6000 miles from where I was i gave up, bought another kit (ebay) and used what was left for the parts box. TBH The prop and undercarriage improved another manufacturer spit XIV nicely.

The new tool kits are as good as any other kit you can source (and better than most), the older kits variable but the customer support if you have a genuine problem is utterly insulting (and below that required by basic consumer law)

UK Customer Law says "In the event of problems/missing parts return to vendor". Airfix's spares service is "above and beyond". If you live in a non-EU market I'd suggest that your issues are with vendors or importers, who are not within Airfix's control.

It was bought from a model shop in Nottingham but by the time I started it i'd lost the receipt. Hardly unusual given most of us have a stash. Airfix customer support messed me around for weeks. 

 

btw I'm not sure what the suggestion I'm none EU is meant to mean. I'm British born and have lived here 41 years. Given the time return on my emails I was clearly dealing with india.... Where the kits are moulded

 

As you will see from Alan's use of the word "interogated" that's two of us don't think airfix customer support is " above and beyond". Who the hell would go to this much effort to defraud them of some vinyl tracks or a spitfire cockpit??? Must be 20p worth of plastic.....

Well, Peter, "If you live in a Non-EU market" means that I don't know where you live, and hence what consumer rights legislation applies!

If you find that offensive "get over yourself"!

Yes. I find it offensive that your first assumption was that I was none-eu. I got really bad service and apparently I should just shrug it off and pretend it didn't happen....Despite you agreeing it was below that expected by UK consumer law.

[Peter s]

Get over it.

Have I offended you elsewhere? It seems whenever I post on this forum i get this sort of reply from you. For a moderator it's highly unprofessional. Generally I've found new Airfix kits £ for £ better than anything on the market but if you can't highlight problems you might as well axe the reviews and forum.

[Peter s]

This MIGHT be helpful based on previous experience with brittle (ie too old) resin tracks: 

Repairing is often impossible. I've done the odd "hit a mine" diorama but the easiest way to hide a fault is to weather the hell out of it. Mix equal quantities acrylic resin, mig pigment and plaster (polyfilla is ok) and apply to the tracks, wheels and undersides. Done well it's extremely effective mud and dries rock hard strengthening everything. It tends to dry A LOT lighter so make the mix much darker than you want the final shade to end up. Adding gloss varnish makes wet mud. I've used this to hide the join on a hetzers vinyl track but also to salvage a 1/16 scale A7V resin WW1 tank. The tracks on that were useless and I was building for a paying customer... Fortunately he loved the effect. It's especially suitable for world war one models.

[Peter s]

/media/tinymce_upload/9cb72b83701cf65417b5f9ce8705334f.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/1ad2bbfbc66648054e569b38d3c5192e.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/ff2b73686b920fdc79ac723af4667ea9.jpg

There's some pics. As you can see i basically obliterated all the track detail but in context you don't really notice. The individual track plates were held together with duct tape and bits of brass rod. The mud bound them strongly to the wheels..... In fact I think sections don't even have track, just strips of plastic card. It would have been a total disaster without the resin mud. 

basically the story here is that dodgy or even missing tracks aren't the end of the world.

[dabhand]

in passing ..... the figure looks very well done.  Gas mask, one of the then new sub-machine guns and lots of stick granades.  A Storm Trooper from the March 1918 German offensive?  I suspect you modified a figure.  Be interested to know if you did and what the base figure was?

[Paul Astle]

I usually have the opposite problem. the  stuff is too bendy. If it is so brittle it's breaknig it sounds like old plastic that has perished. 

[Peter s]

in passing ..... the figure looks very well done.  Gas mask, one of the then new sub-machine guns and lots of stick granades.  A Storm Trooper from the March 1918 German offensive?  I suspect you modified a figure.  Be interested to know if you did and what the base figure was?

Thank you! Done nearly ten years ago when I worked in huge scale for at least cost recovery. My advice for anyone is don't make your hobby a business especially when you have a full time job. I stopped doing these because the pressure of making models like this for customers (many the guys who did CGI for discovery channel type docs) sucked all the fun out of it. I didn't model for 2 years then got back into it via 1/72 planes (I started on those aged 5)

 

The figure was straight out of the box. A verlinden 120mm scale (resin). Yup, the idea was a late war storm trooper to compliment the tank. Approx 12cm tall so you can scale the whole thing. 

 

 

[jopres57]

The tank looks really good but I have to say the figure and his equipment look very realistic Peter s. I assume you have developed your own techniques over the years, just wondered how you did it. Did you originally start out by copying the styles of others via articles in the modelling press?