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Dragon Magic Track


GLH

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What is the best way to assemble, paint and install Magic Track? Working on a Dragon Stug III and this is my first time with M/T. Thanks for any suggestions, hints, dos and don'ts.

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MT are tricky to fit between the return rollers and the fenders on the StuG III. There's not a lot of room and are not easy to slide through and won't slip over because of the teeth. I ran into a lot of problems with my first set of MT on a StuG.

 

There are two practical options once you have a fixed/painted & weathered set of tracks.

 

Leave the Fenders off until after the lower hull has been painted/weathered and the tracks painted and weathered. Make sure the drive and idler wheels are loose and can slip on/off. Slip the drive and idler into the set track run and fit into place. The tracks will flex enough to fit around the road wheels and return rollers.

 

Or

 

Leave the Return Rollers off until the fixed track has been installed. This is tricky since the pins for the return rollers are undersized and need to be in place to create the track sag. The best solution I learned from John Tochler on his SiG 33 (same chassis) was to drill out the pin and add brass or styrene rod that fits the hole in the roller mount. This will allow you to create the sag and remove the return rollers for track install.

 

Here is a link for his build. http://tanksandthings.niceboard.org/t5335p15-jts-stuig-33b

 

Orrrr...

 

Glue them in place and paint them afterwards. Assembly is easy but painting the tracks, road wheel rubber, bright track teeth, etc will be a huge pain.

 

Which StuG III are you working on Gary?

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Thank you for the info Bryan; between the two replies, I have developed a plan of attack for the tracks. I'm building a Dragon Stug G; Dec 1943 production. Between the tracks and all of the extremely

small photo-etched pieces and parts, it's a challenge but I'm taking my time and hopefully will have something to be proud of when I'm finished. Thanks again, GLH

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This one? http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/stugiii-ausfg-dec-1943-production

 

Be sure to shave off the locating ribs for the smoke launchers and the mic. tabs sticking up on the hull.

 

They are great kits. A vehicle rolling out of the factory in Dec 43 should have zimmerit. Applied 9/43- 9/44 but there are a couple of photos of a stug in winter 43/44 w/o zimm. So it is possible but I can't understand exactly why.

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