What happens after too much coffee. 
I knew these bag-ties from my favorite ‘KGBlend’ would come in handy someday…
Cut bag ties in-half and bend into desired C-Clamp shape…
Insta Track Sagging Clamps!
Thought this little repurposing tip was worth passing along. 
Cheers!
—mike
Brilliant tip, Thanks
Are you tired of bending tracks?! Does your sag lack pzazz?! Kiss goodbye to droop-failure forever with Justsendit’s revolutionary new Links-O-Clamps © (Patent Pending) !! Free bag of coffee with every purchase!! Yours for only $4,322 including shipping…but wait! There’s more! If you’re credulous enough to be one of the first 1,235,760 callers, we’ll send you another one ab-so-lute-ly FREE! BOGOFF! Buy One Get One Free!
“Before I discovered Links-O-Clamps my tracked vehicles looked so sad, so unwanted…I was ashamed…BUT NOW my scale-modelling life has been transformed! People come up and ask me “Did you really make that?”, I’m SO happy” (Mike F. somewhere near the Rockies, Co.)
(uhuh definitely too much coffee)
Item #1 in the “Honey, they’re not garbage!” category.
Michael I feel your pain, we demand a lot from ourselves and expect these little plastic pieces to co-operate,
. . . this was an innovative use of modern technology! I lost track of this build and just caught up with it again, looking good but I can hardly wait for the paint to bring your vision into focus. 
Cajun 
Tim, Since your generous product endorsement, my phone lines have been ringing off the hook more than a Jerry Lewis Telethon! So I went to the supermarket post-haste to buyout the entire stock of DAZBOG! Can’t wait to rake in the millions with my “jumpstart” campaign! … And of course, you can be the very first to invest. Australian Dollars accepted here. $﹩＄
Wait… what’s that? … Dang! My agent just informed me that those calls were all spam. 
…
@ Cajun, Thank’s for the kind words. “Vision” being the key word here, with my eyesight being what it isn’t.😵💫 Then, there are all sorts of excuses I could come up with for not getting ‘er done… and yes, one of them is procrastination. … Think I just caught sight of my airbrush giving me the stink-eye.
Caffeine Cheers!
—mike
I hate when it does that. I took my AB to a ipms meeting so could some use during a demo. It didn’t care if other people touched it. The AB is vaccinated but unmasked so it was not in harms way which is good cause the plastic was not vacc’ed or masked.
Invest schwimwest, where’s my 10% er 40%?! Actually the Marketing dept’s now working on a second product line aimed at the British, also blending model-making with a national beverage. It’s a flexible filler that can be pushed into hard-to-get-at areas, the original product name was “The Justsendit T-Bag” but a quick check with the online English Slang dictionary has forced a re-think, especially because it needs a tube attachment.
But seriously how long are you keeping the Tracks-O-Clamps in place?
Tomorrow will be the big reveal. … Earlier today, in order to appease the gods, I brushed the linkages with a light wafting of Tamiya Extra Thin — a little extra reinforcing for the de-m-m-m-m-m-mumification. And just in case the gauze unraveling goes awry, I have a gold casket and burial tomb on standby.
As you’ve already know, my builds tend to span the ages like the waters of the Nile of the West (the Colorado River). And with the most recent Glenwood Canyon I-70 highway closures due to some ginormous mudslides, the styrene supply-chain has been weakened.
But seriously folks… Earlier today, I made the rookie mistake of stepping outside for some fresh air. Kinda’ vegged-out in the sun before realizing it was 99 F-in degrees! Well, that shot my mojo to pieces quicker than you can say Kooblekamphfarvignoogenkraftvagen. 
😵💫
After a couple of nights of glue curing… successful de-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-mmification!
Separation anxiety thwarted. The track sections held up to my ham-fisted torturing and now they are sturdy enough to withstand the forthcoming 125 mph airbrush blast. …
To be continued…
Nice work !
Had an Austin Powers mojo moment today, so I fired-up the Grex and primed the tracks with Vallejo Black Primer (73.602). … “Yeeeaaah, baby!”
While I was at it, I primed the chassis, running-gear, cab, and some of the sub-assemblies. At the moment, I don’t have a real solid game-plan, but I figured Vallejo German Panzer Grey Primer (73.603) was a good starting point.
Happy modeling!
—mike
Brilliant work Mike, they look the biz & I bow to your sagacity! I’m probably the last living modeller to have been surprised by an alternative technique I saw last year that had never occurred to me before. The builder had similarly fragile tracks so he used tiny spots of white glue to hold the Marder IIIM’s wheels/idlers/return rollers on & then glued the tracks (individual links in runs) onto them. When dry he could just slide off the integrated units. Genius! Stronger, less stress on the loops of track while painting/fitting…but he never mentioned how he painted those big wheels (dunkelgelb plus camo) with their thick rubber rims, or all the awkward recesses between the wheels & inside-track runs. That’s why I much prefer your method, as long as nobody sneezes 
Thank’s, Tim! Wise man say… Where there is paint, there is strength. Where there is shortcut, there is no paint. 
Cheers!
—mike
@ All who’ve bothered to have a look… thank’s, guys!
Hard Part 1 is an ugly memory now. Steadying the four extremely fiddly road-wheel/return-roller assemblies and idlers whilst my three thumbs simultaneously dealt with assembling/sagging track sections was cause for this kit going into a seemingly endless holding pattern — almost five years! All blame rests clearly upon my shoulders for my insistence on keeping suspensions articulating and road-wheels spin-able for painting ‘ease on down the road.’ … (see what I did there😁)
Opel Maultier Sd.Kfz.3 bogies being put through their paces.
Hard Part 2 hth follow… paint palette and masking consideration. 
Cheers!
—mike
Well you’re in charge of the colours but I’d suggest a surgical mask would be most appropriate…
Hi guys, Just a small update today…
Got the hairy-stick out and painted the seats and door panels with Vallejo Red Leather (70.818). I gave the handles a quick dab of Vallejo Steel (71.065). Just practice since none of the interior will ever be seen.
There was no front shovel bracket provided in the kit, so I bent one up from a piece of scrap etch. Then it went flying by way of the Carpet Monster! … 
Ten-minute rule. I just kept at it and quickly bent-up another one. Got lucky! The angles and attachment-points came out pretty close considering I just eyeballed it all!
So this is where you could say I painted myself into a corner… Subsequent to priming the bracket, I carefully slipped the shovel into position for a quick dry-fit. Then, I gave the handle a delicate vertical pinch with tweezers and it was in. The fit turned-out to be so precise that any attempt at moving it now would destroy the delicate work.😮💨 I ain’t ham-fisting it no more, it’s staying there for good!
Still spinning my wheels before I commit to painting red crosses on white backgrounds. 
Happy modeling!
—mike
Beautiful work, precision in action. Good luck with the crosses if you’re following the box art - any idea whether the crosses would have originally been sprayed/masked or hand-brushed?
(PS the last time I pinged a PE bracket into orbit - with a dab of cyano on it - after spending a fruitless half hour on the carpet with some gauze over the vacuum cleaner head, hours later I looked in the mirror & there it was, glinting on the edge of my 
)
Thank’s Tim! I’m just winging it and going by the box art and reference image. Well… I really do need the masking practice, so my version will be masked/sprayed in an attempt to keep the contrasting colors as sharp as possible. I keep telling myself this is merely a “practice” build. 
With my vacuum cleaner going on the fritz lately, the Carpet Monster has become extremely upset with me… “What, no weekly vac-massages?!!”
Now you’ve done it, I can’t get this image out of my head - you substituting for your vacuum cleaner on your hands & knees with a gauze mask making Darth Vader noises
