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Post by inedibleman on Jan 3, 2023 22:56:06 GMT
Happy New Year and I hope you have better luck than me so far. This is not a good start for the new year. My CNG96 - Legends: Battle Tank had a run in with the MEGA tank tread curse as I picked it up for a good dusting.  Sad part is it has another spot on the broken track that has cracked too. The other track is cracking too. Such is life. Have good new year. |
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Post by The Hegemon on Jan 4, 2023 2:09:26 GMT
That sucks, but honestly your subject line had me worried that you were facing something much more dire.
I wish that Mega would make the leap to segmented tracks as so many other brands have done. That would end the curse and yield a far superior product.
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Post by inedibleman on Jan 4, 2023 7:43:06 GMT
Sorry to worry, I wanted to be dramatic but not in that way. Vulcanized plastics like the treads are bound to break eventually, its in the nature of the material and how the ends are welded together, but it sucks trying to figure out how to repair them. Like I said I found a second crack in the broken tread and two cracks in the not yet broken track too so I guess it is just fated to happen to all MEGA treads eventually. I might take the time and order some segmented tracks to replace the originals like you mentioned MEGA should switch too. Plus then MEGA could claim their sets have a lot more parts too.
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Post by Bheleu on Jan 5, 2023 15:00:54 GMT
The same thing has happened to my Mega sherman tank. One tread broke when I built it, the other years later when I went to move it to a new spot on the shelf.
What is interesting is that both the Leopard II & M1 Abrams probuilder sets I have are much older, have rubber tracks, and the tracks are intact! Every few years when I move them, I move the tracks and they still move and have not broken.
On my to do list as well is to try Cobi or some other brand of brick built segemented track and try and find a good replacement for the battle tank.
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Post by turricanster on Jan 5, 2023 20:46:34 GMT
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Post by The Hegemon on Jan 6, 2023 6:07:33 GMT
For comparison, I have some die cast Corgi half-track vehicles that I inherited from my father, along with a number of Solido tanks and vehicles. The tanks have metal treads, but the half-tracks have some kind of plastic or rubber tread and are still in good shape after 45+ years.
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Post by inedibleman on Jan 7, 2023 5:03:22 GMT
Bheleu - That sucks that one broke on you during initial install. That's the type of situation that leaves a lump in your throat after putting work into the build. Replacement tracks for the probuilder sets might be a bit harder to come by but I did get a bag of tracks from Amazon that I thought were the ones from the Cobi Maus set but turned out to be almost 1 and 1/2 times the size. Those might work on the M1 Abrams, I never tried them though. Turricanster - I believe its either the top middle or top right treads that would fit from the link you sent. BUT, for a nice Christmas gift I have to wait to make foreign (from USA) purchases since my bank decided to start charging a $13 over seas purchase fee. Changing my bank soon. The Hegemon - Yeah for some reason the modern vulcanized rubber treads are very susceptible to dry rotting, the older materials used to make the rubber in the past were more toxic so dry rotting quickly is the price we pay today for safety. I know if you rub them with Vaseline you can extend the life drastically, and make a mess in the same process. Thicker treads last much longer but I have seen cracks form in them too. I have a small Tiger I from Corgi that the treads are still intact on too as it's nearly 40 years old (now I feel old) its kind of amazing.  This clone of the MEGA set has the individual links for treads already so its a good reference to start with I guess.  |
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