This is a project I started building many years ago when my Dad was still alive. I wanted to give it to him as a present. However, when I offered to take him to see the Korean War monument in Washington DC, he flat out refused to go. He told me that he didn't want to see anything that reminded him of his wartime experiences. So I thought I had better re evaluate my gift for him. I decided not to give it to him.

Later on, in his last days of life, while lying in his hospital bed, he told about some of what he and his fellow soldiers went through. Now I completely understand why he didn't want to go...

I had it painted, and I applied a set of fictitious markings for a tank assigned to the 6th Medium Tank Battalion, 24th Infantry. This is one of the units that Dad was assigned to at one time while he served in Korea. I didn't have a clue as to what Platoon or Company he was in.

So I winged it, and added some decals that I thought were appropriate.

Fast forward, I was at the point to where the tracks were almost all I had left to install...

Had I heeded the instructions, I would have installed them prior to gluing the upper hull in place.

But who needs instructions right ?

Now you know why this tank model has been sitting on the shelf of doom for SO long, at least 12 or 13 years maybe even more.

Superb entry and ditto progress, my friend @lgardner!
A tribute to your Dad, who, understandably, did not want to be reminded of the terrible time he had there.
Instructions? Instructions?
No, we don't need no!

Thanks Spiros Pendedekas (@fiveten)

John vd Biggelaar (@johnb)

I sincerely appreciate your kind words.

I was not really happy with how the tracks were looking as they rounded past / over the sprocket assembly at the rear of the tank hull.

These are the individual track links that Dragon has provided in this kit, and not a one piece assembly as you might find in other kits. Dragon has molded the end connectors in place on the track blocks.

This was bothering me. So I came up with a fix using some of the AFV Club tracks I have.

This is exactly what the real track is like.

I added a few drops of Tamiya Thin glue to keep them together because they are very fragile and I have to get them installed on the sprocket. I’m sure that they would fall apart if not glued together while this was happening.

Remember that individual track link ?

As it turns out, I had one too many of them. This was also a part of the problem. By removing this single track block and then by replacing the original kit supplied tracks I was able to get the track tension set to where it was looking like it should.

American tank tracks do not have any slack in them. If they have excess slack they are more prone to being “thrown” as we called it in “tanker language” or being tossed off for the civilians.

We used to have a saying that “tight was right”, and we made sure that our tank’s tracks were always properly tensioned. I have bragging rights because during the 2,000 plus miles that I have personally driven a tank, I have never thrown a track.

Other tank crews can’t say that. Believe me when it happens, you will definitely do what you can to keep it from happening again. Working on the tracks in the field isn’t too much fun.

Chances are I will go back and trim the end connectors off the front compensating idler wheel and then replace them with ones from the AFV Club parts there too.

These end connectors are used to hold the track blocks together on the real full scale tracks. They have a wedge bolt that is tightened down against the track pins, so they follow the track pins as they bend around things.

Clear as mud right ?

Anyhow as always comments are encouraged.

Thanks for stopping by.

Brilliant way to fix the tracks issue, my friend @lgardner!
Looking forward to the next steps!