1/14 CAT 390D LME

[modelman]

Jw.-sounds like you are stuck on making metal tracks but I think your goal of a complete set of tracks in 1 day is unrealistic. Have you considered other options? I made rubber molds from silicone rubber and cast my track pads from epoxy. With rubber molds you can have undercuts and just peel the molds away from the part and the epoxy parts are plenty strong for a model. I cast the hinge pin holes into the parts at the perfect size but depending on your part you still may have to do machine work. This is the master part ready to mold-


This is the rubber mold-

Here is the track pads-

Track pads assembled-

Something to think about ????

[Jw.]

Thanks modelman! Casting the hinge pin holes is a brilliant idea. Saves so much more machining time. I will try to incorporate that in to my next molds. What's the strength of the epoxy your using? How are they holding up on your shovel?

I have considered using resin or plastic but I'm hoping to get the metal tracks going if I can. I have some hard urethane plastic that I will try out later. It has a tensile strength of 5,840 psi.

Thank you for the pictures.