Thanks
Simple solutions are often the best, I find.
The alternative way to building the track I had in mind, seems to work … I first glued the three links to the drive sprocket, because they’re the only ones with positive locations (due to the teeth):
Once the glue had dried, I put the top run on without glue so I could also correctly position the three links around the idler:
Again, when that had dried, I removed the top run. iIt will get in the way for building the rest of the suspension, and I don’t need it in any case, because there will be a plate completely covering it in the M29C.
I also fitted the springs to four of the bogies. These are supposed to click in place, but most don’t want to — and worse, some give the impression that they have, but in fact you may have stripped the locating pins from the bogies
What I did was cut a small channel into the spring, to the hole for the pin, so it slipped on more easily. I may make a little drawing and post that to illustrate what I mean
That done, I also glued the inner wheel of the outer pair to these bogies, taking care to get it straight and not wonky.
By the way, the bogies may look symmetrical once assembled, but they have an inside and an outside. The inside is the side that the small part that traps the suspension arms.
The next step was to glue the remaining track parts together (paying attention to get them in the right order) and leave the glue to dry for a short while — about as long as it took to glue the front and rear bogies on, on one side of the vehicle. Then I could glue the still-flexible track to the links on the idler and drive sprocket, lower the bogies down to their correct positions, and then finally glue them to the track:
This is fiddly and tricky, but everything together, it’s easier to line up the wheels with the track than the other way around, because this way, at least the track will fit properly. No chance of having it too long, for example.
The other side remains to be done, but I’m waiting for the glue to dry on this side first, as I don’t want to risk bumping it and throwing everything out of line after all.