Friulmodel closing

[Allen Dewire]

Ok, so I'm going to play the Devil's Advocate here. It's nothing personal and not a dig at any of you fine folks. Let's look at the whole picture, starting with clean up of the links...

Yes, you do have to clean them up as there might be some burrs or flash and you do have to use a drill bit set to the correct depth to clean the holes? A normal set will have about 50-60 links that actually need drilling to clear out the remainder from the molding. The rest will drill through and that's it. Put on some of your favorite music or watch Snooker on Euro Sport and before Ronnie O'Sullivan wins the best of 33 matches, you're done with it all...

Assembly is also quite easy. Having to glue track pads or other things on them are a real pain as they are metal. I have never used the supplied wire to pin them together. I use some cheap brass wire that is a bit stiffer and never had a prob. Cut 20cm piece, insert it into the link. Put a bend in the last 4-5mm and push it in with the tweezers till seated. Nip it wire flush and you won't need to CA the end, as the wire will stay in place, even with handling them...

Costs have risen, but up till the end of last year, the price of Friuls have been stable for the past 6+ years when purchased from Friul or from a show he has attended. A set of ATL.08, late Panther tracks, sold for €22, as well as T-34, Pz IV and all similar types. Tiger tracks were between €24-26 depending on model. You are right Mr. Smiff, Rach paid way too much for a set of Maultier tracks around 10 years ago as they sold for €18. With a hobby store markup, they would have been around €22 + postage...

Dave is correct by saying you can use the tracks that come with the kit, in most cases. Whether they are link & length or indy links, they will build up well and look good. But, with Takom, Trumpeter and others, they decided to have you cleanup and glue 2 track guide horns on each link before assembling them. A definite case madness and the rubber room I'm afraid. By saying Friul should maybe modernize their production, please take a look at the total selection of what they produce. They make tracks for a lot of newer kits using the same methods that have worked for them for years and kept them price worthy too...

Master Club also make metal and plastic tracks for many models. Having to bend tabs to connect the links, on earlier sets was even worse. Of course, then came the indy track pins with 2 different types/sizes for the inside and outside of the links, like the real thing.
Fine, throw 220 loose pieces in 2 baggies, for a total of 440 pins. Have you tried to pin a link with tweezers? The carpet monster will have a field day and never go hungry. Look at their prices and you'll see the are more expensive than Friuls and going even higher now as they are made in Russia...

3D printing is a wonderful thing and is the future of our hobby in many areas. Tracks are also a big portion of this new trend and many companies like T-Rex, FC trend, Minor, Heavy Hobby, and the like are producing/selling them. No cleanup and fully workable are their claim to fame, BUT...look at the prices!!! Up to €50 for a set of Sherman, Churchill, Panther or Tiger I tracks, which is about twice as much as a set of Friuls today. Dave's right, for that price, you can buy 2-3 kits and work with what you have in the box...

I have nothing to do with Friul other than being a customer and knowing the owner. I truly hope Giuseppe finds a buyer so he can relax and enjoy his life in retirement. I also hope he will personally be in Veldhoven in October and he has some good news...

Thank you for your time and for reading this. I think I'll go clean up a set now. Is there a Snooker match on the telly???

Prost
Allen

[David Lovell]

Well put Allen a good and un biased piece ,ok some of the in box links seem to be a bit ott but do produce the goods on the finished kit , its a personal choice but I sometimes wish thoes that use third party links would also still have a go at building the kit links there a bit like etch the more you do the more confident you become notice I said confident and not the easier they become. This one could could rumble on but I think what Allen has written sums this one up. Dave.

[Jim R]

Build trucks, cars, airyplanes or floaty things - problem solved! No, not really, just swapped one issue for another :rolling: And remember the mogglers best friend - MUD, MUD and more MUD!!

[Allen Dewire]

So true!!! When was the last time you opened a kit and it was 100% ready to glue together. No cleanup, no cutting pieces off the sprues, Nada!!! Just add glue and paint. It's horses of course, of course, of course...............Or was that Mr. Ed??? Can't remember that old saying...

[Guest]

I don't really see the need for flexible tracks now as with link and length and separate link type if you want to include sag

It’s not so much that workable tracks make adding sag easier, as it is to install the tracks after painting the model and the tracks separately. With non-workable tracks (whether separate links or link-and-length) you will have to either glue them before painting, making that harder, or glue them on after painting and probably have a good deal of touch-up to do as well as having to find a way to glue painted parts. Workable tracks avoid pretty much all of those problems, in my experience — at the expense of being more work to put together, of course.

[Scratchbuilder]

Ok, so I'm going to play the Devil's Advocate here. It's nothing personal and not a dig at any of you fine folks. Let's look at the whole picture, starting with clean up of the links...

Yes, you do have to clean them up as there might be some burrs or flash and you do have to use a drill bit set to the correct depth to clean the holes? A normal set will have about 50-60 links that actually need drilling to clear out the remainder from the molding. The rest will drill through and that's it. Put on some of your favorite music or watch Snooker on Euro Sport and before Ronnie O'Sullivan wins the best of 33 matches, you're done with it all...

Assembly is also quite easy. Having to glue track pads or other things on them are a real pain as they are metal. I have never used the supplied wire to pin them together. I use some cheap brass wire that is a bit stiffer and never had a prob. Cut 20cm piece, insert it into the link. Put a bend in the last 4-5mm and push it in with the tweezers till seated. Nip it wire flush and you won't need to CA the end, as the wire will stay in place, even with handling them...

Costs have risen, but up till the end of last year, the price of Friuls have been stable for the past 6+ years when purchased from Friul or from a show he has attended. A set of ATL.08, late Panther tracks, sold for €22, as well as T-34, Pz IV and all similar types. Tiger tracks were between €24-26 depending on model. You are right Mr. Smiff, Rach paid way too much for a set of Maultier tracks around 10 years ago as they sold for €18. With a hobby store markup, they would have been around €22 + postage...

Dave is correct by saying you can use the tracks that come with the kit, in most cases. Whether they are link & length or indy links, they will build up well and look good. But, with Takom, Trumpeter and others, they decided to have you cleanup and glue 2 track guide horns on each link before assembling them. A definite case madness and the rubber room I'm afraid. By saying Friul should maybe modernize their production, please take a look at the total selection of what they produce. They make tracks for a lot of newer kits using the same methods that have worked for them for years and kept them price worthy too...

Master Club also make metal and plastic tracks for many models. Having to bend tabs to connect the links, on earlier sets was even worse. Of course, then came the indy track pins with 2 different types/sizes for the inside and outside of the links, like the real thing.
Fine, throw 220 loose pieces in 2 baggies, for a total of 440 pins. Have you tried to pin a link with tweezers? The carpet monster will have a field day and never go hungry. Look at their prices and you'll see the are more expensive than Friuls and going even higher now as they are made in Russia...

3D printing is a wonderful thing and is the future of our hobby in many areas. Tracks are also a big portion of this new trend and many companies like T-Rex, FC trend, Minor, Heavy Hobby, and the like are producing/selling them. No cleanup and fully workable are their claim to fame, BUT...look at the prices!!! Up to €50 for a set of Sherman, Churchill, Panther or Tiger I tracks, which is about twice as much as a set of Friuls today. Dave's right, for that price, you can buy 2-3 kits and work with what you have in the box...

I have nothing to do with Friul other than being a customer and knowing the owner. I truly hope Giuseppe finds a buyer so he can relax and enjoy his life in retirement. I also hope he will personally be in Veldhoven in October and he has some good news...

Thank you for your time and for reading this. I think I'll go clean up a set now. Is there a Snooker match on the telly???

Prost
Allen

Well stated Youngerthanme,
Nothing like working out your stress on cleaning up track links, now I know how women can knit and watch tv all at the same time. As for the plastic pin variety, I use some cheap brass wire cut to the length required, after spending ages on my knees looking for the plastic pins, SWMBO thought I had converted to a new religion and pitied them....
3D tracks, yet to come across them and will assess them in the same way I did with the metal tracks and the 'click' together variety.

[Gary MacKenzie]

Light at the end of the tunnel

From Facebook

[scottie3158]

Gary,
I saw this but not a lot of info.

[JR]

Does look promising if they have posted that .

[Andy the Sheep]

I really hope so. I have a soft spot for their tracks and I have a Panther and a Pz IV in the stash that would be glad to receive such a kind of "shoes".

[Dave Ward]

If Fruimodel are resurrected, I can't see them going on producing the metal tracks - Casting metal, the moulds will deteriorate & need repair & maintenance - I cant think that they are particularly fast or easy to produce, either.
Resin printed tracks, once you have the tracks on computer, each track link should be the same, no deteriotion - given that resin printers have come down in price It wouldn't make economical sense. You can print hundreds of track links simultaneously on the same build plate. Thinking of mail order - weight of a coule of hundred resin tracks vs same number of metal tracks?
The Fruimodel tracks were an innovation, but technologyhas moved on, - metal cast links are a thing of the past!
Dave

[Guest]

weight of a coule of hundred resin tracks vs same number of metal tracks?

That’ll be about one-sixth the weight, roughly. Pewter has a specific gravity of somewhere between about 7 and 8 depending on alloy, while 3D printing resin seems to be about 1.2.

[JR]

I was under the impression they included lead .
I've yet to try the resin type , loved the Fruil but Dave is right .

[Guest]

Lead has been rarely used in casting model parts in the last couple of decades, so I’m assuming the Friul tracks are cast in pewter or similar instead.

[Gary MacKenzie]

Fruil were white metal , not sure if they still are ( last sets made )
That could well include lead in the composite material.