The Energon Pub

i love this brick. had it since it came out. and his treads are breaking. i am looking for another one for scrap to repair him. is this happening to anyone else? and how did you fix it if you did? i tried to fix mine with electrical tape and super glue. but i am finding out that did not work.

Oh yeah, this has happened to both my Scavenger and Energon Treadbolt repaint. I was grousing about this in my old "Toy Disintegration" thread. This is one reason I've come to hate the use of rubber in toys. It WILL eventually crack, melt, or melt any plastic it is touching, as well as in extreme cases, all three.

There's no real fixing it either, as even if you were to repair the split, the restored tension to the rubber will just cause it split elsewhere. It's a losing proposition, and a darn shame from a QC standpoint.

I've been trying to figure out alternative materials with which to replace split treads, such as a strong fabric like what seat belts are made of. You would lose the actual "bumps", but at least the figure would look halfway complete again and the fabric would not degrade.

Anyone else have any ideas for alternate tread material?

My Scavenger is fine, but Treadbolt's tracks started to go a couple of years back. In the end I just stripped all the removable parts off him (in the hopes of finding a cheap incomplete one) and junked the main bot. While it would still be rubber it just occurred to me that track links intended for model tanks come in various sizes and there may be something available that would work as a replacement.

waaaaghlord wrote:My Scavenger is fine, but Treadbolt's tracks started to go a couple of years back. In the end I just stripped all the removable parts off him (in the hopes of finding a cheap incomplete one) and junked the main bot. While it would still be rubber it just occurred to me that track links intended for model tanks come in various sizes and there may be something available that would work as a replacement.

Same here.

Treadbolt fell apart and that toy's treads were never ever turned.

Scavenger's are still together, but I assume it's just a matter of time before they go.

Oh well, even the Mona Lisa is falling apart.

Well one of the things they do for cable cars is every month or so they shift the cable so the tension isn't always in the same place and it makes cables that would snap in a year last 20. So moving them every now and then could help but you'd have to start when you get it.

Funnily enough, my friend Froy and I where complaining about rubber tires on RiD Ultra Magnus and the early Alternators and we where talking about starting making molds to sell replacements. I was planning to start a thread asking about demand and what needs it most later in the week after he checks out what methods and materials were available.

Those are all over eBay. You shouldn't have any problem finding a cheap replacement.

Mine's fine, but I have the Takara version, dunno if that would make a difference or not.

Then again, I haven't had problems with rubber parts on any of my G1 stuff either, so maybe I'm just lucky.

Hope you find a fix for yours.

thanks all, my cousin is giving his to me. i will not to break this one.

Note to self: Don't play with toys.

How about coating it with a flexible epoxy resin?