Hi all,
after the rather traumatic experience with the rubber tracks for the EPIALES vehicle, I decided to try the Trumpeter plastic track links instead.
For this PHRIKE vehicle I used the suspension, road wheels, return roller and drive sprocket of the Trumpeter T-54B kit that "Baynerd" sent me as a gift :)
The kit contains rubber tracks, which are usually very twisted and bent, and somehow I never gotten around to find the proper means to glue it in place.
I was amazed to find the kit on Amazon for a reasonable price - 10.79€ - and Prime shipping.
The kit seems rather straight forward consisting of 248 separate pieces.
Since I only use 4 road wheels and the vehicle is considerable shorter, I won't need all of them.
First task is to clean up the pieces.
A nice little pile - very little flash, just getting it out of the sprue and removing the little positioning pieces.
The instructions are also quite simple.
I mounted them first in pairs and then sections of fours.
5 sections of 4 were needed for the base area.
The mounting of the sections is easy, they work well with the glue and fit nicely to the kit.
But then I got to the drive sprocket and got a nasty surprise!
The links did not quite fit the sprocket's teeth.
The links did not quite fit the sprocket's teeth.
Despite both being Trumpeter and the links being explicitly for the T-54.
I didn't expect that.
So I quickly shaved off the inner teeth.
This then worked to get the links mounted around the drive sprocket.
I was lucky that the tracks counted out perfectly and they met without stretching :)
Just the way I wanted them!
For the other side of the PHRIKE I need to display a thrown track in the process of being re-mounted.
With the exact link count from the other side, I first mounted the ground section and then the thrown pieces.
Again, the pieces work together quite nicely and are very easy to position the way needed.
So, despite the surprise with the drive sprocket, the track links work like a charm.
Especially if you want to picture the tracks in an unusual position the plastic track links are a lot better than the original rubber ones and in my opinion worth the price.
A clear recommendation form my side!
Cheers
Klaus
