My WWII Productions Panzer 38t links arrived on Saturday, and on Sunday I built them up. I plan on popping them onto an Italeri 38t I build recently, because I don't have
enough projects going already. So here are some thoughts post-build-up.
The WWII links go together pretty well -- there's enough hold that they stay together ok, but not so much hold that it is hard to get them together. The snap together nature of the treads is terrific for a quick working time, though if the treads are small or were complicated in design, this makes things a bit more difficult.
The Panzer 38t treads are both -- small, AND complicated in design.
![Smile [:)]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile.gif)
They had this tooth in the middle that stuck pretty far into the opposite link. This creates a challenge for slipping the long pin into its hole and then popping the short pin in, as the middle tooth is literally in the way to a clean sweep over. I hope I described this correctly. What I found I could do though was hold the two links at a 90 degree angle, start slipping the long pin in, then swing the whol link over -- there's enough wiggle room in the hole that this does not break the long pin (not usually anyway!). This is more complicated than it sounds, and I was soon popping links on at a rate of about 10 a minute. That is FAST FAST FAST!
They look great too. I was a bonehead and glued the sprocket on, which will complicate tread placement a little, as it's a tight fit between the sponson and the sprocket, and these lengths, while not MK fragile, still do come apart if you apply pressure.
One thing I noticed with these teeny links is that, if they come undone, it sometimes breaks the resin pin, and you have to trash the link, unless you just use it in on the bottom, and glue it instead of snapping it, but this requires the right break at the right time, if you catch my drift.
I think a "manlier" link like a Tiger or Pershing link will not have the same problem. These 38t links are really miniscule, and so the resin pins have to be tiny too. You get tons of extras, so even though I had a few pin breaks when I was putting the lengths together (I assembled 10 at a time, then snapped those together into bigger and bigger lengths) I had enough. I plan to use the broken ones as spares carried by the tank. Good deal.
My only concern is their staying together during the painting and attachment process. I haven't gotten to that yet, though I did test fit a length to see how much of a nightmare it's going to be to slip the lengths on. It will be tricky but not horrendous, I think (famous last words!). I'm going to stick to a base coat and then washes, so as to avoid dry brushing, and will probably rely pretty heavily on pastels to finish the job. Then again, my 38t has mud all over the bottom, so maybe I'll just paint the treads mud colored!
Anyway, an hour and a half to build 188 tiny snap together links ain't bad at all, and you know what?
They're straight.
One last thing -- the links are designed for the Tamiya Marder III, but they seem to fit ok on my sprockets. I may file them down as the tooth holes on the links seem to be slightly closer together than the holes on the rubber band treads that came with the kit. YMMV, as is said on the internet.
More later on this NBC station ....