MiniArt is working on a set of workable tracks that will be valid for early models of Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.

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Thanks!

Looks promising. The more options the better. Thanks for posting Carlos!

They look beautiful.

What is the point making them workable? Crazy. Dragon magic tracks and Voyager track links are the way to go imho.

Making tracks workable usually means you can assamble and paint he tracks before having to put them on the the model.

In my personal opinion the 'workable' feature of the tracks is mostly pointless since I prefer to assemble them as fixed sections instead of handling fragile tracks but that is just my very personal opinion.

Still great news since I have a bunch of unbuilt Dragon Panzers which have the DS-tracks, some like them but I certainly do NOT.
Nice to have an option that will hopefully be cheaper. Maybe the solution with separate pins is less fragile than the 'clickable' design.

/ Robin

Hi, ALL!

The new MINIART Pz.III/IV "Early Type" (38cm) Tracks look like they might ALMOST be carbon copies of the plastic MODELKASTEN Tracks, which are quite FIDDLY and FRAGILE, but DO offer a very "realistic look" to them. Even the "Assembly Jig" is similar.

I think, personally speaking of course, that DRAGON's "Magic Tracks" are of a better, but not necessarily THE best, design for plastic Tracks, in that you don't have all of those "pesky" pins to deal with, making this "realistic design" A LOT weaker and more fragile to handle during the assembly process. Please understand that I'm talking about MODELKASTEN Tracks, specifically. To reiterate, I think that these new MINIART Tracks seem to share the same assembly-style and design as the MODELKASTENs...

Some aftermarket manufacturers offer stronger designs in their Tracks, which unfortunately sometimes cost as much, if not more, than the kit one is buying them for...

I AGREE that "workable" Tracks have no real advantages over conventional "indy-link", or even "link-and-length" Track sets...

Buyer's choice, I'd say...

Hmmm... I think that once you put the pins in place, nothing prevents you to drop some glue over the links and turn them into non-workable tracks like any other plastic ones.

Having said that, my little experience with pinned workable tracks is not that good either, but that was before I knew you first insert a section of pins and then you cut them from the sprue.

Hi, Carlos!

Yeaaah, that's SUPPOSED to be the way it's done, but A LOT of modellers wind up doing it by cutting the pins off the sprues, resulting in a lot of lost pins and frustration. Even so, the MODELKASTENS are still fiddly, and VERY FRAGILE, so they always seem to break apart at the most inopportune moments!

The MODELKASTEN Tracks offer beautiful detail, but DAMMIT, THERE THEY GO AGAIN!!!

I find that the MODELKASTENS are made of a very "glue-sensitive" polystyrene-plastic, which likes to melt, and adds to the general misery that is associated with them. I much prefer to dribble a little bit of CA adhesive over my aftermarket Tracks in strategic places, to help prevent that "breakage-and-separation" kind of thing from happening, but assembly and placement of MODELKASTEN Tracks still requires a lot of planning ahead, gentle fingers AND PATIENCE!!!

I prefer the Friul method of using a single metal pin to attach each link to the other. the runs are tougher and less fiddly to assemble, even if wire isn't that good at representng the bolt on the outwards facing side.

These could be good if the price is right. Friuls are very nice, but their price is insane. The MiniArt tracks I have assembled for their Pz. III Ausf. A go together well and function nicely if you use their jig.

WOW Super! That makes a lot of Dragons Tanks attractive since now you can throw the damn vinyltracks in the trash where they belong

AGREE...

If I am correct these are the same as will be in the Bronco Afrika Korpe Stug kit and that's had good reviews personaly i find drilling holes in hundreds of metal track links then having to clip lengths of wire to have spent over £26 for just to get a sag that is often over done too much I like the jig and hints to pin batches of 7 just hope there is no flash.

In my opinion Tamiya has the best solution and that is in their 48th kits and that is link and length ,simple easy to use and they look good .Indy track will always look better and Dragons magic track i thought was good in the box solution. Quite why Dragon have gone to that DS rubbish beats me .Rubber band track are a 70's thing and should remain there and if its a cost thing why dont they sell them as an accessory. There are so many options out there it really is down to your preference and wallet. Have fun Wayne

Hi, Wayne!

There are a few 1/35 TAMIYA Tank kits that feature "Link-and-length" Tracks, which are quite nice, IMO- Right off the top of my head, the IS-2, IS-152 and their really nice Hetzer come to mind. BRONCO also went for the "Link-and-length" Tracks with their M22 "Locust" kits, and since the Tracks on 1/35 M22s are so tiny, I think that BRONCO carried their "Link-and-length" Tracks for these kits off quite well.

IMO, I think that DRAGON SHOULD have done the same with their Japanese "HA-GO"-series and their "KA-MI"-series kits, which "feature" those stupid "DS" Tracks, rather than have us go out and buy, then fiddle-dee-f**k around with those recalcitrant and hideously expensive FRIULS!!!

Buuuut, they didn't...

Before any of you guys read me the "Riot Act" for "dissing" DRAGON yet AGAIN, I want to point out that I'm talking about their "DS" Tracks, and not their kits, themselves. PLENTY of you have moaned and groaned about "DS" Tracks...

The FRIULS are more-or-less OK for bigger Tanks, such as 1/35 Tigers I & II, but when you're trying to assemble a 1/35 Tank that's not much bigger than a pack of "cancer-sticks", with nearly-microscopic Tracks, then it can be a painful ordeal for your fingers, and pretty frustrating for your good mental well-being...

Give me "Link-and-length" Tracks, anytime- Once you cake the Tracks up with all manners of glop that's supposed to represent mud, all that beautiful detail that you supposedly get with "Indy-links" is obscured, anyway...

Bill Cross says that he liked the Tracks in his Pz.III kit- I believe him, and I'm more than willing to give the MINIART "Workable" Pz.III/IV 38cm Tracks the benefit of the doubt- The only thing that I'm a bit apprehensive over, is that their design looks remarkably similar to the MODELKASTEN variety, and they may possibly "include" the inherent frustration and "fiddle-iness" that comes with Tracks of that particular type of design...