I thought that tape was an asbestos wrap, and could be either original or an after-thought since they did use asbestos in other WWI applications. Obviously the stuff in the pictures is a more modern replacement tape, and likely not asbestos as that would be a health hazard these days...

I could be wrong, of course!

Tom

Peter: Wow, I'm glad you made it to my thread! I look forward to seeing your finished build, and please feel free to offer any thoughts regarding these kits here. I think I remember seeing the tracks you were talking about, but they were more than a little pricey when I last looked at them. I agree with your point about the kit supplied track though. It seems a shame as they seem quite nice otherwise...
(*I would also encourage you to post a link, or I can post one for you, of your thread when you create one for your finished Mk IV, and have a link to my build posted in your thread. This will allow people to check them both out easily which may be quite useful )

Darren: This is great, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this!

Tom: Good thought, I didn't even consider that as an option. I don't think that I have ever seen asbestos wrap on anything that old, but I'll also be the first to admit that I have near zero familiarity with military vehicles from from that time period.

I have not noticed the tape on any of the other WW1 tanks and AFVs at Bovington, but that may mean nothing. I will make a point of finding someone to question on the subject.

Thanks Darren, I'm not sure how critical this information is, but it would be nice to know for future reference.

I've been looking closely at some of the smaller details that you were perceptive enough to key in on with your photographs, and it's brought to light some interesting discrepancies with the MB kit. I'm not sure if this means anything, it could very well be that some subtle changes were made during the production of the MK IV series. If not, I have a bit of a challenge in the areas around the fuel tank, particularly with the open holes where you can see part of the drive gear mechanism through

Hectic days brothers, I look to pick this project back up by this weekend.

Would anybody know where I may be able to pick up the Accurate tracks for a fair price?

I am about to begin an Emhar MkIV Male kit along with airwaves photoetch set. I have spent sometime looking for a replacement track set as well. Finally I have bought AccurateArmor's tracks from HLJ Japan with a reasonable price. I recommend you have a look there.

I've never purchased anything from HLJ, but it sounds like anyone here who have used there services have had good experiences.

Speaking of Accurate Armour products, I've been debating whether I should purchase the AA resin tracks for my Emhar Whippet, or if I should just forgo that and buy the whole Whippet kit from AA....

I've built the various Emhar kits and for my 2 cents I don't think it's worth the cost of replacement tracks unless you also really go to town on the plastic to correct all the crude details etc. But you know that as soon as you finish such a major overhaul there'll be a new state-of-art kit from Dragon...

Tom

I wish! It's highly unlikely Dragon or any other major manufacturer will release anything like that..

Thankfully I'm not building the Emhar kit, I'm building the MB resin kit. Not sure how much better that is, but hey...

Jeremy,

That's ok - I was kinda replying to drkwing's post! The only issue you might have with the resin tracks is length, since these early tanks didn't have much if any slack to soak up. (I'd lose any half-link length errors on the bottom run...)

Are you really thinking of drilling out those rear access holes? (Brave soul!) I'm not sure they had them exposed as issued from the factory - after all, they make tempting grenade holes that would ruin a tanker's day!

Tom

Aha, thanks for clearing that up.

And regards to the holes, I will if I need to, but I've only seen them on one Mk IV (the one Darren posted pictures of from the Bovington museum). They are not present on any of the Mk IV kits I have seen, but they are present on the tadpole kit. I really don't have enough information to make a clear decision, but I do agree with you about them making tempting targets for grenades and other objects.

I had a look for clear shots of those holes when the subject first came up, but it looks like most WWI folk liked to snap them from the classic "3/4 front" angle! I'd go by the "nobody can prove me wrong" rule myself. It'd be a real drill-blunting exercise, assuming the resin didn't split...

Tom

Bovington has an extensive collection of WW1 tanks I will make a point of uploading pictures of the butt ends for your viewinmg pleasure.

Tom: Thanks for looking, it sounds like you found pretty much the same intel that I did. Hopefully I won't have to do this, we'll have to wait and see what happens *crosses fingers*

Darren: I greatly appreciate all of your help, look forward to your photos as always

Sorry bud due to the crash the pictures was deleted if you want them uploaded again I will no problem.

The hole appears to be there on purpose as after checking the RAW picture files there is no sign of any cover at all, and if you look closly at the hole there is a cog wheel with a locking arm.

Maybe it's the parking brake

Thankfully I saw them before Jim decided to play Ground Hog Day...

I guess it's real, but given the trouble they went to elsewhere it makes no sense leaving a big inviting hole in the armour right where infantry can sneak up in safety. The more I learn, the more puzzled I get!

Tom

Darren: Not a problem, I've already saved all of the pics that you posted in this build log in anticipation of such an occurrence. However I'm sure that a lot of the other follower of this thread would be interested in seeing your pictures again, so please feel free to upload them again at your leisure.

Interesting about those access holes. I'm sure that a determined soldier could easily turn it into one Do you have any close up pictures that you can share with us?

Yes I have give me a few minutes to play on PScs and I will upload them. The concerns you both share ref this hole makes sense but then you have the even larger hole further up on the same panels.

Here is the book picture and the enlarged view of one of those holes, reminds me of an escape gear you get in a watch.

I know what that is now, it is where the power is transmitted to the drive wheel and the amount of rust means your eye fails to realise that it's the cogs meshing.

It really is a teaser isn't it? Thanks for the close up shot, I think I could make a good drawing for a template off of that.

Jeremy if you are going to go that far I believe you have 3 options;
1. Mill out the resin from the bottom so that you can insert the scratch drive wheels. Problem the resin walls will be so thin they could split. A plus if it works it creates the minimum of scratch work.

2. Remove the inner face and then scratch the inner face and track runner.

3. Remove the entire rear section and scratch the whole section, using detail from the removed resin pieces.

I hope the first option works for you, or do you have something else in mind?
I will get some more pics for you as I have a few books that cover this vehicle.
watching this build I am tempted to try and make a skeleton model of it.

I've been tempted to make a sekeleton model myself after seeing that b&w scan.

I don't know what's going to work, I think what I may have to do to avoid ruining the parts and creating even more work is to cut the track runs in half. Unlike the Emhar kits, this resin MB kit is extremely simplified which would be fine if I didn't have to modify parts. You can see where my lack of knowledge has gotten me into a bit of a fix here.

Wow! That's some serious resin surgery! I think you could start by drilling the side holes half-way before using a saw to cut the faces away from the filler. Drill a vertical hole to act as a stop, then use a saw from the rear end cutting forward to the "stop" about 2-3mm in from each face so the filler chunk drops out leaving lots of room for the new gears. If it works, great. If it breaks, you can superglue the sides back together or use them as patterns for plastic replacements. I'd personally save this kind of work for the Emhar plastic kit...

That "watch escapement" in the picture is a mud-guard over the chain that transmits drive from an axle at the back of the hull to the sprockets. Picture if you will a bicycle chain with a small gear at the front and a larger one at the rear, with an attached cog wheel that interacts with those cogs on the sprocket. I guess they needed access to it for oiling and for some reason did not bother to cover it over. Or, look at this from Landships:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/jpegs/newpics_05_2005/mk4_cutout.JPG

If you build the whole thing, you'll really want to replace the sides with clear plastic to show it off!

Tom

[Edit: You could always fall back on Plan A & build it pretty much as it came...]