Darren Baker builds and reviews the Workable Track Links Set for Panzer III/IV Early Type from MiniArt in 1/35th scale.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Looks really good. Cleanup sucks, but at 1/2 - 1/3 cost of other alternatives, i can live with that.

Hope they will make tracks for Panther, Tiger etc. Cost vs. Quality seems good

Ummmm, Darren?
One of the numbers in this text must be incorrect (or something else is unclear):
"Inside you will find 20 sprues that contain the track links and that give you 240 track links. There are 5 sprues that contain the pins for securing the tracks together and these are sided and provide 153 inner and outer pins. "

There is a significant difference between the number of pins (153 inner + 153 outer) and the number of links.
Should '153' possibly be 253 instead? Edit: should be 255, see below.

Thanks for the review! I have a number of DS-tracks that I want to replace so a bulk purchase of these is definitely tempting

/ Robin

Edit:
I counted the pins on the sprue image: 6 rows per sprue, 17 pins in in each row (3 rows marked O(uter), 3 rows marked I(nner).
This makes 51 + 51 pins or 51 pairs. With 5 sprues we get 255 pairs which gives us a few spares since there are 240 links.
If the number of links per vehicle is correct I would need 202 links for a Pz IV, this would give me 38 spare links (+ a few extra pins). Some will probably be used for the spare links hanging on a tank so I might get 25 or 26 leftovers per Pz/StuG.
After 5 completed models I would have a "bonus" set for a Pz IV

There's good choice for Panther/Tiger tracks already. Bronco makes nice Panther tracks, while AFV makes Tiger tracks. Both are in the 15E price range, so not too far away from ~10E for Miniart. I would spend extra 5E for less cleanup on ~240 parts...

I see the monotonous cleanup of track links as a sort of meditation. Hard to get paid 5 Euros for meditation anywhere else

Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.
Aummmmm, remove one more link from sprue, file, polish, inspect, put in small container.

I agree with you on meditation part of the build, but only as long, as cleanup is on reasonably accessible parts. If for example details and plastic are soft, or gates are on awkward locations, then cleanup becomes ART. And art does not come in numbers!
Darren, how is the plastic in these tracks? How robust are assembled tracks?

I'm just thrilled that anyone makes early panzer 3/4 tracks to replace the despised and reviled DS tracks that Dragon's otherwise great Pz 3A kit comes with!

The plastic is as good as any other I have used and removal is easy. Clean up does take time but it is easy to avoid damage to areas of detail and connection points, but I did use a very good set of cutters that mean very little waste plastic is left on the parts. the parts also go together easily and resulted in no loses in my case.

Rob: my bad you are correct it should be 255 pins.

I see no good reason not to buy and use these track links and I hope MiniArt release many more examples of the same quality.

The only question I need to sort out is how MANY of them I need

/ Robin

The Pz III Ausf A through D all have 96 links per side, 36 cm wide tracks. The Pz IV Ausf A through E all have 99 links per side, 38 cm wide tracks. Therefore, they did not use the same width tracks. And the box shows the wrong number for the Pz. IV.

The difference is 20 mm which comes to 0.57 mm in 1/35.
The measurement on each side of a track link is off by 0.57/2 = 0.286 mm. Depending on which kit the tracks are used for there could be other measurements which are off by larger amounts and maybe more visible.

http://panzerivuniverse.phelpscomputerservices.com/Specs-02.htm
Pz IV A : Kgs. 6110/380/120 track shoe: 36cm, pin 38cm
Pz IV B-E : Kgs. 6111/380/120 track shoe: 36cm, pin 38cm
Pz IV F1-J: Kgs. 61/400/120 track shoe: 38cm, pin 40cm

This discussion thread might be of some interest:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/47207/thread/1473204050/last-1473351850/View+Thread

http://relicsww2.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1047 A real 1:1 scale link sold some time ago.
The type number is Kgs. 6110/380/120.

Some intelligence reports said 38 cm because they measured the track link without the pin, adding the pin and pin-heads gives another 10 mm on each side of the link for a total of 38 cm.

Since the running gear on the Pz III and IV were related it makes no sense at all to complicate logistics by having a 20 mm difference in track width. The Pz III may have been a little lighter but the track footprint on the ground was shorter so there was no point in trying to save 20 mm on the width of the track.
/ Robin