Hi Been working on Dragon's T-34 1940 machine (very nice indeed) and have been so impressed with it; both as a kit and vehicle as well, that I got the UTZ 1944 model and have ordered the 1941 unit as well.

Anyway, I was wondering how the ice cleats that come with these kits fit onto the tracks themselves, rather than just putting them on the fenders. Do they have any set 'pattern' that they go on? Or which way they actually fit--either the L-shaped piece sets fronwards or backward in relation to the track? And do they fit on the toothed track link or the flat link?

Just curious if anybody else has worked with putting these pieces on the tracks. Am trying my very best to do the link-to-link tracks that come with the kit as oppsed to having to buy the Fruil units first. Three sets of these things will set me back too far financially speaking. Ha, ha! So we do what we can, first, anyway.

Thanks and take care, Sgirty

I've been looking in my library and I can't find any pics of the tracks actually in use.
Best I can come up with is a description. They were fixed to every third 'untoothed' link and were bolted to the two holes in each of the 'untoothed' links. As far as I can tell looking at the front, the 'tooth' bit was uppermost, with the bolted bit underneath.
The set of cleats I've seen were unthreaded, and had round headed bolts so that the nut was secured on the inside face of the track, out board of the road wheels. One thing that seems to be definate is that during the war very few tanks had them. Pre war tanks had them, and they were supplied to some post war ones, the set I saw were originally supplied for a Czech postwar example. Probably cost and speed were factors here...?
The back of each link also has small 'spuds' to locate the cleat as the bolts are tightened.
It's not possible to run on tarmac roads with the cleats in place, the bolts will be sheered off in a few hundred yards.
Apparently they were popular with the crews for cooking :-) four put together with some metal rod across them makes a good stove top over a fire...

Hi Thanks for that information Aitch. It was of much help. Sounds kind of like they were of less value to use than the bayonet after the advent of the rifled barrel for the infantry. I hadn't seen any of these used on any pictures either, but I thought that if Dragon seems to be supplying them in all their kits, that the have have been used more than I orginally thought they were. A spare log would be so much easier and logical to use, which many of them evidently did by the photos.

This may be just the 'thing' to add to the 1940 model, just for that something sort of 'different' on it. But as for the others, well it will be off to the spares box for them. Ha,ha!

Thanks again, Sgirty