I like what I've seen / read about this kit (# 1386), and the price is right (I'm just getting back into modeling so I dont want to start with anything expensive)....BUT....

I looked at the build featured here on Armorama and the tracks look to be one-peice vynil which seem flat on the wheel side. I dont think I'd be happy with those so I asked one mail order store and they said the kit comes with indivdual tracks. I asked elsewhere and they said it includes BOTH one-peice and individual.

Could someone who actually has this kit (NOT the "interior" one) please confirm?

Thanks!

James
I built the early Tiger 1 exterior kit a while back and mine didn't come with indy links just the rubber bands, however you can pick up Academy Tiger 1 early indy links in a separate pack fairly cheaply.

HTH
Pete

Its a one piece rubber track, but not exactly the same material as Tamiya's....

Level with me: Are the tracks as bad as I think they are? The backside looks almost smooth in the pics I've seen.

Like I say, I didn't use the rubber band tracks,(can't even remember looking at them) I used a set of plastic indy links sold separately by Academy which came out ok.

Pete

Hi,

Here is a pic of the tracks...


I would prefer using them if I were to compare them to the tamiya tracks...but in my opinion nothing still beats the idy tracks.

Cheers

This is the picture that scares me:



See how the inner face of the track looks along the bottom and at the back......smooth and flat!

Hey, Tiger-1 looks familiar :-).

I see your point now, I thought you were refering to outside part of the tracks. I made a second look at the actual kit. In reality they are not as smooth you would think (based on the photo), there are track separation grooves but not as defined as you or I would expect them to be.

The track looks very smooth in the photo because of weathering. I applied pastel chalk together with some spackle and some of them went into the grooves of the tracks (inside part). If you are to compare them with indy tracks, then definitely the difference would be obvious.

BTW, below is a close-up pic of the tracks...


If you think the groove shown in the pic above is still far from what you want...then my suggestion is the same as Stormbringer. Now if you come to think of it...that's probably one of the reasons why the kit price is low/cheap :-) . As mentioned in my article, I bought the kit for practice before tackling the Tiger-I of Tamiya w/c cost higher... :-) .

My reply is a little long:-) ...but I hope this helps in your decision...

Cheers

Thats extreemly helpfull! Thank you so much for that. Now I see they are not quite as bad as I thought, but I think I'll go for their separate track kit since the sum of the two (tank and track kit) is STILL $20 less than a Tamiya kit!

BTW (tracks notwithstanding ) I absolutly love what you did with the weathering, especially the not-so-conventional light colored wash. May not have been what you were going for but it looks like it could very well be in the desert with dust/sand acumulated everywhere.

Thanks for the compliment... . I'm glad to be of help. BTW, go get those indy tracks definitely they would be better looking than what I built...

Happy modeling

Arvin

in the kit are vinyl AND indy tracks, but the indy's are used for the spare tracks

gr. majorme

Great weathering, as to the dusty effect, heck that could be anywhere in Europe during the summer. You did great job with the 1 piece tracks. Me, I always use indi links whenever I can, but I've noticed major improvements in the vinyl.

Thanks Steve....if you are interested here's how I did it...
Academy Tiger -I Early
Cheers