Hi all,
I'm working on the Tamiya SdKfz. 139 Marder III. I bought the Friul 38T set ATL-13, but they are too wide for the kit drive sprocket and idler. Which is the correct set? Thanks, Keith.

I think (if memory serves) I read somewhere that this can be fixed with a piece of sheet styrene in between the drive sprocket halves to extend it a bit. Also you can use a piece of tube to do the same with the idler, I think this might be in one of my model books. Will check when I get home to see if it's more detailed with sizes and such. Might be a workable solution for you to do something like that.

I thought those fruils came with their own drive sproket to solve the issue. Is that wrong?

Me again. The Friul set does come with a metal sprocket but not an idler. There is a review on Track-Link which suggests widening the idler. The width discrepancy is HUGE....like 1/8 in. I'd be surprised if Tamiya made that big a mistake. Is this a known inaccuracy in the Tamiya kit? I just assumed that since the track set was an impulse purchase I grabbed the wrong one. I wonder if one of the Hetzer sets would be more appropriate or a better fit.

I'll check to see if they mention a width in the book I have but I wouldn't be shocked if 1/8th was the space difference.

Ok, I may have a partial answer to my own question. When all else fails stop goggling at the cool pictures and do some actual research! LOL. The Nuts & Bolts book on the Sd Kfz 139 gives the track width as 293mm. This scales out to 8.37XXXmm in 1/35 scale. The kit tracks actually are spot on. The Friul tracks measure about a millimeter too wide at just over 9mm.
Still, the extra surgery may be worthwhile to achieve a more realistic track sag, finer level of detail and a better "look". In many of the reference shots the tracks just look a tad wider and more substantial than the kit tracks. Just my AM2P. I and The Voices in my head thank you for your attention.

Keith

R&J products makes a resin idler wheel set for the Tamiya Marders They are $6 a set The AM tracks will fit onto them They are item # RJ35256 Here's a link to their site

http://www.rjproducts.com/ Click on product lines on the left and scroll down till you see R&J Products They have a great selection of AM stuff and great service

Keith, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner on this. The book I have that mentions this exact issue with the Marder and Fruil tracks, it (Advanced Techniques Painting and Weathering Military Models Vol 2) says to add a piece of sheet styrene between the idler wheel disks. Thickness of 0.85mm drawn with a compass and then cut, they didn't give a dimension on the tubing used for the sprocket. Hope that helps!