Gino I have to agree with you with the exception of World War Two German tanks such as the Panther and Tiger where I feel the weight of metal tracks have the edge.

I guess I am just not a fan of metal tracks. I still think you can make the plastic tracks look just as good.

My reply was my opinion, given the choice between plastic and metal , metal wins every time, I like the weight it gives the model and the sag on the tracks look better in my opinion. This all boils down to what the modeler likes. jim

Hi Jim For many years this was my opinion as well. But what did Friuls have to compete against during the previous 10-15 years? Non workable plastic tracks and very expensive and hard to get Modelkasten (at least here in Sweden), and even harder to find resin tracks like WWII Productions. So Friuls won every time. In the last few years the market is virtually flooded with indy plastic tracks that are workable, for nearly every model out there. What advantage does the weight have on a static model .... yes they sit right without posing them, but it takes all of one minute to pose the plastic workable tracks ... advantage gone. One major fault in the friul tracks is the open end. Its OK on some models when its not really seen on the inside, but they have given out sets that have the open end on the outside. The thin wire, sticking out through the hole, is not appealing. The workable plastic tracks do not have this problem. They have all the advantages of workable Friuls, easier to paint, lighter, cheaper and take a minute extra to pose. MasterClub resin tracks are another beauty ... higher quality, workable and cheaper than Friul. Friul unfortunately have lived on their former reputation and have not improved their product in my time in modelling. Their prices are still increasing and on a finished static model, don´t give me anything extra. So I no longer believe that Friuls are necessarily "needed" for a top class model. I have loads of sets and will use them, but I find myself buying a lot less of them today ... in fact the only recent model I bought them for was the Hobby Boss Panzer I ausf C, that needed extra tracks as theirs do not fit the drive wheel.

There is also the issue of single pin or double end connector tracks. IMVHO metal tracks are great for single pin but plastic works better for double end connectors. Those Riich tracks do look good, I've got some Skybow ones (re-released also by AFV Club I believe) but they have the reputation of being VERY difficult to assemble -I'm being polite here- . Cheers, Christophe

Furis arn't the only metal track maker now, Spade Ace makes a fine product and Sector 35 also new to the market. I didn't mean to hijack this thread to metal tracks, so I am sorry we went in this direction Jim

Jim no problem as discussion is good. On the subject of sector 35 they are tracks I would like to see in the flesh as they look very promising.

I have 2 sets of T-80 for my 27S Pion and a set of T-90. The T 80's I did in 2 nights watching the news The T-90 I havent tried yet, also I bought another set, but dont remember where I put them, more than likely in the kit they go to. Jim

Well most of the time, Plastic tracks are much cheaper then metal tracks...I know fruili tracks are getting to be pretty pricey...nearly the same cost as the kit!