Introduction

Offering a range of interesting quarter-scale armor subjects, AFV Club continues to produce welcome accessories for weekend warriors not wishing to invest a lot of time and money into 1/35th scale kits. Though quite happy with the very flexible and well-detailed vinyl tracks supplied with my Tiger I (Item AF 48001) and SturmTiger (Item AF 48006) kits from AFV Club (see photos, BOTTOM), I intended to build a diorama in which at least one vehicle will be depicted as knocked-out, with broken tracks.

construction

The kit directions recommend using 95 links per side -I managed 96, as one is left with a couple spare links after completion. Though the set is intended to be “workable” with no cementing required, neither the 1/48th scale Tiger I (Late Version), nor the SturmTiger kits have working suspensions. Because the styrene is quite brittle, and the connecting pins are tiny and fragile, it would be extremely difficult to assemble two fully-working runs of tracks, anyways. A helpful tip is given in the directions for assembling the Early Version set: first insert a pin into one hole of the adjoining link, then carefully flex and lift the link onto the other pin.

parting shots

I needed no tools to assemble this set, other than a sharp blade –simply detach each track link from its sprue, as there’s no flash to be removed. I managed to assemble both runs of track before watching “The Battle of Britain” through to the end. Because both share the same suspension and lower hulls, this set fits both the 1/48th scale Tiger I (Late) and the SturmTiger kits equally well. I’m looking forward to finishing my early Tiger I with a set of these indy links (Item AF 48004). I can’t wait to see my SturmTiger’s new tracks after painting and weathering. One day, I may even get around to building that 1/48th scale diorama…