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- Jakko
The tracks are link-and-length, which makes them far easier to assemble than most Sherman tracks in hard plastic, but their detail is about the same as those. They also have some links and end connectors moulded at an angle to ensure the track looks good where it bends around wheels, and the top run is a little wavy so it hangs over the return rollers and skids. Though there are ejector pin marks on the insides of some links, these are easy to clean up with a little scraping. Then it’s just a matter of glueing them to the model per the instructions:
Well, mostly. Zvezda tells you to put five links around the drive sprocket, but I found the track sits better if you use only four, and out the fifth at the very front of the bottom run, so between part E19 (the short stretch between sprocket and first road wheel) and E3 (the bottom run).
Oh yeah, fit the sprockets to the hull before adding the track to them. The sprockets have locating pins that only allow them to go in one position, probably to ensure that the tracks fit correctly.
Oddly, I had one link left, which is very strange because both sides would need the same number and the kit provides no spares, but both tracks look fine so all is well. That spare link does come in handy to more easily show a small problem with the tracks:
They’re on backwards … This is the T49 type of track, which is made entirely of steel (aside from rubber track-pin bushings inside the links) and has one wide and two narrow bars per link. As normally installed, the wide bar should be at the bottom of the link at the front of the tank, but Zvezda has it at the top. This would not be impossible, because these tracks can be (and sometimes were) installed the wrong way round on the real tank, but you can’t fix it on the model because of the undulating top run. That won’t fit properly if you reverse it, even though all the other track parts can simply be put on back to front.
Well, mostly. Zvezda tells you to put five links around the drive sprocket, but I found the track sits better if you use only four, and out the fifth at the very front of the bottom run, so between part E19 (the short stretch between sprocket and first road wheel) and E3 (the bottom run).
Oh yeah, fit the sprockets to the hull before adding the track to them. The sprockets have locating pins that only allow them to go in one position, probably to ensure that the tracks fit correctly.
Oddly, I had one link left, which is very strange because both sides would need the same number and the kit provides no spares, but both tracks look fine so all is well. That spare link does come in handy to more easily show a small problem with the tracks:
They’re on backwards … This is the T49 type of track, which is made entirely of steel (aside from rubber track-pin bushings inside the links) and has one wide and two narrow bars per link. As normally installed, the wide bar should be at the bottom of the link at the front of the tank, but Zvezda has it at the top. This would not be impossible, because these tracks can be (and sometimes were) installed the wrong way round on the real tank, but you can’t fix it on the model because of the undulating top run. That won’t fit properly if you reverse it, even though all the other track parts can simply be put on back to front.