Aftermarket track links are not cheap. Let’s get that out of the way first. Often as much as 50% of the price of a kit! Whether you think they are good value and will enhance a build will be down to personal preference. Although kit manufacturers have made great strides in improving what they now offer in their kits, whether it be individual tracks, workable, or the link and length type, there is no denying that the workable type have a huge advantage over the conventional fixed or rubber band type. The natural sag that a set of workable links exhibit is difficult to replicate. It can be done but it is not always straight forward. Whilst Friul metal tracks were once the go-to for aftermarket tracks, let us look at some recent additions to a rook of 3D printed tracks that have recently hit the market.
Catching up on projects I have just spent a weekend building purely aftermarket tracks, and whilst they are not all of the same type or even for the same AFV, it did give me an opportunity to see the differences in terms of both quality and ease of assembly.I managed to get through two sets of Friuls (Pershing and a Tiger I), two sets of T-Rex (Panzer IV and Pz.I/Maultier truck), a set of Quicktrack (StuG III), a set of Panzerwerk Design tracks, and as a comparison a set of RFM's own kit tracks from their StuG III Ausf G.
Let’s start with Friul metal tracks.
I personally like these tracks and whilst they did stop trading recently, I understand a new buyer has been found and will start manufacturing them again soon. They have a reassuring heft and the natural track tension they exhibit gives them a very realistic appearance. Being made of metal they are strong and take well to lots of handling. Whether painting or utilising a blackening solution they give a very convincing appearance. Exposing bare metal areas on surfaces where either the ground or road wheels have burnished them is also a simple task. There are however a couple of downsides. Firstly, utilising only a single piece of wire instead of a pin will often leave the inner side of the tracks with the exposed end of the wire showing. Some sets, like my Pershing set do offer metal pin heads to cover the exposed wire. Secondly, both my sets needed almost all of the holes drilling out. A tediously repetitive task, but one that thankfully goes relatively quickly and without any great drama. Whilst the Tiger I inner portion of the track has the exposed wire; the Pershing tracks did at least have that small metal shaped link pin end to hide it. These were incredibly tiny and difficult to apply and every single piece of wire had to be cut to exactly the same length. Not too short as to prevent link to link connection, but also not too long as to allow the seperate end pin to locate in the link end hole.
Friul Tiger I late type
Friul M26 Pershing
T-Rex
I’ve built up around six 1/35 sets of these to date and once assembled they do look very realistic. Although nowhere near as robust as metal tracks due to the nature of the material, the two half pin connection design does allow for similar link to link movement which exhibits the same natural sag over road wheels that the Friuls do.
Whilst the links all look incredibly well detailed and none of the pin holes in any of my sets required additional work, a fair percentage of the separate pin ends were of poor quality. The first two sets I purchased built up effortlessly and although many of the pins looked like bananas, the resin was quite soft and pliable and very few were damaged upon insertion.
T-Rex set that built up nicely with all pins locating snugly on a Dragon Pz.IV Ausf J
The T-Rex system works by designing a taper into the half pins. The pins in my first two purchases had visibly tapered pins so the friction fit inside each link was good and tight, without the need for any adhesive. Both sets built up without any real incident apart from the outer pin heads protruding a little too far on one set. I also had very few breakages of both pins and links in both sets. If a pin did break inside the link, metal wire could be easily inserted to remove it.
Unfortunately, the second two sets could not have been more different. Both links and pins were very brittle and upon opening the box it was apparent that numerous pin ends had already been damaged. I realise that this could have occurred during transit, but it was interesting to note that these sets also suffered links breaking when handled. However, the most frustrating part by far is that none of the pin ends appeared to have any significant taper. That meant a huge proportion simply fell out almost as quick as they were inserted! I eventually had to resort to brush painting the link ends of small completed runs with primer to keep the pins in place! I did eventually construct both sets - one with barely enough pins left. I did consider contacting the retailer I purchased them from.
T-Rex type 6B w/cleats on a Border Pz.IV Ausf J. This set was only really usable by adding paint to the pin ends to prevent them falling out!
Another issue I found with a set of T-Rex links is one I highlighted in my recent RFM StuG III Ausf G late blog. It was was disappointing to find the Stug links did not fit well over the sprockets! They were too narrow. Whether the kit sprocket was at fault I do not know, but both a Quicktrack and a Friul set fitted fine.
The latest two sets I built up over the weekend thankfully had the quality and robustness of my original sets. There were far fewer pin ends damaged upon opening the box. However, once again, the absence of any visible taper on the pins made assembly tiresome and frustrating. I resorted again to brush painting the pin ends on each link. The Pz.I type Maultier set was, as you can imaging, extremely tiny, so that magnified the effort to assemble them considerably more. I can only conclude that manufacturing quality is not at all consistent.
QuickTracks
I have purchased five sets of these to date and what I will say off the bat, is that they are far and above the quickest tracks to assemble. I think there might be something in the name😁 They do indeed simply snap together. If you take the manufacturers assembly advice and use the correct method and tools to assist you, a full run of tracks will take literally minutes to construct. I damaged just four links during assembly and there were more than enough besides the two complete runs required for the vehicle. I even had enough left over for additional spare track runs. I will admit I did receive one set last year that would not stay straight when assembled. There was obviously a manufacturing quality control issue, but after contacting them they accepted the issue was theirs and replaced them promptly, free of charge. The replacement set had absolutely no issues. Whilst the detail is not quite as pin sharp as the T-Rex tracks, the ease of assembly more than compensates. The snap fit nature of each link does mean that a natural track sag over something like a Panzer return road wheel will not occur without a little bit of human manipulation. Once adjusted they do look just as good.
Quicktrack T-35018 (REV1) for Pz.IV late type
Panzerwerk Design
This is the first set I have purchased and built and TBH I really don’t have a single negative comment to make. They adopt the two half pin design with well detailed inner and outer exposed ends. The cotter pin on the outside of my set being particularly well detailed. The links are nicely rendered and just as with Quicktrack and T-Rex tracks the foundry stamps are present. Due to the similar design, they take about the same time to assemble as a T-Rex Studio set and exhibit the same natural sag as the metal tracks. The biggest difference and a most welcomed feature that sets them apart from the T-Rex tracks are the inclusion of a couple of minute ridges on each pin. This means they fit into place with a reassuring click, and just as importantly, stay there. My set arrived with one link damaged (recoverable with CA glue) and zero damaged pins. I also noted everyone of them was completely uniform in size and arrow straight. I do hope they continue to consistently produce a product of this quality as I am confident their range will expand as folks realise just how good they are.
Panzerwerk Design type 6B on Stug III Ausf G
The emergence of individual plastic workable tracks in kits.
I have recently purchased RFM's StuG kit #5086 which include a set of plastic workable tracks. Whilst these are arguably among the best of recent mainstream 1/35 AFV kit inclusive tracks, they still have their drawbacks. Unlike the Dragon kit ‘magic links’ of old the links still remain on sprue gates, and these particular links have three attachment points per link that require cleaning up! RFM do included a handy jig and designed them to be workable, but they still instruct you to glue the half pin ends to the link. Whilst in theory this will work, it is still far too easy to stick links together, so it is highly recommended to use a thicker glue to avoid capillary action allowing glue to flow where it is not needed! These RFM tracks look great but are a touch bulky. I'm also not convinced a built up run will stand up to too much handling without a half link failing, but they do on the whole, work as intended.
If I had to pick my favourite aftermarket set it would have to be Panzerwerk Design. You do pay a little extra but these are of quality design and print and have a great pin locking feature. My set was pleasurably free of issues to assemble and look excellent with incredible detail. That locking pin design works reassuringly well, and once built up took well to prolonged handling. Surprisingly they were not the most expensive, neither were they the cheapest, but considering their overall quality, ease of assembly with that added reassurance that pins won't fall out, they definitely are the best value option overall in my opinion.
What’s not to like.
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