35-006 Geraet 040/041 Track Link Set

35-006 Geraet 040/041 Track Link Set (Released in April 2005) This is the first, 1/35 individual track link set. It is for the 11-wheel chassis Dragon kit, made from resin, and is workable. Assembly is easy. Just connect two links by mating the small link pin and the hole on each link. Each link does have a small casting block to be removed, I found some links have small bubbles. There also are minor resin films to be removed from links. The size of the link closely match the injection link part in the Dragon kit. Therefore, you don't need to make adjustment on, or modify the running gear of the kit. However, I cannot say this product is very accurate, as it closely matches Dragon's track which is believed to be too wider than the original (about 16.5mm in contrast to 14.3mm in 1/35 for the real vehicle). Mold is well defined. The link has a hole in the guide horn, which was missing in the Dragon kit. There is the head of the link pin sticking out from the side of the link. On the original link the link pin is not visible from outside, and is hidden inside the hole on the side of the link. All in all, this track link set is superior to the kit parts only in the sense that it is workable, while this is the first, workable track link set and a welcome detail-up set for the Dragon kit. As this product is intended for the Dragon kit, if you try to use it on Trumpeter kits as is, you will find that fit between the track links and the drive sproket wheel is very tight. You may want to insert a thin (0.3-0.5mm?) plastic card to widen the sproket wheel, or widen holes in the links, to obtain smooth fit. Note that the track links may still look too wide for the Trumpeter kit, even if you somehow mate them with the kit by either of the above two methods. Please refer to the page "Track Links of Karl" too.

Review Articles

1. http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/atelierinfinite/at35006.htm
   A review published in Perth Military Modellig Site.

Left: Dragon, Right: Atelier Inifinite

Comparing three products

Applied to the Dragon kit

Applied to the Trumpeter kit; fit is very tight.

(April 2005)

35-007 Karl Initial Version Track Link Set

35-007 Karl Initial Version Track Link Set (Released in July 2005) This set is intended for Trumpeter's 8-wheel chassis kit(00208). The track link for the 8-wheel chassis Karl (Nr.I and II) has shorter pitch (170mm) than, and the same width as the 240mm-pitch track links for the 11-wheel chassis Karl (Nr.III through VII). Details on the face of the two types of track link look very similar, excpet for a hole in the guide horn (see also "Track Links of Karl"). As the Trumpeter's kit comes with a pair of very stiff vynil tracks, this resin track link set is a welcome replacement product. Details of the link and the quality of casting are on par with Atelier Inifinite's the other track link set above; you have to remove a small casting block from each link, and may also need to deal with minor resin films. The manufacturer got the width of the link right this time, as Trumpeter's vynil tracks which is to be replaced by this track link set has the correct width, 500mm. There is shallow mold on the side of each link, representing a hole for the link pin. As it is quite noticeable on the real vehicle, you may want to drill a hole.

Left: Trumpeter, Right:Atelier Inifinite

(July 2005)

AW-70005 1/35 Karl Morsel (DML) Track Links

AW-70005 1/35 Karl Morsel (DML) Track Links (Released in July 2005) This workable 240mm-pitch track link set is for Dragon's 1/35 kits, which has the 11-wheel chassis. The set contains 205 resin track links and 205 link pins. Armour Workshop advertises their workable track link products as having "no molding plug or sprue", "no need to cut connecting wires", and "multi-part molding". There have been both praise and complains for these claims... In my set, there are a few badly casted parts and some noticeable flushes. On some links, the hole is not completely drilled out, and in some cases the hole is not very well aligned, thus it is impossible to connect two links unless a new hole is manually drilled. 94 links par side were used on the real vehicle. Thus, the set is supposed to has sufficient number of links. But, if you discard all those bad links, you may run short of links. You had better be prepared to modify as many bad links as possible. The fit between the track link and the link pin is tight, you may not need to apply the CA glue to fix the two. Except for the hole in the guide horn and some minor details, the size and details of the resin track link are almost identical to those of Dragon's plastic track link, as seen in the photo. As Dragon's plastic track link is not entirely accurate (it is too wide, to begin with), this is rather disappointing. The length of the link pin is the same as the track link itself, thus the end of the link pin is flush with the edge of the track link. On the real vehicle, the link pin sits deep inside the the track link (see photos in this page). To represent this, you may want to cut the link pin a bit.

As this set is for Dragon's kits, it cannot be used with Trumpeter's kit very easily. (However, you may be able to fit it to Trumpeter's kit either by forcefully mating the track with the sprocket wheel, or by slightly modifying the sprocket wheel, as you may do with Atelier Inifinite's resin track set). Armour Workshop already announced that it will release a set for Trumpeter's kit too.

Please refer to the page "Track Links of Karl" too.

Review Articles

1. http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/lionmarc/aw70005.htm
   A review published in Perth Military Modellig Site.

Left: Trumpeter, Right: Armour Workshop

With Dragon's wheel

With Trumpeter's wheel

(July 2005)

CL30006 Karl Morsel Track link (170mm pitch for Trumpeter)

CL30006 Karl Morsel Track link (170mm pitch for Trumpeter) (Relased in January 2006) Lionmarc Model Design became the second manufacturer, after Atelier Inifinite, to release a 170mm-pitch track link set for Trumpeter's 8-wheel chassis kit(00208). In contrast to Lionmarc's previous track link products, which consisted of resin links and metal track pins, this one is "snap-fit" type link sets, has solely resin links and does not require metal pins to hold links together. The set has 270 links (the real vehicle 133 links per side). Mold is crisp and good. There is no need to remove casting blocks. I saw no bubble or bad casting in my set. However, almost all links had thin flash films completely blocking the opening to mate with sprocket teeth. As seen in the photos below, there are subtle differences between Lionmarc product, Atelier Inifinite's, and Trumpeter's vinyl tracks, while the width and the pitch are almost the same in all. As for the accuracy, I think Atelier Inifinite product looks most similar to the track links in the existing photos of the 8-wheel chassis Karl. It should also be noted that Lionmarc product wrongly has a hole in the guide horn. This is a simple mistake; there is no hole in the guide horn of the real vehicle.

Review Articles

1. http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/lionmarc/cl30006.htm
   A review published in Perth Military Modellig Site.

Left: Trumpeter, Middle: LionMarc, Right: Atelier Inifinite

Left: Trumpeter, Middle: LionMarc, Right: Atelier Inifinite

(January 2006)

I would say these 2 metal link sets are "long awaited" track link sets for 1/35 Karl kits :-) They both look quite accurate, when comapared with war-time photos. I wonder Friul designed 240mm-pitch track links, researching the sole existing vechile in Kubinka.

Links have fine detailed mold as in other Friul products. Some links need bit of cleanup around the hole in the guide tooth and casting marks, though.

As is the case in other Friul track link sets, there is the correct orientation of the link. The link has an open hole for the link pin (wire) on one side. The link pin hole on the other side is a mold rather than an open hole. You connect two links by mating the links and inserting a piece of cut wire from the open hole. When fitting to the kit, the side with a open hole should face the kit chassis.

Both sets I obtained contained more links than indicated on the box, so you will have some spare links. (But you may not find much use for these spare links, as Karl did not appear to have carried spare links :-)

Please refer to the page "Track Links of Karl" too.

ATL-84 Karl Moerser - Early

ATL-84 Karl Moerser - Early This one is a 170mm-pitch link set for Trumpeter 8-wheel chassis Kar kit (00208). When comapred with Atelier Inifinite's and LionMarc Model Designs' products, I find the Friul one is superior to the LionMarc's, and on par with the Atelier Inifinite's. It will be personal preference to choose which set, Friul or Atelier Inifinite.

ATL-85 Karl Moerser - Late

ATL-85 Karl Moerser - Late This is a 240mm-pitch track link set for the 11-wheel chassis Karl kit. It reproduces the track width accurately; it is about 14.5mm wide in 1/35. The real track is 500mm wide, that is, about 14.3mm in 1/35. In contrast, both Atelier Inifinite's and LionMarc Model Designs' 240mm-pitch track products are designed for Dragon kits, whose track is too wider than the real vehicle's, thus, they unfortunately are not quite accurate. If you want to use this set for the Dragon kits, you need to slightly make drive sprocket wheels narrower so that they can accept the Friul links. You don't need such modification for Trumpeter kit (00209); the links just fit its drive sprocket wheels nicely. The pitch of the Friul links is about 7mm; the pitch of the real link is 240mm, that is, about 6.88mm in 1/35. While Atelier Inifinite's and LionMarc Model Designs' 240mm-pitch track products can be used with the Trumpeter kit, they both look too wide under the fenders of the kit. Therefore, the Friul links are the only real choice for the Trumpeter kit for now. You will need about 90 links per side for both Dragon and Trumpeter kits.

Review Articles

1. http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/friulmodel/atl-85.htm
   A review published in Perth Military Modellig Site.

Comparison between 5 products

The link fits Trumpeter kit nicely.

The link does not fit Dragon kit.

(January 2006)

SAT-35146 Morser Karl-Gerat Late

SAT-35146 Morser Karl-Gerat Late (Released in January 2012?) A set of metal workable track links from Spade Ace, a new Hong Kong-based company, which suddenly offered more than 100 metal track products. I heard that the company has been active for more than a couple of years in Hong Kong, and only recently it becomes known to the rest of the world.

This is a 240mm-pitch track link set for the 11-wheel chassis Karl kit. A length of wire is included to connect links, in the same way as Friul's track sets. The package does not specify which Karl kit the set is designed for, Dragon's, or Trumpeter's. Although there is no indication on the box as to how many links are included, there appears to be about 190 of them.

Compared with the vinyl track in the Trumpeter kit and the Friul product, the Spade Ace track and the Friul track have much better details on the surface than the Trumpeter track. The height of the guide tooth varies among the three products: The Trumpeter track's tooth is the highest, and the Spade Aces's is the lowest. As we don't know the exact measurement of the Karl tracks, I reserve the final judgement as to which is the most accurate.

I do not find any siginificant difference from the Friul's product, in overall quality, detail, and dimensions.

Please refer to the page "Track Links of Karl" too.

(March 2012)

Trumpeter is releaseing a series of workable individual track link sets in recent years, for their existing 1/35 kits which have vinyl tracks or non-workable individual tracks. As the vinyl tracks in the Trumpeter's 1/35 Karl kits are considered to be one of their weak points, optional workable track sets from Trumpeter themselves are most welcome.

Links are put together by two short pins, in the same fashion as workable track link sets from Model Kasten. As with Model Kasten products, a jig to hold links during assembly is also supplied in the set. You should put the track pins well into the links; the track pins do not stick out from the links of Karl.

While metal track links from Friul and Spade Ace look impressive, I think injection plastic track links are still attractive, because of ease of handling, paiting, and light weight.

I hear that some Trumpeter's individual track link products have assembly problems, because track pin parts are too short, or inappropriate tolerance between parts. The following two products for Karl kits seem to be free from such problems.

Please refer to the page "Track Links of Karl" too.

02053 KARL Early Track Links

02053 KARL Early Track Links This is a set of 170mm pitch link set for the 8-wheel chassis Karl (Nr.I and II) kits (00208, 00215). The actual track link of Karl is 500mm wide, and the width of the set track link is about 14.6mm. The pitch of the set track link is about 4.85mm. While the width of the set track link is slightly wider than the real thing, the pitch is accurate. Overall shape and details mostly match the vinyl track included in Trumpeter's Karl kits, but have more defined molds. Compared with the actual track link, the height of the center guide horn looks to be taller on the set track link than on the actual link. The set consists of 288 links and sufficient number of track pins. The instruction specifies 135 links per side (according to the reference [37], Karl Nr.I and II used 133 links per side).

Comparison between 4 products: (from left) Trumpeter (vinyl track), Trumpeter (indy track), Atelier Inifinite, and Friul

02054 KARL Late Track Links

02054 KARL Late Track Links This is a set of 240mm pitch link set for the 11-wheel chassis Karl (Nr.III through VII) kits (00209, 00215) The set track link is about 14.6mm wide, and its pitch measures at about 7.2mm. Dimensionally it seems to be slightly larger than the actual link. The set consists of 190 links and sufficient number of track pins. The instruction of the set specifies 88 links per side, which is fewer than in the actual track of Karl; according to the reference [37], Karl Nr.III through VII used 94 links per side. Overall shape and details look good. The only complaint is that the set link lacks a round hole in the center guide horn, though it has a faint round indentation. As this hole is a striking feature of the Karl 240mm-pitch link, its absence is most disappointing. Make a hole with a 1.0 or 1.2mm drill bit.

Comparison between 4 products: (from left) Trumpeter (vinyl track), Trumpeter (indy track), Spade Ace, and Friul

(August 2012)