Author | steentottrup |
Timestamp | 31/07/2010 |
Kit(s) | Pz.kpfw. III / IV tracks (1x Standartkette, 1x Ostkette, 1x Winterkette) |
This kit contains track links for Pz.Kpfw. III and IV. The track links are standard tracklinks, the so-called Ostketten (East tracks) and Winterketten (Winter tracks).
You can't really call this a pack, the 4 grey sprues comes in a small plastic bag with a piece of card-board stapled on. On the card-board is a small computer generated image of half a track of the 3 different track types. On the back of the card-board is a list of the vehicles these tracks could be used with: Pz. Kpfw. III, Pz. Kpfw. IV, Hornisse, Hashorn, Hummel, Munitions-Pz. IV and Berge-Pz. III, and a list of the manufacturers of kits they can be used with: Attack, Dragon, hasegawa, Italeri, HobbyBoss, Military Wheels, Mirage, Revell and Trumpeter.
Each sprue contains 6 pieces of tracks with 5 links, 2 pieces of track with 6 links and then 10 pieces of track with a single link and this is of each of the 3 different types (standard, ost and winter), so that's all in all 4 sprues of 52 links, 208 track link of each of the 3 types, when all is glued together.
The standard track links measure out to be the 40 cm type (or they could be 38 cm, the difference isn't that big in 1/72nd scale). It's a bit hard to tell what kind of standard tracks the kit contains, as they links don't have grooves or chevrons.
First off I have to say that I'm not an expert on german WWII tracks, so any conclusion I make here is based on what I have found in the books I have in my "library".
Apart from Dragon (with their DS tracks) and Revell (hard plastic tracks), several of the other manufacturers of Pz. III and IV kits still release the kits with the "good" old rubber band tracks, so to release a kit with hard plastic track links for these kits seems like a really good idea. On top of that to include the ostketten and winterketten tracks to the set, makes this set a true winner. I know there's a resin winterketten set on the market, but I'm pretty sure the ostketten is the first in our scale.
The only thing that lets this set down a bit, is that the links doesn't have any grooves or chevrons. That the guide horns are solid isn't too big a worry for me, but I would have liked chevrons and/or grooves on the links. The upside of this is that unless you're really into details, the standard tracks can be used on any Pz. III / IV from 1940 and until the end of the war instead of having 5/6 variants on the sprues (ATL02, ATL03, ATL04, ATL05, ATL27 or ATL22).
Yet another great set from MACO, too bad this is a so-called limited edition kit. I think we'll be seeing a lot of StuG III, Pz. IV, Hummels etc. with winterketten and ostketten in the coming months.