A build review of 3D printed tracks from Tankraft in the U.S. This set represents the 650mm Narrow Split Link type designed for several tanks and self-propelled guns in the Soviet KV, IS, and ISU series in the Second World War.
As I'm not an expert in these AFV families and their many variants and variations, I will leave it up to you to decide whether this is exactly the right type for you. But even if it's not, there is still some value for you in this review.
Product details
- Tankraft
- 3D printed resin
- 1/35th scale
- PT-007-KV1SU
First impression
You know, it's actually quite hard to type Tankraft without adding a C. Still, the good people behind this company may not be too hot at spelling (!) but they certainly gave enough thought to the design and presentation of their products. This is more than just pride, but real practical thinking.
In the sturdy, foam-lined, corrugated box is a thick zip-lock bag for each type of component — no pick 'n' pix packaging here — and a set of instructions which are actually, amazingly, useful and informative! Therein we find an assembly guide (concise but clear), some tips about fitting pins, and some very wise warnings.
For instance, I never knew that prolonged exposure to sunlight can damage printed resin.
The set comprises a total of 100 links of each of the two types — toothed and split — with a corresponding 200 pairs of pins. The pins are asymmetric: short for the outside edge, long for the inside. The split links comprise two halves, like the real thing.
See the second photo below and you can judge the print quality for yourself. It's not quite as clean as I expected, but after a little light clean-up of the edges, they look very good once finished.
Construction
I thought it a bit unusual to have effectively the same of numbers of links as pins, given which are more likely to be lost or snapped, but at least there is a sufficient number of spares all round.
According to the instructions, most tanks will have 88 links per side, though I had to use 91 to get the sag which I wanted on a Bronco KV-122.
The odd number may seem, well, odd because of having a tooth on every other link, but web research suggested that this was quite normal in the field. To be cautious, my uneven links were hidden under a road wheel.
Assembly relies primarily on friction fit of the pins — look closely and you can see ribs near to the head — but the instructions nonetheless recommend using glue. In practice, I needed to glue very few pins, as my technique was to favour well-fitting pins, discarding loose pins in one pot and overly tight pins in another. Then I only reprieved as many loose pins as I needed to complete the sets. After the tightest pins were discarded, I was still left with more spare pins than links, so the number on the box must be a conservative minimum.
During weathering, I had a couple of pins work loose, but nothing problematic.
Given the need for very precise tolerances, I am quite impressed by the relatively small percentage of rejected parts. With track sets in general, there is often a degree of uncertainty, but in this case I have enough left for a short run to make track marks in groundwork.
Summary
Most after-market tracks are quite expensive and these are no exception, especially if you have to order from the U.S. as I did. So the key question with any such product is what it brings to the bench. With some kits, the answer is obvious. But perhaps not so if the kit already has individual links and there is no great difference in fidelity.
In this case, the Bronco KV-122's links involved very tedious clean-up and loose pins, so they rapidly became a significant roadblock. There was no gain in fidelity, but the saving in time, effort, and sanity got the build over the line and was therefore worth the investment.
My only minor gripe — or more of a heads-up — is that they don't quite align with Bronco's drive sprockets. From the first to last contact point, a small misalignment compounds until they barely fit, very tightly, when positioned just right. They are not designed for this kit as far as I'm aware, but it may be worth noting.
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