I started with Tamiya’s Kommandant Otto Carius version of their Pzkpfw VI Tiger Ausf. E. I got the kit from a fellow club member. It sat ignored on the shelf for quite awhile because of the individual link tracks that were included. The instructions would have you glue them together, let them set up for 30 minutes, and then thread them around the wheels. This seemed to be a recipe for frustration and potential disaster. I had seen 3D printed tracks from a company called T-rex, and decided to order a set. I was apprehensive at first, but glad I did in the end. They were easy to assemble, workable, and well detailed. The fit is so precise you have to beware of some minor flash on one edge of some of the the links. Easily cleaned up with a fine grade sanding stick. The links are joined by using two different type of pins. I broke a few trying to insert them, but T-rex gives you plenty of extras. They say no glue is necessary, and that’s true for the most part. But I did have a few work loose, or fall out. For a loose pin, I used a sharp toothpick to apply a tiny drop of thick super glue behind the head of the ‘pin’ and pushed it back in. I did the same when replacing a lost pin.
The Zimmerit was an Atak product and using it was surprisingly easy. They also included several solid resin pieces, two types of gun mantlet, the turret escape hatch & the two pistol ports. The only modification needed to the kit parts is to sand off the molded on pistol ports. They also included some pieces of ‘damaged’ zimmerit that could be used if desired. Other than a few scratchbuilt details, the only other additions were Tamiya’s PE engine screen set, a two figure set from Alpine, and decals from Peddinghaus.
There are certainly better detailed Tiger kits available, but with a few add-ons and some TLC, I think Tamiya’s Tiger builds up quite nicely. Thanks for looking, questions or comments are welcomed.
Thank you, much appreciated. I don’t want to sound like a shill for T-rex, but I was happy I took a chance with them. I thought that inserting the pins might be problematic, but it turned out to be much easier than I feared. The guide teeth are somewhat fragile and there were some broken off of a few links, but I had enough to do the job. Tamiya’s instructions called for 100 links per track, but I found that 97 was the magic number.
I agree… it looks great.
I love T-Rex tracks, they are easy to work with.
35 to 45 mins you finish up a set of tracks (Panther / Panzer I for me ) easily.
Thank you. I agree about the T-rex tracks. I don’t usually buy after-market tracks, but in this case I was very glad that I did. If I’d tried to use what Tamiya supplied, this project probably would’ve ended up in the trash bin.
Sometimes the original tracks are good enough.
But my Dragon Panzer I and Meng’s Panther… were impossible to work with…
To me, single track links that require to clean up 4 sprue attachment points … that kills any mojo you have left.
You’re right…destination trash bin !!
I could not agree more, I’m usually quite happy with ‘link & length’ tracks, and even vinyl tracks in some cases. But I refuse to deal with tracks that require four or more parts to assemble each link.
Thank you very much. I was happy with the T-rex tracks. In fact, I’ve purchased a second set for a Sturmtiger I have. My only quibble was that some of the links were damaged. The guide teeth were broken on a few. But I had enough to do the job.
The two brands of 3D printed I’ve used are excellent.
Quick Wheel’s Quick Tracks snap together securely and don’t need parts clean up. Have used a set on a 1/35 Panther D and was delighted with the results. Took ~30 minutes to assemble the tracks.
Ryefield Model’s 3D printed Pz IV tracks. Excellent result but gluing track pins in is more time consuming. Took a couple of hours to assemble.
Have a few TRex sets but haven’t used them.
Acquaintance had a TRex set get brittle and crumble to dust when unpainted 3D resin was left exposed to light.
Have purchased additional sets of Ryefield & QuickTracks and would use again.
T-rex included 210 links in their set. Tamiya’s instructions called for 100 links per track, which would’ve left 10 extra. Seven links were damaged, which might have been my fault as I said. But in the end, it turned out that only 97 links were needed for each track. I was concerned about losing the pins needed to assemble the track links, but there were more than enough extra of those. As for quality, I can’t speak for other brands, but these were highly detailed, well printed, and required only minimal clean-up to assemble. In fact, I’ve ordered another set for a Sturmmorser Tiger that I have. If you have any other questions, I’d be glad to answer them.
I don’t know anything about them crumbling, I’ve seen no evidence of it. I base coated mine with Rustoleum Flat Red Primer straight from a rattle can. I then used various enamels and acrylics to weather them.
