Does anyone know what track type the K9 uses and if they’re available in metal?
This may help you work out the measurements and see if you can find something close enough (e.g. the centre guides look like the T97E2 track of the M48 but the track is much wider on that.
Not aware of any metal ones, but there are these:
I cheated and used a set of Tamiya Challenger 2 tracks. They’re about 1mm wider but once on look the part. You can either use a spacer in the sprockets or swap the sprockets for ones out of an older Tamiya M60 kit like I did.
Here’s what they look like on:
IMG_3720 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
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do you reckon these would work?
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I imagine you’d still have to either change or modify the drive sprocket but other than that I don’t see why not. The one piece Challenger tracks are long enough so there should be enough links in that set as well. Just keep in mind they will also be wider than the K9 tracks. I was going to rob the indie links from a Takom Bergepanzer 2 kit but there were not enough links. They fit the kit drive sprocket perfectly.
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It depends on how much accuracy you want. The Challenger has a very different centre guide - a single prong in the centre of the tracklink:
The K9 has a double prong which is offset to the individual track centre, spanning between the tracks.
If the Takom Bergepanzer 2 tracks fit, then the Diehl 640 A tracks for the Leopard 1 (and AS 90) might fit as they are the type of tracks on the Berge2. They have a two prong centre guide like the K9 tracks, however, the track pads have the noticeable notches on the inside edges.
Maybe get metal Leopard one and fill the notch? Maybe the Bronco AS-90 tracks would do, with the centre cut outs filled with a strip of styrene and a touch of putty?
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The Bronco AS-90 tracks fit the K9 sprockets just fine. The biggest issue with using those for the K9 is the way the end connectors face. The gap at the side is not that visible and just a touch of glue can do the job. But the end connectors need to change orientation in order to look right.
K-9
AS-90
The face of the track shoes of the K9
and that of the AS-90
You can get away with the difference in shape once the track is assembled and if you fill the center cut outs (a small strip of styrene is pretty easy to add but really tedious).
I have used the Bronco tracks for my K9 but it was a time consuming tedious job and very frustrating. Changing direction to the end connectors was easy for me because I glue the tracks on my builds, both between links and on the suspension parts.
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