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View attachment 416627
For a 1:35 M4 Sherman with horizontal volute spring suspension (HVSS) that I’ve been building, I needed replacement tracks. Unfortunately, HVSS tracks of all types are rather more thin on the ground than VVSS tracks, so after some searching, I ended up with this Rye Field Model (RFM) set as the probably least-bad choice in plastic for the T80 type of track
As a bit of background, Sherman tanks with HVSS were originally fitted with T66 tracks, which were all-metal, single-pin tracks with a “waffle” pattern on the outer face. At some point, the T80 and T84 types of double-pin tracks were developed, probably by Chrysler. Both have two-part track blocks with a chevron pattern, and a separate guide horn between the two halves and separate end connectors on the outsides of the track. The difference between the two is that the T80 is all-metal on the outside while the T84 has rubber outer surfaces; both have rubber on the inside, though. Visually they’re easy to tell apart because the chevrons on the T84 tracks are much fatter than the thin ones of the T80. T80 tracks were used during the Second World War, from about late 1944 on, but the T84 seems to have been used after the war only. (Incidentally, these same tracks would be used on the M26 Pershing, the M45, the M46 Patton and the M47 Patton II, but with a different style of guide horn, as the T80E1, T80E4 and T84E1.)
Opening the box, you may get a little bit of a fright. Four sprues are supplied, all of them like these (this is two, showing the front and back):
View attachment 416628
That’s parts for 42 links per sprue, with each link consisting of six parts: two track pins plus the end connectors, left outer pad, right outer pad, two inner pads and guide horn. This makes for 252 parts per sprue for the track plus two for an assembly jig … great fun is in your future getting all this together. The parts are cleanly moulded with no flash and good definition, as well as pretty sensible attachment points, though. The parts with the two track pins are attached in groups of seven to a bit of sprue so they can be removed as a set. The guide horns are hollow as they should be, and have a hole in the top as well as the bolt that fixes the horn to the link moulded inside.
The way RFM would have you assemble all of this is less sensible, though. The assembly jig is intended for building a length of six links with the sets of seven double pins, leaving one pin free at each end. The instructions on the back of the box would have you put two sets of six outer pads into one half of the jig, place a set of pins on them, then glue on twelve inner pads followed by seven guide horns, and cut off the bit of sprue attached to the pins. At this point, you are to place the other half of the assembly jig over the assembled track link and press down, presumably to clamp everything together and line up the guide horns correctly. This leaves you with a length of six links, which you are then expected to assemble together into the whole length of track you need.
The upper half of the jig, though, is where things go wrong. Unless you cleaned up the sprue attachment points on the sides of the guide horns and the track pins very thoroughly, your length of track will now be stuck in the upper half of the assembly jig. Probably the best fix for this would be to remove the sides of the upper half of the jig, to give the track pins more room. However, I found a far better way to assemble the tracks was to do it very differently from how RFM would have you do it.
I began (after some experimentation that led me to conclude the above) by removing all of the parts from the sprue and putting them into a box with compartments, so I could keep them all straight:
View attachment 416629
This alone took me about two hours’ of work before all four sprues were done (which I tackled in manageable chunks: “I’ll finish the inner pads from this sprue and then continue later” etc.).
Notice in the photo the assembled bit of track and my modified track jig. I felt it would be far easier to assemble the track on the jig as a continuous length instead of in stretches of six links, so I cut the end bits off one of the jig pieces. This prevents the top from being clamped on, but I didn’t want to do that anyway for the reason I already mentioned. When that proved to work, I went one better:
View attachment 416630View attachment 416631
This because the pins come in sets of seven, but if you use only a single jig part, you can at most put five links together and end up with pins sticking out beyond the end of the track.
Cutting the two jigs doesn’t need high accuracy, but you do need to take care aligning the two parts. The best way is to cut them both off right at the openings for the chevrons, glue them together like the photo shows and before the glue sets, put a set of pins in the jig to ensure the spacing is correct:
View attachment 416632
On my first attempt the cuts weren’t close enough to the chevron openings, so the gap in the middle was too big and the pins wouldn’t fit properly. You can also use a ruler to make sure the two jigs are straight, though this is not critical.
Now, assembly of the tracks with this modified jig. Start by glueing all the guide horns to the pins:
View attachment 416646
You can’t use the other half of the jig to line them up, but this is easy enough enough to do by eye.
Once you’ve got the jig altered, put seven of each outer pad into it, leaving some space at the end(s):
View attachment 416633
The handy thing with the jig is that you can’t get the pads on the wrong side, because they’re mirror images of each other and so only fit on one side, not the other.
Next, put the track you already have and one set of pins onto these:
View attachment 416634
Take care here that you always put the sprue on the same side, because the track pins have an inner and an outer side. The side without the sprue will be the outside of the track, because it has better detail (hollow ends to the pins, which couldn’t be moulded into the other side because of the sprue).
Next, one pad at a time, apply a drop of glue into the hollow in the outer pad using a fine brush (I used the one from the Tamiya extra thin cement bottle). All you need to do is fill the hollow with liquid cement, then put the inner pad on with tweezers and press it firmly down with your finger. Repeat for all the remaining pads on the jig:
View attachment 416635
Finally, all that remains is to cut off the sprue:
View attachment 416636
This is also best done while the track is in the jig, because else the pins will flex a bit with the pressure from your knife. Though none broke when I tried cutting outside of the jig, doing it on that feels like it’s safer anyway.
All that done, the track is very flexible:
View attachment 416637
This is an Asuka HVSS sprocket wheel, which the track curves around very well. It’s also flexible side-to-side, probably more so than the real track, but that shouldn’t really matter.
RFM says you need 76 links per side, but I’ve not gotten that far so I can’t say if this is correct for my Asuka Sherman. However, the real tank had 79 links on a new track so 76 seems too few. I guess I’ll find out later
All in all, though assembly is a fair amount of work, these tracks look really good and seem to be pretty sturdy. I would certainly recommend them — if you don’t mind the tedium, anyway.
Ratings
Appearance: 9/10
Ease of construction: 7/10
Quality: 8/10
For a 1:35 M4 Sherman with horizontal volute spring suspension (HVSS) that I’ve been building, I needed replacement tracks. Unfortunately, HVSS tracks of all types are rather more thin on the ground than VVSS tracks, so after some searching, I ended up with this Rye Field Model (RFM) set as the probably least-bad choice in plastic for the T80 type of track
As a bit of background, Sherman tanks with HVSS were originally fitted with T66 tracks, which were all-metal, single-pin tracks with a “waffle” pattern on the outer face. At some point, the T80 and T84 types of double-pin tracks were developed, probably by Chrysler. Both have two-part track blocks with a chevron pattern, and a separate guide horn between the two halves and separate end connectors on the outsides of the track. The difference between the two is that the T80 is all-metal on the outside while the T84 has rubber outer surfaces; both have rubber on the inside, though. Visually they’re easy to tell apart because the chevrons on the T84 tracks are much fatter than the thin ones of the T80. T80 tracks were used during the Second World War, from about late 1944 on, but the T84 seems to have been used after the war only. (Incidentally, these same tracks would be used on the M26 Pershing, the M45, the M46 Patton and the M47 Patton II, but with a different style of guide horn, as the T80E1, T80E4 and T84E1.)
Opening the box, you may get a little bit of a fright. Four sprues are supplied, all of them like these (this is two, showing the front and back):
View attachment 416628
That’s parts for 42 links per sprue, with each link consisting of six parts: two track pins plus the end connectors, left outer pad, right outer pad, two inner pads and guide horn. This makes for 252 parts per sprue for the track plus two for an assembly jig … great fun is in your future getting all this together. The parts are cleanly moulded with no flash and good definition, as well as pretty sensible attachment points, though. The parts with the two track pins are attached in groups of seven to a bit of sprue so they can be removed as a set. The guide horns are hollow as they should be, and have a hole in the top as well as the bolt that fixes the horn to the link moulded inside.
The way RFM would have you assemble all of this is less sensible, though. The assembly jig is intended for building a length of six links with the sets of seven double pins, leaving one pin free at each end. The instructions on the back of the box would have you put two sets of six outer pads into one half of the jig, place a set of pins on them, then glue on twelve inner pads followed by seven guide horns, and cut off the bit of sprue attached to the pins. At this point, you are to place the other half of the assembly jig over the assembled track link and press down, presumably to clamp everything together and line up the guide horns correctly. This leaves you with a length of six links, which you are then expected to assemble together into the whole length of track you need.
The upper half of the jig, though, is where things go wrong. Unless you cleaned up the sprue attachment points on the sides of the guide horns and the track pins very thoroughly, your length of track will now be stuck in the upper half of the assembly jig. Probably the best fix for this would be to remove the sides of the upper half of the jig, to give the track pins more room. However, I found a far better way to assemble the tracks was to do it very differently from how RFM would have you do it.
I began (after some experimentation that led me to conclude the above) by removing all of the parts from the sprue and putting them into a box with compartments, so I could keep them all straight:
View attachment 416629
This alone took me about two hours’ of work before all four sprues were done (which I tackled in manageable chunks: “I’ll finish the inner pads from this sprue and then continue later” etc.).
Notice in the photo the assembled bit of track and my modified track jig. I felt it would be far easier to assemble the track on the jig as a continuous length instead of in stretches of six links, so I cut the end bits off one of the jig pieces. This prevents the top from being clamped on, but I didn’t want to do that anyway for the reason I already mentioned. When that proved to work, I went one better:
View attachment 416630View attachment 416631
This because the pins come in sets of seven, but if you use only a single jig part, you can at most put five links together and end up with pins sticking out beyond the end of the track.
Cutting the two jigs doesn’t need high accuracy, but you do need to take care aligning the two parts. The best way is to cut them both off right at the openings for the chevrons, glue them together like the photo shows and before the glue sets, put a set of pins in the jig to ensure the spacing is correct:
View attachment 416632
On my first attempt the cuts weren’t close enough to the chevron openings, so the gap in the middle was too big and the pins wouldn’t fit properly. You can also use a ruler to make sure the two jigs are straight, though this is not critical.
Now, assembly of the tracks with this modified jig. Start by glueing all the guide horns to the pins:
View attachment 416646
You can’t use the other half of the jig to line them up, but this is easy enough enough to do by eye.
Once you’ve got the jig altered, put seven of each outer pad into it, leaving some space at the end(s):
View attachment 416633
The handy thing with the jig is that you can’t get the pads on the wrong side, because they’re mirror images of each other and so only fit on one side, not the other.
Next, put the track you already have and one set of pins onto these:
View attachment 416634
Take care here that you always put the sprue on the same side, because the track pins have an inner and an outer side. The side without the sprue will be the outside of the track, because it has better detail (hollow ends to the pins, which couldn’t be moulded into the other side because of the sprue).
Next, one pad at a time, apply a drop of glue into the hollow in the outer pad using a fine brush (I used the one from the Tamiya extra thin cement bottle). All you need to do is fill the hollow with liquid cement, then put the inner pad on with tweezers and press it firmly down with your finger. Repeat for all the remaining pads on the jig:
View attachment 416635
Finally, all that remains is to cut off the sprue:
View attachment 416636
This is also best done while the track is in the jig, because else the pins will flex a bit with the pressure from your knife. Though none broke when I tried cutting outside of the jig, doing it on that feels like it’s safer anyway.
All that done, the track is very flexible:
View attachment 416637
This is an Asuka HVSS sprocket wheel, which the track curves around very well. It’s also flexible side-to-side, probably more so than the real track, but that shouldn’t really matter.
RFM says you need 76 links per side, but I’ve not gotten that far so I can’t say if this is correct for my Asuka Sherman. However, the real tank had 79 links on a new track so 76 seems too few. I guess I’ll find out later
All in all, though assembly is a fair amount of work, these tracks look really good and seem to be pretty sturdy. I would certainly recommend them — if you don’t mind the tedium, anyway.
Ratings
Appearance: 9/10
Ease of construction: 7/10
Quality: 8/10
