German 12.8cm Selbstfahrlafette L/61 "Sturer Emil"
Individual Track links
Atelier infinite Set No. 35-0018
1:35th Scale
Review by Terry Ashley

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Resin track links

The actual track links according to the Panzer Tracts book No.7-3 Panzerjaeger are 520mm wide with a pitch (depth) of 160mm, this equals 14.85mm and 4.6mm in 1:35 scale. These tracks measure out at 15mm wide x 4.5mm deep and so are pretty well spot on with the Trumpeter tracks being 14.5mm wide.

The casting is very good with crisp details on the links and nice end pin details that also include the hollowed out guide teeth but there is some fine resin film to be removed from the teeth holes and a couple of square casting blocks to be removed from the corners of each link, one small the other quite large. Due to the fragile nature of the links extreme care is needed when removing the large block or the links will be broken. I found it best to rest the casting block on your cutting board and press down with a sharp blade on the block/link join, this way no pressure is exerted on the link itself and then just some final cleanup of the scar is all that is needed as well as cleaning off any resin film around the link.

Details of the links showing the cleanup needed and pins for clipping the links together

Method of clipping the links together using care not to damage links

Once assembled the track runs were quite robust and didn’t tend to come apart with normal handling like some of this type can and articulated freely to give good natural track sag when fitted to the kit.

The assembled track runs fit perfectly around the Trumpeter drive sprockets without any trimming at all as you would hope and the detail of the assembled track runs looks very good.

Links around Trumpeter drive sprocket, note holes in the guide teeth and end pin detail

Assembled track length

Conclusion:
Overall a nice set of links with good details that include the guide teeth holes and correct rib pattern on the links but there is a fair bit of cleanup needed before assembly.

The set has finer details than the Trumpeter vinyl track with easy assembly and being workable will allow you to add natural track sag.

Recommended

See the Atelier infinite website for details of available sets, it's entirely in Japanese but if you run it through a translator such as WorldLingo you can get the gist of what’s there.

Atelier infinite detail sets are available from the excellent mail order service at Rainbow Ten.

Page created October 20, 2005