Well the T-66 metal tracks from BackYardArmor.com are installed on my 1/16th Tamiya Sherman but not without a few complications. The tracks are a bit wider than the kit supplied tracks and tend to hang up at a couple points near the front of the tank. The Tamiya kit uses small roundhead Phillips screws to attach the outer bulkheads for the transmission/gearbox area to the chassis (hull). The screw at the top is just about lined up with the tracks along the top area of travel, the return area.
The link pins are a little long on the metal tracks and will hang up on the upper mounting screws. If the pins catch the phillips indentations (for a screwdriver) they will lock up the entire drive on that side. Luckily I had saved all my various extra screws that came with the kit and found a flathead (countersunk) version of the same sized screw in my spare parts box. I countersunk the outer bulkhead on each side stopping at the metal chassis. The screws now sit flush, the return area is clear, no more hang ups.
Also, the front fenders have a portion that overlaps the sides of the hull just ahead of said screws. In some fashion you need to chamfer that sudden step out towards the tracks. Again, the long link pins will catch on this step. If those pins were just 1/64th of an inch shorter they would more than likely avoid these problem spots. Other than that, everything else went just fine.
Also, I had mentioned previously that in the real world a Sherman of this type would normally run about 78 or 79 links per tread, well we ended up at 77 per side so not too bad as far as scale goes. Some minor adjustment to my idlers and we�re ready to roll.
Now after reading Mig�s model finishing book I couldn�t resist trying the new things I�ve learned recently. The old Sherman is the only one of my favorites (from the past ten years) that I hadn�t spent time to re-freshen last year so I decided what the heck, update the Sherman too.
She is now an assault Sherman! AHA! Still have some work to do, I started on the left side of the tank, worked part of the front, the gun and mantlet and of course the tracks, but you can see a big difference in my finishing style. Always worth trying something new, I feel like I�ve stepped up a bit, very pleased with the results.
Extra tracks have been added to the turret for additional armor. The finish and color you see on these two sets is what you can expect from the Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black product. I did about six seconds of dry brushing with a large makeup brush that had just a little MIG Old Rust (P230) on it, no wash, no filters.
Rick
