PMMS
Armour Workshop
BMD Series Workable Track
LionMarc Model Designs Set No. AW-70000
1/35th Scale
Review by Terry Ashley

As with the H39 tracks I have had this set for a while now but only now post the review as there have been some degree of frustration assembling the tracks which put me off a bit and I also tried different methods to get a result.

The set consists of 200 individually cast track links which are quite small even in 1:35th scale and have very fine details such as the guide teeth with distinctive ‘bulb’ but this looks a little undersized when compared to photos but it is there.
Some very minor cleanup was required which can be done with a quick pass with an X-Acto #11 blade but over all the resin quality was very good.

Also included are 200 brass pins already cut to length which are used to fit the track links together with pre-drilled holes in the links, these holes are slightly wider on one side than the other so when the pin is inserted friction will hold it in place, that is the theory.

Individual links and pins in the set.
Armour Workshop

The main problem surrounds the pin insertion as there is very little room for error with the brass pins themselves having quite sharp angles where they have been cut and the locating holes on the links have to be lined up exactly with each other before attempting to insert the pin.

If the link holes are only slightly out of alignment the edge of the pin with catch the edge of the hole and form a small bur, the more force you use the larger this bur will become with the less likelihood of success.

On the track links which did line up precisely the pin just slipped into place and when seated into the smaller hole held together well, but unfortunately this was more the exception that the rule due to the number of hinge points on these links leaving a lot of edges to be caught by the pins.

On a couple of links it took over ten minutes fiddling to get the pin to fit while on others I used a bit too much force which broke of part of the links.

In took nearly half an hour to assemble only about nine links and in the end I simple gave up and after lining up the links the best I could re-drilled the holes and inserted the pin with the links still held together, this worked well and by not drilling all the way through it left the smaller hole in the opposite side for the pin as designed.

Another solution I tried that worked okay was to file the ends of each pin to a rounded or slightly pointed profile which then didn't catch on the edge of the holes if not lined up precisely, but it's quite tedious to file each pin and the re-drilling was quicker.

After finally getting a few links together but losing some during the process to damage and using the drilling method things went better and the track length fitted very well around the Zvezda BMD kit (#3577) drive sprocket.

Assembled length of track, note some minor damage leaving pin showing
Armour Workshop
Links around Zvezda kit drive sprocket
Armour Workshop

Conclusion:
While the quality of the resin casting is very good the method of assembly was very frustrating and if you didn’t get it right first time there will be considerable problems.

If you have unlimited patience and are extremely careful during assembly these will make good looking BMD tracks but the designed method of assembly is rather frustrating.

Recommended with reservations.

Thanks to Leo from LionMarc Model Designs and my credit card for the review set.



Page created 15 April 2005

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