OROCHI [ MORE REVIEWS ] [ WEBSITE ] [ NEW STORIES ]

Built Review
135
Leopard 1 Workable Track Links
  • move

by: Kevin Brant [ SGTRAM ]

Introduction


Tracks are an important part of a tank and a tank model build. For years modellers have been replacing the vinyl single piece tracks with individual link track, looking for greater detail and workable. Orochi is a new company on the block with replacement tracks, and one of their first release includes individual links and workable track.

Contents


The box contains three sprues of plastic track links, 60 links per sprue for 180 total links, and seven sprue of poly-vinyl linkages.

Review


Looking over the sprues from Orochi I was very impressed with the clean molding, no flash, no sink marks, and no ejector pin marks. The black plastic is a tad soft, but has no impact on the detail. The level of detail in the molding is great looking too. The pad side of the track has the characteristic look of the Leopard 1 track.

The assembly of the tracks is pretty straight forward and done by mating two links with a center linkage horn and attaching the poly linkages to pins molded onto the links. The link pins have small flanges on the end to assist holding the soft poly linkages on.

I used a pair of fine side cutters to remove the track links and center linkage horns from the sprue, which will require a little sanding to clean up. Removing the poly linkages can be done with a sharp hobby knife, and if you follow the edge, there will be no clean up require.

Once assembly starts, it goes rather quick. I did find that the center linkage horns go on very easy, and in my opinion, maybe just a tad too loose. But having built another companies Leopard 1 tracks in the past, where the plastic was hard and brittle, and I broke several center pins trying to assemble them. Comparably, the Orochi tracks go together very well, the soft poly linkages fit and go on very well, and hold.

Once together to tracks not only look great, but are workable and stay together. I test fitted a section of the built tracks over an Italeri Leopard 1A5 drive sprocket and it fit very well.

I am currently in the process of building a Leopard C2 MEXAS, using the Legend conversion, and will be using the Orochi tracks on this build, you can follow along here.

I would like to note that when Orochi released images of the pre-production tracks, there was an issue with the shape, and based on comments on the forum, Orochi went back and resolved the issue with the tracks prior to release. Orochi should be well commended for listening to the modelling community and fixing this issue.

Conclusion


Overall I am very impressed with the Orochi Leopard 1 tracks. The level of detail is great, and assembly and fit is great. The tracks go together very well, and stay together while being very workable. I extremely recommend these tracks for any Leopard 1 build.
SUMMARY
Highs: Good detail, great fit, the tracks stay together and remain workable with no glue
Lows: I found the center linkage horns a tad loose
Verdict: Very highly recommended.
Percentage Rating
99%
  Scale: 1:35
  Mfg. ID: PF-003
  PUBLISHED: Feb 16, 2014
  NATIONALITY: Germany
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 88.35%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 90.25%

Our Thanks to Orochi!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

View Vendor Homepage  |  More Reviews  

About Kevin Brant (SgtRam)
FROM: ONTARIO, CANADA

I am an IT Consultant and father, with a passion for plastic models. I mostly prefer 1/35 Armor and 1/48 Aircraft. My main interests are anything Canadian, as well as WW2 German and British Armor and Aircraft. I have been building models since I was a young kid, got away from it for awhile, but r...

Copyright ©2021 text by Kevin Brant [ SGTRAM ]. All rights reserved.



   
ADVERTISEMENT


Photos
Click image to enlarge
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
ADVERTISEMENT