Found: Full set of Panther Tracks

[Marco Peter]

Hi there,

I'm looking for a full set of Panther Tracks.

Mine are pretty worn down and break every now and then.


Don't look at he colors, I'm repainting him, only the turret is done!

[Gerhard Michel]

Hi Marco,

first of all: wonderful; a tank that may roll in heavy grounds, like tanks have to do that!

I tried to solve the problem of breaking tracks under load at my Jagdpanther with Vincent's steel tracks, because I have best experiences with Olaf's steel tracks on Königstiger and Jagdtiger. Unfortunately the Panther models are nearly not drivable with these tracks, and the tracks cause ugly damage to the drive train surface. We broadened the sprockets and grinded down the chevrons, but we had no success.

[Marco Peter]

Hmmm thanks for the reply.

Are you trying to say new tracks will break too?

[Adrian Harris]

These models have very powerful motors, so are quite capable of breaking track links if the running gear is clogged up with earth, stones or sand.

Much better to drive to the conditions than to expect the tank to chew through everything it encounters.

Adrian.

[Steen Vøler]

My JagdPanther did breake some links now and then, but I also did drive in very challenging environments.



look at 08:34 - I was in a pond, so both the jagdpanther and I godt a bit wet changing the track link

Field repair at its best

[Marco Peter]

Lot's of famous faces around that timestamp but no JP haha!

[Gerhard Michel]

Well, in the 10 years that Hausen Tank Meeting exists, there was no year without a break of an Armortek track link, though there are mown meadows only, but some ascents.

Armortek track links are built very prototypical and true to scale, but are made of aluminium instead of steel. Along with the strong motors a little obstacle suffices to break a track link.



Other manufacturers have otherwise solutions to avoid breaking track links; e.g. thicker links and thinner pins. This gives more durability, but is not true to scale. Another solution is a true-to-scale-track made of brass or ZAMAK.

[Gerhard Michel]

These models have very powerful motors, so are quite capable of breaking track links if the running gear is clogged up with earth, stones or sand.

Much better to drive to the conditions than to expect the tank to chew through everything it encounters.

Adrian.

I would think that sand (also if wet) is a rather common condition for a tank (model), though it is a litte ambitious for the drive train. Please see my King Tiger (sorry for the non AT model) after going through a hairpin turn in wet sand. OK, these are a little bad conditions (there are up to 40 mm of sand between track links and drive train), but the KT had no trouble with this condition. Driving straight forward over wet sand should be no problem for a tank!



This model uses Olaf's steel track links which originally were made for Armortek models.

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

Well, in the 10 years that Hausen Tank Meeting exists, there was no year without a break of an Armortek track link, though there are mown meadows only, but some ascents.

In the ten years I have had my tiger 1, I have broken a track link ONCE. I will bet that I will make it through this year's Hausen event without breaking one. If not, I will be happy to buy you a beer! Bets are on!

[Gerhard Michel]

Hi Christoffer,

I wish you a long life of your track links, because I don't like alcoholic drinks!

************

Hi guys,

please keep in mind that in Hausen about 10 to 20 AT models are rolling for hours. In summary this is a lot of operations in a short time. I tried to find out under which circumstances the fractures happened. May be a big part was caused by tracks climbing over the sprockets or the idlers, occuring when driving lateral at a hillside or cornering

[Marco Peter]

Well, in the 10 years that Hausen Tank Meeting exists, there was no year without a break of an Armortek track link, though there are mown meadows only, but some ascents.

In the ten years I have had my tiger 1, I have broken a track link ONCE. I will bet that I will make it through this year's Hausen event without breaking one. If not, I will be happy to buy you a beer! Bets are on!

Well I don't own my Tiger for 10 years (yet) but I've never broken a track ever - and I did some crazy stuff haha!

[Marco Peter]

Since we are having a nice conversation about breaking tracks: the exact moment of breaking the tracks (and why, probably) was caught on film by a bystander!

[Marco Peter]

I love this forum: only hours after I posted this request I found my set of tracks!

[Gerhard Michel]

I tried to mark the possible point of damage just before final breaking down:

[Marco Peter]

Yes I saw that too, looks like one of the newer tracks, but closer inspection showed it was a new track that cracked...