JK Resin


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German WW II Spare Tracks for
Pz.III Ausf.J,M,N

Kit #: JKT72025 Preview by Rob Haelterman
   

This resin set contains spare tracks to add to a Panzer III kit, as illustrated in the instructions.

The quality of the parts is up to the usual very high standards of JK, with almost no flash, crisp track detail and small attachment points to the backing plate. The tracks are perfectly aligned and have supporting rods cast on to them where needed.

The set contains a great amount of tracks. While tracks on the lower glacis became a standard feature on the Panzer III Ausf. J starting in November 1941 and tracks on the upper glacis were fairly common later on, the tracks on the turret are more rare, although less so in the desert where spare parts were no luxury. Nevertheless, a configuration quite similar to that in this set has been observed on PzKpfw III Ausf.L of 24 Pz.Div.

About the type of tracks: they are 40cm Kgs 61/400/120 with rectangular recesses in track face, double side connections and solid guide teeth. These appeared in the second half of 1942 (according to Panzerketten by Peter Schwarzmann), which is the time when PzKpfw III Ausf. L and StuG III Ausf.F were still in production. They might have become rare by the end of the war when tracks with chevrons on the faces were more common. As all the tracks are installed with the faces towards the vehicle, these will not be visible and the modeler can thus pretend that they are of another type.
Width of the tracks is spot on, while the pitch might be around 10% overscale. This is visibly larger than the pitch of the Dragon tracks and might thus be an issue for those comparing the tracks on the suspension with the spare tracks on the rest of the vehicle. Incidentally, the JK tracks are almost identical in size (but not in design) to the Revell tracks, somewhat contradicting the mention "for Dragon kit" on the boxtop.


Dragon DS tracks from a Panzer III Ausf.N kit compared to JK tracks of this set.


Revell hard plastic tracks from a StuG III kit kit compared to JK tracks of this set.

 

In all, a very useful and well executed set adding some character to a Panzer III.

 

Review sample kindly provided by JK Resin.

 

JK Resin kits can be purchased from Tracks & Troops

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Article Last Updated: 15 October 2017

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