Bandai Valentine Re-Tread Experiment - Warning, Long Post
March 7 2008 at 1:28 PM
(Login koschrei) Registered Users from IP address 76.173.65.244
Thought those who were interested would enjoy an update. This project/experiment was spawned by Nik Grundstrom's fantastic Valentine build and the discussion of ways to replace the dreadful kit tracks that followed. Thanks to David Morris and Bruce Culver for their thoughts on using 1/35 scale Russian light tank tracks and the steer to the ComSale Maquette T-40s at Squadron. As it turns out the Maquette tracks work pretty well, but you do have to file out the space between the guide teeth to fit the Bandai wheels, and shorten the overall height of the track teeth to better match the profile and height of the Valentine track. This will be a boon to anyone with one of these kits in their collection that they are considering building, as the kit tracks are beyond dreadful.
As you can see in the first image, I used a dial caliper to make sure my guide teeth were the same height (available at good tool shop or jewelry findings store check around, it is one great modeling tool). I settled on a nominal height of .10 measured from the face of the track shoe to the top of the guide teeth. Do not try to snip the teeth to a uniform height (I tried, it is too hard to hold a consistent dimension) use a file and sanding sticks and work slowly, measuring often. Although it sounds tedious, the Maquette plastic is relatively soft so work actually goes pretty fast I have about four hours into fitting the tracks so far, which is not bad for a serious kitbashing effort. After experimenting with filling the spurious holes in the link ends on the bottom runs, I discovered that the filler shrinkage left trace holes, so I decided to dispense with this on the rest of the links.
The second image shows a nearly compete run the sharp eyed will spot that the upper run has not had its guide teeth trimmed yet illustrating why that step is really necessary for proper finished appearance. Although the Maquette links look a little heavy without any paint, I expect them to look much better after finishing. Ironically, I have decided to add a set of sand shields to my Valentine, so a significant part of the track will be hidden up in the skirts, but will still be visible if you turn the tank over to look at the neat Bandai logo on the hull bottom
For those who know my building style, notably I have glued the track on before painting anything. I did this after examining the amount of work that was needed and realizing that a lot of fiddling would be required to fit the Maquette parts to the Bandai suspension, including some serious clamping on the long runs to assure a nice straight fit (the Bandai Valentine suspension will not build out in perfect alignment as far as I can tell, so gluing the bottom runs firmly in place provides MUCH needed alignment an added benefit of this conversion). Fortunately, the Valentine has lots of space between the tracks and the hull, so there will be room to go back in and paint things nicely when they are done.
Next up rebuilding the sprockets to add the right number of teeth and finishing the track runs. Stay tuned
Konrad
PS - hope you all like the images - they are some of the first with my new Cannon SLR. Still learning how that works
This is looking really, really good. The trimmed & finished bottom run in the second pic looks right at home. Under the paint, it will blend in perfectly. I think the over scaled look is purely due to the different colours of the plastic, it draws the eye.
I'll be "tracking" this build carefully<grin>.
Cheers Mate, Pat
p.s. The quality of the pics is excellent from here. The SLR was a wise investment. P.
Glad this thread is helpful. I will continue to post progress on the conversion and who knows, maybe construction and detailing of the entire tank
Steve - turns out that the 1/35 Maquette T-40 has just about exactly the right number of links to finish one 1/48 Valentine with a few spares (not a lot though) so it should be a 1-for-1 conversion.
That is a great project. One of the things that I find enticing about 1/48 armor builds is the kitbashing possibilities. Just like the early 1/35 years, not everything was available and modelers had to be creative about improving kits or making different versions. I also prefer to build in plastic so these type of kitbashes are great to follow.
Eureka they fit !!! After burning some midnight oil I can report that the Maquette T-40 tracks will fit the Bandai Valentine. After trimming the guide teeth to height on the final components, to accomplish the final connections you need to score the first and the last two links the short upward run at the bottom-rear of the suspension and bend these links to conform to the rear road wheel and the sprocket respectively, and do the same thing to the final link on the long upper run so it will conform to the sprocket. This will leave a gap of exactly four links on the sprocket itself with four individual links. One interesting and unanticipated benefit of correcting the height of the track teeth as discussed in the earlier post is that they do fit the sprockets correctly
I did find that a little careful sanding was required to slightly narrow each of the individual links mounted on the sprocket for best appearance. The resulting curve fits the sprocket very well, with perhaps a tiny bit of slack, which I biased toward the bottom of the sprocket to depict the effect of gravity on the dead tracks used on the Valentine. It took me about three hours to finish this run, hopefully the next one will go a little quicker.
That was the good news. Unfortunately the Bandai sprockets simply do not fit the Maquette tracks, mostly because Bandai used a much coarser track pitch than was proper. To further complicate things, the Bandai sprockets have the teeth moulded off center, being positioned toward the front edge of the sprocket casting. As a result you have to remove all the Bandai sprocket teeth and reattach them in the correct positions, after which you have to (tediously) file each tooth to a more appropriate size and shape. If you are able to save all the Bandai sprocket teeth this will only require you to make an additional four sprocket teeth. The following image shows a corrected sprocket casting before the teeth have been filed to shape next to a completed run with a modified sprocket in place.
Conclusion although this is a fairly time consuming modification, it produces such a quantum leap in the appearance of the finished kit that it is well worth it. In my opinion these replacement tracks are just a must-have for anyone who is seriously thinking about building the Bandai Valentine.
The extra time & effort paid off handsomely, Mate! The finished track run is perfect. The mating of the Maquette track with the Bandai Valentine is seamless. Under paint, you'd never be able to tell the modification was done, which is the "essence" of kit-bashing, IMHO.
Dave Morris (Login Dave_Morris) Registered Users 62.30.139.151
The answer to my question!
March 12 2008, 5:06 PM
When i made my original post, asking about suitable replacement tracks for the Valentine, i never thought that it would generate an answer as good as this one from Konrad.
I received my T40`s from Squadron, about 3 weeks ago and apart from giving them a good coat of looking at have done little else with them, as i had other projects to finish. Reading through the post i have to say that the amount of cursing and shouting that Konrad has saved me will be appreciated by my wife.
The T40 tracks may well require some work to make them look the part but they appear well worth the effort involved.
Konrad you have produced a very informative post which really should be re worked so it can be put in the articles section for all future Valentine builders to reference.
I am now looking forward to starting my Val, which is next on my "to do list".
Thanks for sharing this Konrad.
