MiniArt 1/35 T-34/85 Running Gear Late Type Set First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

I don't know about you, but in many of the armor kits I see these days, I usually find one of two extremes. Either the kit has the vinyl 'rubber band' track which is usually detailed on one side and not so much on the other, or you find the hyper-detailed alternative that take many parts just to assemble an individual track link. I usually lose my will to live with the latter option. Some kits have what they call workable track links that simply snap together and they're ready for paint and weathering.

MiniArt has just released a new detail/conversion set for your favorite T-34/85 kit. This set includes the so-called 'wafer-type' of track link where every other track link has a guide tooth, a set of 'butterfly' road wheels, return rollers, and drive sprockets. This set is molded in light gray styrene and presented on 21 parts trees (duplicate trees not shown). The tracks feature some amazing details including cast-on serial numbers that are tiny but readable. The links are set up to snap together with one link cast with guide horn connecting to a link without the guide horn. While the links are supposed to click together, some care will be required as the plastic is a bit soft.

The details on the road wheels is also quite impressive and you'll want to update your model with these wheels or transform that T-34/85 that had the stamped wheels into the later-production configuration.

If you're looking for a workable track solution and you don't want to go with the metal track links that weigh more than the rest of the model, MiniArt has released a nice option and I hope we see more of these sets in the future.

Thanks to MiniArt Models for the review sample.