As far as I can see the Early production track is the same as the Mid production track but are there any slight differences?

What kind of Mid Tiger?

The tracks were changed to the cleated type (late) in October 1943.
So, if the Mid Tiger has Feifels, or a pistol port, or a headlight at the left side, or a track toolbox, or S-mines....it should have been issued with the Early tracks.

David

This one......


http://www.dragon-models.com/d-m-item.asp?pid=DRA6700


A friend says he has some spare Magic Track links (as I don't like the DS ones in Dragons kit) so I was wondering if I bought this kit whether the links would be appropriate or not.

David;

IF the Tiger you are going to build from is that kit 6700... you could use either an "early" or "later" production track - as long as what you are using is NOT the "initial" type (which was mirror-imaged on those first Tigers). All Tigers past the first several dubbed "initial production" had a track type which could be used equally on either side - NOT mirrored, as were those initials. "Mids" and laters used a single type of link for both sides.

So... unless your friend is offering an "initial" set, I think you are OK with any Magic Track set from any "early" or "mid-production" Tiger kit. And bear in mind that track sets were swapped out for rail transport (hence the narrow "transport tracks"), and then a set of standard wide-tracks was swapped in at the other end of the line. So, as this happened in depots and sometimes en-mass as a unit shipped around, chances are that a Tiger could eventually receive an "update" in tracks over a couple moves. And the later your supposed Tiger lived in service, the more chance to indeed update tracks to a later pattern.

Just a thought!

Bob

Thanks both. Might just have to pick that kit up.

Bob, have you seen any photos of Tigers that got a "downgrade" in their tracks? I think it's a pretty rare event.

A Tiger of the type in that 6700 kit would arrive from the factory with the Late tracks, no mistake about that. So, in order to get a "downgrade" to the Early tracks, the unit would have to have some of those Early tracks to swap into it.

Now, take a look at the decal sheet in the kit. s.Pz.Abt. 508 only had a few earlier Tigers than this, while 507 had exactly one. Only the other decals would have a reasonable chance of a "downgrade".

Next, look at the way Tigers were transported. They usually were moved with the tank and its battle tracks on the same rail wagon. There was little chance of swapping them accidentally, and if you tried, I guess the crew with the better tracks would object.

I noticed only a single example of a Mid Tiger getting a "downgrade" in its tracks, and believe me I've looked at hundreds of photos. Plenty of "upgrades", one "downgrade".

David

I'm sure that you are right about later Tigers arriving with cleated tracks, and I'm sure you are right about "track down-grades" (IF by which you mean earlier non-cleated tracks were a significant down-grade to later cleated types) being both "rare" and something perhaps that some crew may have beefed over if it happened to them.

MY point to David was really that he did NOT want to bring on board any "initial" type "handed" or "mirrored" track set onto anything other than an initial Tiger. While both "early" (non-cleated) and "late" (cleated) tracks were different, in terms of the link-face, they were interchangeable and could even be combined within a run, being as links were "universal" and you did not need L and R types, whereas the handed initials were quickly phased out - to carry any spares, you needed to have some of each "hand", as did any maint shop... "Hey! Anyone have any L links around? I need 3!".

Yes, individual tanks appear to have often road the rails keeping their wide field tracks right on hand. There are plenty of pics to confirm this, and procedure SOP apparently directed crew to remove outer wheels and swap on narrower "transport" tracks for such moves... there are also pics to confirm that 1) crew sometimes "failed" to swap tracks for rail moves (probably for shorter trips and in-extremis moves versus better-planned movements), and 2) that swappers often seem to have lodged their wider tracks elsewhere and not on their own flatcar...

And, keeping in mind that we do not have good and clear pictures of every Tiger made , nor at every day or week of its life... the fact that you actually have seen a pic of a later Tiger wearing "early" tracks makes my point that tracks could have been swapped entirely! Rare, perhaps, but it apparently did happen - and somebody (maybe out of shear astonishment! ) took a picture of that tank...

For David, IF he can score a set of cleated Magics... all the better for him and his mid or later Tiger.

Bob

David, if you're worried about accuracy, look at the decals for s.Pz.Abt. 502 and 503.
These units had a LOT of near-identical whitewashed Tigers. In the case of s.Pz.Abt. 502, many of them in the 2nd company just had a "2" digit - which is in the kit.
In the case of s.Pz.Abt. 503, we don't have good photos of the whole battalion, so you could make "unseen" Tigers with the kit decals.

Who's to say they didn't use an old track set...

But all of the other decal options were modelled directly off photos.

David

Thanks for that David.