I got my Pershing links from WWII Productions last night. Not a bad turn-around time from Australia.
My reaction? In a word, WOW.
The links themselves come in an unassuming little package:
Inside were the links and the instructions:
That’s just the front of the instructions. The back had the specific instructions, but it’s not anything you haven’t read before – the links have a long pin and a short pin. You slip the long pin in first, and then swing the link around and just snap in the other, shorter pin. It effortlessly snaps right into place, and I had no problems at all.
Man is it easy! I assembled this length in ninety seconds:
Here’s the other side:
I didn’t really clean up those links at all, just took out the little bit of flash where the links meet – it comes away easily with the wave of an xacto knife.
After having struggled with Friuli treads and had MK lengths come apart on me, I am a convert to these things. Of course, you cannot commit manslaughter with these assembled lengths like you can with the Friuli ones, and they are just workable enough so that you can put them on the kit and have them droop – not so workable that you can play with them every two seconds or wear them like a belt. Since they are click-together, if you really yank on them they will come apart – but if you think about it, that can actually be a good thing. Have you ever needed to disassemble a length of treads temporarily? I know I have. As long as you do not assemble and disassemble them over and over again, they should just click back into place again.
For static display, which of course is what these are for, these will look great (better IMO than the overly-thick Friuli).
Note that the hollow T81 guide horns are actually hollow, which might not be apparent from the scans.
I like these little buggers so much I am going to sprinkle them on my cereal! I actually want to build a tank just so I can put them on. Guys: 10 links in 90 seconds, including some clean-up time… Let that sink in. (A little more cleanup time might be a good idea, but they are actually cast quite nicely.)
WWII says to use 78-80 links per side, but you get 90 per side, which allows for spares and some breakage in case of accidents.
The only problem is that they don’t have many sets available yet, and this is the only set for American armour. They do have Panther, Tiger I, and T-34 links though. Hussah!
A week or two ago I posted a full catalog for them – just do a search for a thread called “Somebdy asked about Marder tracks” (or something like that).
