One of the biggest constand gripes about the Emhar WWI British tank kits is about the tracks. Well Fruil has finally answered that one…
That is both good news and bad news…I keep hearing from dealers that Fruil imports into North America have either ceased or will cease due to Fruil’s transactions with importers.
Dunno if the talk is true, however.[^o)]
Good news and bad news indeed. The tracks will cost more than the kit, no doubt?
I’ve actually been avoiding purchasing kits that may need after market tracks due to the cost of after market tracks being much, much more expensive than the kit I own.
Very nice! Previously the only other alternatives to the Emhar vinyl kit tracks that I know of were resin tracks from Accurate Armour and indy links from Model Cellar. Don’t know much about the AA tracks, but the MC tracks are very, very hard to find. Although their website lists them, they are almost always “temporarily unavailable”. Apparently they have limited runs of these and when they are sold out it can be months before they put them back in production. A couple of years ago they were in stock so I bought a couple of sets. Soon afterwards they were out of stock again and haven’t been available since.
These Friul tracks will be welcomed by WWI British armor fans! Lets hope there aren’t any distribution problems as Sprue-ce mentions.
BTW, the MC Mk IV tracks run about $32 USD for a set. Not much cheaper than Friuls (depending on where you buy them!)
That is good news! The Model Cellar plastic tracks are good quality, but the tread plates are a bit thick. The Accurate Armour resin set is good looking, but requires tedious clean up. I used Tank Workshop’s 26.5 inch resin tracks on my Emhar Mk.V, but they were not detailed on their backsides like the other two makers’ sets, and the casting quality was really spotty. I had to add my own phony-baloney runners to the backside of the tracks using square strip plastic so that the tracks were spaced from the hull and ran in a straight line, but hey they did fit perfectly. Hopefully Friul’s tracks will be thin-edged and well cast. I wonder if they will issue segments with spuds attached? The one thing I foresee is that the track tension will be critical, as Emhar’s kits have fixed idler and sprocket wheels. And yeah, bummers that a set of Friul tracks will set you back the cost of the crappy Emhar kit. 
But the $100,000 question remains - when will we see a modern tooling British rhomboid tank? They are coming, I can feel it. It’s just a matter of time now. Will it be Meng? Takom? Amusing Hobby? Trumpeter? DML? Tamiya? (I’d be thrilled if Tamiya did them, but I would be very surprised if they did.) With new tool FT-17, St Chamond, and Char 2C kits on the market, I really hope this is the start of a WW I armor kit renaissance. I’d love to have some gas-masked soldiers to play with as well! And even though Christmas is behind us already, I’d like Santa to bring us a K-Wagen in 2014. Don’t laugh, it could happen. 
lol, ask anyone here–I’ve been calling, begging, screaming for a new Mark IV for years—WITH interior, please! I can’t wait to see one released!
…in 1/24th or 1/25th scale…[whstl]
How about one from Takom, in 1/16 scale? To go with their FT-17?.
I gotta save up for that FT-17…[:$]
A Mk IV in 1/16th would be a respectable size…[^o)][:D]
Well in 1/72, we are getting some stuff to supplant the Airfix and Emhar kits. The Master Box 1/72 Mark I has started to hit stores. Here’s a look on Cybermodeler
www.cybermodeler.com/…/kit_mb_72001.shtml
And most of the soldiers one could want, including gas masked versions, are already available.
Be about the size of a standard US residential mailbox, wouldn’t it? [:D]
I’d probably buy one in that scale if it had a complete interior.
Oh, a complete interior would definitely make me spend my Lincolns [2cnts] for a kit.[:D]
I need to compare the tank at Cantigny in Wheaton, Illinois
http://www.firstdivisionmuseum.org/museum/exhibits/tankpark/M1917.aspx
with the FT-17 kit as I’m not that familiar with differences.
I didn’t know that! NICE! Thanks for the info MJjames!
Always happy to pass on some good news! The distributor my local shop deals with showed them as 'available, so I ordered one of each. Hoping to have them in my hands in a week or so.
A build article is now underway on Cybermodeler for the MB Mark I - www.cybermodeler.com/…/build_mb_72001.shtml