RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Video of left metal track in action https://youtu.be/JUMwju7NtUE

Video of Chieftain Mk.5 with both metal tracks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkbb_MMyRKg&t=4s

I bought this motorized version of the Chieftain on ebay and it was shipped from the UK. The Chieftain is the successor to the Centurion as far as I can tell. After getting this tank it sat around for a year and I had forgotten about it as I have two Centurion tanks running so I did not think about building the Chieftain until I realized there was a nice set of metal tracks available for it.

So recently I have been working with ITL tracks and have discovered it is difficult to get the right tracks for any model so that is fits the sprockets correctly. I have bought some and had to send them back as they do not work for one reason or another. In the meantime, my efforts being frustrated, I wanted some success with ITL and decided to go with metal so that I at least have something with ITL.
I selected the Chieftain Mk 5 as Friulmodel makes a set that will work according to info on the net.

This is my first metal track build. First thing I can report is these tracks are a lot easier to build compared to plastic ITL tracks.

Good morning,
Patience of a Saint required and those are looking great!
regards
Painless

PainlessWolf wrote:Good morning,
Patience of a Saint required and those are looking great!
regards
Painless

That how I felt when building a set of plastic ITL tracks for a Panzer IV. It took forever just to make 1 track and then it did not fit the sprocket because it was for an "early Panzer IV)". There are a lot of versions available for that Tank and it would not work on my model.

Anyway, I had the plastic ITL track working enough to see that ITL is the way to go. I wanted some success with ITL and realized that metal ITL would be a good one to start with as it is less tedious than "workable" plastic ITL. Now I don't have much experience with workable plastic ITL so if find one thats good I will report it here. I ordered a set of "Magic tracks ITL" tracks but found out they are not "workable" and are for static models. No where does it say "static only" and is very disappointing after wasting the time with those.

So after looking around on ebay I realized that the Chieftain MK 5 is a good candidate for metal tracks as there is only one track available from Fruial so that must mean there are not a bunch of variants like the Panzer III, IV.

Oh, This Tamiya Chieftain is an excellent model for the metal ITL conversion. Oh, there is some nice weight to the model now.

video of left track running
https://youtu.be/JUMwju7NtUE

Looking good, tracks look very good

c.rainford73 wrote:Looking good, tracks look very good

Hello rainford73, Yes they are looking good and now they are done and tested and work great!

91 track links per side. The Chieftain Mk.5 Friulmodel track kit is EXCELLENT and so is the model itself. I feel this model is an excellant candidate for metal track upgrade.

I know you 1/16 Tankers are used to these metal tracks. I had them on my 1/16 Tamiya Leopard Tank back in the late 70's

On a 1/35 scale TANK these tracks are AWESOME!

Video of Chieftain Mk.5 with all metal tracks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkbb_MMyRKg&t=4s

This model with Fruilmodel metal tracks is now my #1 Tank in my collection. It is a whole new experience driving it on my work bench track and and is very realistic with the added weight of the metal tracks. Feels like a tank when you pick it up as well.

Besides running better, isn't that track sag perfect looking!? Yoo Hoo!

Herr Dr. Professor wrote:Besides running better, isn't that track sag perfect looking!? Yoo Hoo!

YES Herr Doctor it is
This Tank will get proportional speed main gun elevation and 360 Turret rotation in the near future using MTM parts from the "Tracked vehicle" kit

Dynamic tracked vehicle kit
The elements of this kit are available individually

https://makethemmove.com/en/dynamic/

Great conversion. I'm getting my Meng Chieftain mk10. Workable suspension and track links out of box.

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