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The T36E6 outside guide, double pin, rubber bushed, parallel grouser steel track was fitted to M3A1, M3A3, M5, and
M5A1 Stuart light tanks, as well as derivatives such as the M8 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage and M5 and M5A1 High Speed Tractors.
The set provides 4 finely detailed lengths of track, each with 42 links, for a total of 168 links. A real Stuart takes 66 track links per side for a
total of 132 links, so the set provides enough track for one vehicle and a fair number of spares.
The track is moulded in a dark grey resin, and has crisp detail on the inner and outer faces. My only criticism of the detail is that the three raised
grousers on the face of each link look a little too skinny to me. The links measure out to 4.60 mm in width and 1.92 mm in pitch, which scales out to
331 mm width and 138 mm pitch. Full sized dimension of the real track are 295 mm width and 140 mm pitch, so the track links are about 12% overscale in
width and 1% underscale in pitch.
I compared the OKB tracks (above - top) to the tracks provided in the Mirage M5A1 kit (above - bottom). Note that the Mirage tracks represent the T16E1 or T16E2 rubber block track, so
obviously differ in details. The Mirage track is slightly narrower at 4.13 mm, with a pitch of 1.95 mm. The Mirage tracks are closer to the actual
dimensions; however the end connectors on the Mirage tracks seem very narrow and lack any real detail. Because of the difference in width, the Mirage drive
sprockets may need to be widened slightly to properly engage the OKB tracks.
While the plain rubber block T16E1/T16E2 tracks seem to be the most common on WWII Stuarts, these tracks provide a nice alternative. The half mm error in the
track width will probably not be noticeable without a calibrated eyeball.
Reference:
[1] afvdb
Preview sample purchased by the author.
OKB Grigorov products are available at
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