New Resin Track Links - Tiger I Options 180328

[Rubicon Models]

Rubicon Models will be releasing a new range of vehicle enhancing products, the Tiger I track links is one of them. Highly detailed and produced in quality resin, these will be optional products to replace the original plastic tracks to further enhance the look of your model kit. More to come!

















Enjoy!

[ultravanillasmurf]

Interesting development.

Will you have examples at Salute?

[Pinky]

Excellent idea.  And the resin will give the model a bit more weight, which will appeal to a lot of people.  Will you do the earlier tracks and running gear too?

[ripley]

That's a neat ide . Maybe down the road we can see narrow transport track for the Tiger and maybe the Wintterkasten ( sp? ) the wide winter track for Panzer III & IV , that would be cool

[Rubicon Models]

Will you have examples at Salute?

There are so much to show during Salute, why spoil the fun? 

[elias.tibbs]

Could be good to see more variants of US track too.

Damaged tracks would be kinda cool. I can imagine people doing dioramas or wanting to use them as immobilised markers 

[Jimmy_P]

Interesting! Assuming that there's an early road wheels version (?), and the price point is right, think I'd definitely look to upgrade my current Tiger(s). 

[tyroflyer]

I'm perplexed. If there is no down side to the resin why not include it with the kit rather than make it an option? I realise you might want to provide an earlier version of the road wheels etc separately but why would you want the plastic version if it's inferior? I assume it's because plastic is cheaper when made in vast numbers. Or is there some other explanation?

[Rubicon Models]

I'm perplexed. If there is no down side to the resin why not include it with the kit rather than make it an option? I realise you might want to provide an earlier version of the road wheels etc separately but why would you want the plastic version if it's inferior? I assume it's because plastic is cheaper when made in vast numbers. Or is there some other explanation?

When we make plastic kits, we do it by the thousands.  It is extremely difficult to include two sets of resin tracks (both early and mid/late war roadwheels) in each plastic kit because of production constraints and cost.  We started our range as a gaming product, we don't think most gamers will be too concerned with our existing plastic tracks, the Tiger I had been in sales for 3 years.  Being that said, we do hear a lot of requests from the modelling community for a detailed version; and with new trainees in apprenticeship, this is the best time to create something (under supervision) worth their time and to fulfil community requests at the same time.  Indeed, resin and silicon mould costs are very high when compared to plastic.  We simply do not want to increase the retail price of the Tiger I further.

[elias.tibbs]

It’s the same way that there’s a whole aftermarket audience for 1:35 and 1:48 kits. Those plastic kits are already detailed, but some people want something more.

[ultravanillasmurf]

Damaged tracks would be kinda cool. I can imagine people doing dioramas or wanting to use them as immobilised markers

You want individual links ^__^.

[ultravanillasmurf]

Ignoring the fact that you can do stuff with "flexible" resin moulds you cannot do with rigid plastic moulds: in days of yore (and remember this is days of yore,  your modern mould mileage may vary) manufacturers had to match the price of the moulds against the expected models sold.

Resin was cheap to make the  moulds and cheap to mould but the life span of an individual mould was short. The cost of the mould was a significant element of the cost of the individual moulded item(s).

For a tale of woe try "The Tale of Andy's Dragon":
http://www.heresyminiatures.com/shop/blog/

White metal moulds were more expensive to make (requiring specialist processing and the masters should not contain plasticine - as used by a youthful Perry Twins to the surprise of a Citadel mould maker). The spin moulds used now costing even more than the Prince August style ones. Their lifespan varied (depending on the amount of spikyness). The cost of the mould was a proportion of the cost of the item(s).

As an aside, I remember reading about the use of cuttlefish "bone" as mould material for white metal. Health and safety tips, one - don't, two do not give it back to the budgie after use.

Plastic moulds were (and are) specialist engineering, in the UK most "independent" gaming plastics use moulds made by Renedra. They often last the lifetime of the product (I hope that the Kitmaster originals now sold by Airfix and Dapol are not using the original moulds but you never know).

The mould cost per item was insignificant over the lifespan of the mould, but you had to be able to sell enough to cover the cost.

Technology has moved on and resin moulding has improved.

These resin tracks offer a way to test the market for the improved track. It might be that a multi-slide plastic mould is viable, or some other method allows the tread detail missing from the existing technology. It also allows an improvement to an existing product without the expense of a new set of moulds.

As Elias mentioned, the plastic kit market is full of after market upgrades and this is an in-house variety. The Tiger is a nice kit, it has caused few issues but the improved tracks are a luxury item.

[tyroflyer]

Okay. I'm convinced. Actually I'm pleased Rubicon is prepared to try different things.

[elias.tibbs]

Every little thing like this means they’re potentially one step close to making an M32 ARV that I can buy

[ripley]

 Really can't see an easy way to replace  track on  already built kits ( liquid glue / super glue / lots a glue  ) , not to  mention trying to match  paint , weathering and ground effects  ( dirt / mud / scatter ) on the tracks . But this will be great on any new kits I build . I wonder how long before we see these in the stores ?