Hiya guys, been a while since I was last on! I'll try and do better...

In the meantime, I was hoping that some of those who have a better memory than me can help me out please!

Not too long ago, I came into possession of a very badly and thickly painted Hellbore which seems to have been glued together with some extremely hard, thick old glue. In other words, I can strip the metal parts okay, but the tracks are permanent if I want to keep the plastic intact.

I remember that the original GW kit's tracks were from an arrangement that GW came to with some other model company who made them for a 1:72 scale M113 kit, and agreed to supply GW with just the track parts. These tracks were also the ones used for the Capitol Imperialis.

Does anybody know which company's kit that was please? I'd like to track down one of their M113s and perform some, erm, "transplant surgery"...

Thanks in advance guys!

Yes, I believe that is true, for both the CI & Hellbore Transport ... G/W used IIRC the tracks from a 1/72 ERTL or ESCI M113 kit. But I'd imagine any 1/72 M113 kit would work ?

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Well, yes, any 1:72 scale kit is the right scale, but it doesn't necessarily follow that the kits are assembled with the same-shaped component parts - some kits might have separate tracks, others might have the undercarriage as part of a bigger chassis component, etc. I'd rather the kit part also fitted correctly as well as being the right scale! :p

But I'll check out ERTL and ESCI kits in the meantime, thank you!


EDIT:

Jackpot! This kit looks like the right part (see the sprue pic at the bottom).

Well let me know what you find out ...

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Ah, here is an example of what I meant. The kit is the same vehicle, and the same scale, but the parts are different. That one I found above looks more promising so far...

Hmmm ... yes ... well ... if you could get the suspension system with separate tracks to fit ... that could be cool too ...

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Success at last I think!

It turns out that the JB models 1/76 M113 is the correct kit, and can still be bought today.

Pic of the sprues here:


The tracks and track assemblies look just like what's been glued to my Hellbore.

Thanks for the manufacturer tip L4, it was a massive help in tracking down the history of the kit and who had the rights to make it (I think Airfix did for a while, before their new 1/76 kit has now superceded it... Sigh, the things you learn on the 'tubes).

Glad to help !! I've got a pretty good working knowledge of M113s ... I was in 3 Mech Bns and Commanded a Company of them ...

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Thats a nice information
I am sure you are not the last guy
who searches for this tracks

Yeah ... they were everywhere back then ...

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Well guys, I have ordered two sets of the kit (the second just in case I ever get a CI or want to repaint my Hellbore again...), and when they arrive I will update again with info (and perhaps pix) of how they look and to advise if they fit or not!

BTW, is there a stickied topic somewhere where this sort of info is collated, kept and linked to? It'd be super useful for other folks who are looking for this sort of thing.

Okay, the kits arrived today and were waiting for me when I got home...

...And it was instant success! That means I can now dump my crappily-painted purchase into a strong bath of paint stripper knowing that I have some nice new plastics to put on it. :happydance:

So I thought I'd share my find here with you all (and have included some pix below) in case anybody else needs them too. Click on the images for embiggification!

First up, the horribly-painted (I think the ebay description was "Pro-Painted") Hellbore transporter:


Next is the box of the model I bought. It happened to be a JB models 1/76 M113 Fire Support Vehicle, but all the JB 1/76 M113s use the same tracks/chassis sprue. I read that that Airfix use the same moulds in their kit (bought from JB Models), but I couldn't find a box to check. Airfix models are cheap though (around £3 for an M113), but I bought this kit for about £3.50, so it's not that expensive either.


Finally, a comparison pic of all the parts. The original tracks are on the left, the new kit sprue in the centre, and the overturned Hellbore transport on the right. You can clearly see that it is a perfect match in every way.


Well, I hope all that helps other folks who need to refurbish classic old GW Epic models! Any questions, please ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

Blimey! This is an absolute cocking find! I never knew Workshop didn't make those tracks themselves.

Potty mouth. That is swearing in British, yes?