About Us
Panda Plastics and our Operating
Philosophy
We are the successor company for RHPS semi workable Sherman tracks. We purchased the RHPS molds and are now manufacturing and selling those great Sherman tracks formerly sold by RHPS. Panda is using the same molds, the same plastic material, and the same molder to produce our product. We have even retained Robert Price Schwartz, the RHPS founder, to act as a consultant on various matters including quality. Our continuing goal is to provide you the modeler with high quality individual link track sets at a reasonable price. Even though we are in an period of soaring prices for petroleum and petroleum derived products such as the plastic resin used to make our product, shipping, and labor, we have turned back the hands of time to introduce our line of tracks at the same prices RHPS offered them back in 1999, $21.95 plus postage for all the tracks sets. In addition, we have actually cut the price of the duckbills to below 1999 levels. The $17.95 duckbills of 1999 are now being offered at $14.95 plus postage. Order a set of tracks and a set of duckbills together, and we further reduce the price of the duckbills to $12.95 without additional postage. Our goal is to continue to offer a high quality product at the best price possible along with first class service to our customers. Many modelers have wondered whether we are an Asian based operation. We are not. Panda Plastics has been in business in the good old USA for the past twenty years as a plastics recycling company. My wife and I started the business on a shoe string and have developed it over the years. In addition to doing plastic recycling, I have been a life long modeler and used RHPS individual track sets for years. When the opportunity arose to purchase the molds of such a company well known in the hobby industry, we jumped at the opportunity.
Why Use Individual Links?
The model companies have recently developed realistic looking one piece tracks for their Sherman models. Since the new tracks are easy to put on and look good, why use individual link tracks? I think there are several reasons: First, getting the tension right on Sherman tracks is hard. Remember, there is NO track sag in live tracks. Unfortunately, in some instances, the new generation of one piece track tends to be a bit long, necessitating either cranking the tensioning idler wheel to an decidedly unscale looking position or cutting one or two track pads from the run. Many of my customers find that the tensioning idler was not designed to provide the necessary tension the one piece tracks need and as a result, they either break off outright or start bending over time. Many try to compensate for too long tracks by cutting a track pad or two off the track run and re-gluing. Frequently they find the re-gluing process to be cumbersome and frequently the finished product is less than satisfactory. Secondly, a study of period pictures shows that the tracks were not as uniform as the one piece tracks. Particularly for tanks with duckbills mounted, it was not uncommon for a tank to have several duckbills missing either in bunches or in scattered locations for a variety of reasons. Duplicating this realistically on one piece tracks is difficult to get looking right. Finally, customers that create dioramas incorporating disabled tanks report that the one piece tracks are very difficult to represent convincingly off the tank. Examples of this would be a Sherman that has had one of its tracks blown off in a mine blast or thrown a track during maneuvering
