Japanese 23 Infantry Division - Airfix to the rescue (again)

Following the completion of some 1/144 scale Japanese aircraft, I gave some thought to a game based on the early actions at Khalkin Gol in 1939.  Despite my considerable numbers of aircraft the only Japanese ground troops I had available were Naval Landing infantry - with prominent anchors painted on their helmets - which I picked up at a show earlier in the year.

Although the unpainted figure pile contains a couple of divisions' worth of Japanese, I always prime metal figure with spray paint and at the time (last weekend) my spray painting 'studio' (the garage) was out of use, being full of crap.  A quick rummage in the plastic figures box revealed modest numbers of old Airfix Japs. 

Unfortunately, the figures were so old that plastic fatigue had taken hold and many had broken due to being too brittle.  I managed to salvage enough infantry for a three-regiment ('triangular') division, together with a few potential gunners.  Following a swift paint job, I think they look OK.  Here is one of the regiments skulking on a hill.

For what it's worth, the painting process was as follows:
1. wash the figures carefully
2. glue to bases
3. 'paint' figures with PVA
4. base coat (of Vallejo 117)
5. limited detail painting - rifles, boots, webbing, flesh
6. ink wash (Winsor & Newton 954 - Nut Brown)
7. very light dry brush of pale sand
8. flock bases
9. paint edge of bases
10. spray of matt varnish

Here is an ill-advised close-up of one of the little chaps

Other divisional assets (artillery, HQ, cavalry etc) still await completion, but I did repair and base an old Toyota lorry to serve as divisional transport.  This Hasegawa kit comes as a starter rig for aircraft, but mine was completed with a scratch built GS body.  I actually built this in the late '80s as part of a Spanish Civil War project and since then it has served the military of Germany, France, Poland and Russia.  So it's about time it was repatriated.

More of this division as and when it is finished.