Given the number of Japanese aircraft I have amassed and the recent expansion of my Jap ground forces to two division-equivalents of infantry, I decided that it was time to paint a batch of vehicles I built some time ago.
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| A pair of Airfix Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks and an Isuzu lorry (Frontline) during the painting process. |
I confess that I had put off painting the tanks due to the colourful but intricate Japanese camouflage patterns. I used a base colour of mid green (over matt black), with stripes of brown and yellow.
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| Airfix Chi-Ha with camo added. |
Markings posed another problem as there was virtually nothing suitable in my markings box. There was no option but to paint them on!
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| Chi-Ha with markings added - turret green/white marking based on photos of the 9th Tank Regiment, an approximation of a Japanese character on the hull side and a Jap flag on the front (and rear) hull plates. This model was missing a drive sprocket, so I cobbled one together using Sherman parts |
Photos of the completed models will follow soon.
13 comments:
Looking good. Were there any major tank battles or did the Pacific terrain lend itself badly to that?
Rich
The Japs (and indeed the far east in general) have been a low-priority project for some years now - maybe 2011 will see more progress in this area.
Bartender
The only real tank battles as such took place between the Japs and Sovs in Manchuria in 1939 - stay tuned for more on this!
Tim Gow said...The only real tank battles as such took place between the Japs and Sovs in Manchuria in 1939 - stay tuned for more on this!
There were a few against the Chinese as well with Panzer I and FT 17s Vs
the Japanese!
The 1939 war in Manchuria is very
interesting also...love to see a game done on that one!
Great work Tim. I really like Japanese armour.
Rich
Notable numbers of Jap tanks were used in the fall of the Philippines and Malaya. The largest tank v tank battle in the pacific occurred on Saipan. 37 Jap tanks supported by 500 infantry attacked the marines supported by Shermans. The Japs lost 24 tanks in the attack. And of course they took part in the last tank battles of WWII at Manchuria and Shimushu Island against the Soviets. No Soviet T-34's were destroyed during the battles.
Classic kit, like it
Nice looking Japanese armour. I have a mix of these waiting to be rebuilt, so I will be paying some attention to this and future postings.
Don
I expect I'll knock together some Chinese stuff at some point, but the short-term project is to have enough Japs to fight the Russians in 1939.
Beccas
Bob Cordery and I discussed a Pacific 'island hopping' campaign a few years ago - we both have some DUKWs and LVTs stockpiled in case we ever get round to it...
Al & Paul
It is rather a nice kit - and very different in style from most of the tanks I build.
Tanks were indeed critical to the Jap success in Malaya. Most of the early crucial battles in the North involved bold use of them.
And they weren't even using late war 'heavy' tanks like the Chi-Ha !
Indeed Wg Cdr, but tank vs tank actions were very few and far between. I still think that Malaya would make a nice smallish Megablitz game.
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