Wednesday, 13 March 2013

The 'Sumo' tank

Time to expose yet another shady international arms deal now!  A mystery package arrived at Megablitz Towers recently from shady international arms dealer Don M.  Those who read (and can there be any who don't?) Don's blog posts will no doubt recall one of his eBay acquisitions which included a number of mystery tanks.  After some research Don revealed these to be examples of the rare Japanese Type 4 Chi-To Medium Tank .  In a surprise move he promptly sent me all four of them!  We'll gloss over the fact that in reality only two were ever built....
Clearly Don had followed the development of my 20mm Japanese armoured forces* and felt, not unreasonably, that the tanks were all a bit small.  The addition of the new medium (but by Japanese standards heavy) tanks will surely redress the balance.
Out of curiosity I dug out both versions of the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank to compare sizes with the Chi-To.  It is (again by WW2 Japanese standards) a big bugger.  The photos show a Chi-To posing with Arifix (left) and Fujimi Chi-Ha models.  I perched the Sumo tank on a piece of foamcore board similar to the bases of the completed models.
It remains only for me paint the new arrivals.  And to try and justify owning four of them....


* see earlier posts: More Jap Tanks, Type 97, Shinhoto Type 97
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14 comments:

  1. The Dancing Cake Tin13 March 2013 at 13:50

    Given that they're for Megablitz the fact that only two were ever built is irrelevant in The Grand Scheme Of Things.

    Signed
    HIH Hirohito.

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  2. Martin Rapier13 March 2013 at 16:11

    Blimey, that does look like a big tank in relation to the others. The Japanese T26?

    Shame the Japanese tanks were all 1/100th and the Allies were using 1/72nd scale.

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  3. Don M13 March 2013 at 18:15


    Tim,

    I'm sure they'll find an appropriate place in the
    MTOs of the Gowverse!

    Hell I have 16 of the buggers,
    but that's the beauty of
    Science Fiction gaming

    reality is always relative...
    and before you ask, yes they
    have spots!



    Don

    Continuing to troll the murky
    arms market...hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  4. Geordie an Exiled FoG13 March 2013 at 23:26

    A truly secret (and one I knew nothing about) weapon

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  5. Al14 March 2013 at 01:31

    Very cool, most unusual. Don clearly knows his stuff too :)

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  6. Paul14 March 2013 at 05:51

    A great score, nice one Don.

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  7. Tim Gow14 March 2013 at 15:50

    Dancing Cake Tin
    Or a whole lot worse? In MB terms I now have four battalions of 'em!
    My regards to Gen. Tojo.....

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  8. Tim Gow14 March 2013 at 15:52

    Martin Rapier
    Most of my Megablitz US AFVs are Roco (1/87 scale), so they might have a problem!

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  9. Tim Gow14 March 2013 at 15:53

    Don M
    I love hearing about your toy collection - it makes me look rather restrained!

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  10. Tim Gow14 March 2013 at 15:54

    Geordie
    Given that only two were built I think not knowing about them is quite forgiveable!

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  11. Tim Gow14 March 2013 at 15:56

    Al
    It's different, it's whacky, it will upset some 'proper' gamers. What's not to like?

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  12. Tim Gow14 March 2013 at 15:57

    Paul
    My (far from numerous) US forces are frightened to emerge from their box files now!

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  13. Milgeek15 March 2013 at 06:49

    It's an interesting tank design, but I suppose once you realize what was ranged against the Japanese by this time (not least by the Soviet Union) it was too little too late to say the least. Nice coup though Tim, I am still a complete novice when it comes to sourcing bargains. :)

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  14. Tim Gow16 March 2013 at 17:50

    Stephen Beat
    That sounds like a request for an Invasion of Japan game.....

    ReplyDelete