Type 97 medium tank - Chi-Ha

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Way, waaay back in the day I built the Airfix 1/76 kit of this tank.  Do you remember when Airfix changed from bagged Series 1 kits to kits that were in a polythene case with a cardboard back?  That was one of the first kits in the new style.

 

I have always wanted to build a larger scale model of the Type 97, so now is the time.  This is the Tamiya 1/35 kit.  By pure coincidence, this kit was released in 1975, a tear after the Airfix kit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This kit is 47 years old.  It certainly does not look its age! 

 

 

[PeterB]

Nice one Enzo,

 

I actually built the Fujimi 1/76 versions  - all 3 of them, which also came out in 1974 but may just have beaten the Airfix one on to the shelves. They did a standard early Chi -Ha, the later Type 97 Kai "Shinhoto Chi Ha" with a better A/T gun, and the Type 1 Self Propelled Gun on the same chassis known I think as the Ho-Ni. The colour schemes can be a bit complicated but will be a fair bit easier to handle at this scale. Never did build the Airfix one and I was a bit wary of some of their tanks which may have been 1/72 - I know the original boxing of the Scorpion said 1/72 but was later changed to "OO/HO" ie 1/76 and I am pretty sure the same thing happened with the Crusader, which is anyway a bit big even for 1/72 according to my measurements.

 

I believe Tamiya did a Type 95 to go with it but gather it was a reboxing of a Fine Molds kit.

 

Pete

[trickyrich]

Welcome along again oh great one and with a wee Tanku!

 

When I first saw the thread I thought it was going to be that Airfix model, it has to be the only Japanese tank Airfix produced...and it was tiny.

 

Nice to see you're building the bigger Tamiya, won't need my magnifying glasses now. 

 

For it's age it still looks like a very nice model, how are those tracks?

 

Good luck with this build too, and it's or first tank as well so there should be lots of interest in this build as well.

[Mig Eater]

I built this kit about six months ago, currently sitting on the shelf of doom in primer & pre-shade waiting for me to pluck up the courage to tackle the four colour camouflage scheme 😅 It's a great kit that went together without any issues & has plenty of detail for its modest price.

 

I look forward to your build, maybe it might encourage me to finally finish my own one.

Edited April 18, 2022 by Mig Eater

[Enzo the Magnificent]

On 15/04/2022 at 09:13, trickyrich said:

For it's age it still looks like a very nice model, how are those tracks?

 

The tracks seem perfectly fine but there may be a reason for that.  The lower hull part has the day 1975 on is, as expected.  But it also has an additional date of 1987.  Scalemates states that a kit of the improved Type 97 with a larger turret was released in that year.

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Okay, let's get cracking. Hajimeru!

 

Lots of wheels and other components with some nice spring detail for the hull sides.  The wheels on the bogie assemblies rotate, which will make painting the tyres easier.   As usual, I have added some ballast into the hull just to give the model a bit of weight, but it's not really necessary.

 

 

Lower hull detail components added and the upper hull is basically assembled.

 

 

I added some crude plastic card blanks to prevent a see through look on the sponsons.

 

 

The whole thing fits nicely together exactly as one would expect from a Tamiys kit, regardless of its age.

 

 

Turret completed and detail parts added to the hull.  Ready for priming.

 

 

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Primed with my usual grey plastic car primer from a rattle can.

 

 

Now comes the question of what colours to use.  This is made easier because Ammo from Mig produce a set of suitable paints.  I tried them out on a paint dummy.

 

 

The yellow is notable.  For years, I have been looking for an acrylic yellow paint with decent covering power, all to no avail.  I had given up and started to use car paint instead.  However, the yellow provided in this set is opaque and sprays well.  At last!  The product number is A.MIG-0048. 

 

Back to the model.  Base coat of khaki applied.

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks pretty good Enzo, Ive never studied Japanese armor but while researching Shermans on Iwo Jima found a photo with type 94 on the rear deck of a Marine Sherman. Its 17-18 photo’s down from the top on this page. 
 

 

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2-usa-improvised-armor-on-m4-shermans-in-the-pto/

[Enzo the Magnificent]

11 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Looks pretty good Enzo, Ive never studied Japanese armor but while researching Shermans on Iwo Jima found a photo with type 94 on the rear deck of a Marine Sherman. Its 17-18 photo’s down from the top on this page. 
 

 

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2-usa-improvised-armor-on-m4-shermans-in-the-pto/

 

Wow!  That's taking applique armour to the extreme!    

[trickyrich]

wow nice quite progress as usual.

 

Those "extra" weights will also help stop the wee tankette from being blown off the shelf in a lite breeze! 

 

That colour set looks nice.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Not much to report today.  I've just been doing some masking.  The camouflage on these vehicles had a hard edge, so masking is essential.

 

This is my usual technique of Blutak worms filled in with masking tape squares and sealed with Copydex.

 

 

 

 

 

[PeterB]

Looking good so far Enzo,

 

I seem to remember that Japanese tanks had an early colour scheme and a late one from about 1942 onwards but as with most things rules were "interpreted" or ignored. The distinctive "yellow cross" marking on the box art would suggest the early scheme which is fine on this version of the Chi Ha. I believe the "khaki" was also called "parched grass" and Zaloga says in his Osprey book that in theory the tracks should be painted in this colour as well but it probably did not happen!

 

Pete

Edited April 27, 2022 by PeterB

[Enzo the Magnificent]

24 minutes ago, PeterB said:

I believe the "khaki" was also called "parched grass" and Zaloga says in his Osprey book that in theory the tracks should be painted in this colour as well but it probably did not happen!

 

I have read that as well.  However, the paint on the tracks would not have lasted very long once the vehicle got rolling.    The RAF used to operate Scimitar and Spartan CVRTs in the combat EOR/EOD role. These were always kept nicely bulled up and the tracks were painted black.   They looked great while they were parked up.  Take them out for a spin around the airfield and the tracks had to be repainted when they returned to the MT yard.  Thankfully that only happened once a month as the vehicles were mileage restricted to ten miles a month, both to minimise wear on the tracks and to preserve the airfield roads.

[PeterB]

1 hour ago, Enzo Matrix said:

 

I have read that as well.  However, the paint on the tracks would not have lasted very long once the vehicle got rolling.    The RAF used to operate Scimitar and Spartan CVRTs in the combat EOR/EOD role. These were always kept nicely bulled up and the tracks were painted black.   They looked great while they were parked up.  Take them out for a spin around the airfield and the tracks had to be repainted when they returned to the MT yard.  Thankfully that only happened once a month as the vehicles were mileage restricted to ten miles a month, both to minimise wear on the tracks and to preserve the airfield roads.

I have built rather a lot of 1/72 armour over the years and in several cases the instructions were to paint the tracks black - I suppose they were thinking of those that had rubber pads on them!

 

Pete

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The camouflage on this tank is pretty complex so I will just let the photos show the evolution of the scheme.

 

I used the Mig paints for the khaki and green colours.  However, I found that the brown colour didn't provide much contrast to the khaki, so I used Lifecolor UA-273 instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I have to decide whether to use a scheme with the yellow stripe.

 

 

[PeterB]

Hi Enzo,

 

In the early schemes the base colour was perhaps what the Americans called Japanese Artillery red/brown I believe - a bit like red lead primer but browner - some sources refer to it as "Mahogany". Later ones seem to have had a base of "parched grass" aka Khaki AFAIK but the brown they used over it seems to have been quite dark according to some sources. I believe I have a photo of the Type 95 light tank at the Tank Museum somewhere - I will see if I can find it.

 

Pete

Edited May 4, 2022 by PeterB

[Stew Dapple]

3 hours ago, PeterB said:

Type 95 light tank at the Tank Museum somewhere

 

That might just muddy the waters a bit Pete, in the Tank Museum's Tank Chat video David Willey points out that it's not in its original colours:

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[PeterB]

Thanks Stew,

 

Not sure if that is the same paint scheme that it was in 30 years ago when I took the pic, but I have not been able to find it anyway! I seem to remember it being darker, but then it was in the old section of the museum which was both very cramped and rather gloomy. That looks somewhat like an attempt at the "late" `colour scheme.

 

Pete

Edited May 5, 2022 by PeterB

[Ol' Scrapiron]

The type 95 Ha-Go at the (now-closed GRRRRRR!!!) Flying Heritage collection looked to be partially in its original colors as far as some of what the tan and brown might have been.

 

What you have done looks really sharp, but I'll put up some of my photos in case they are of some use as reference/inspiration as you wrap up your project or for future builds.

 

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Take them for what they're worth... or ignore. Wish I had seen your build earlier, but it looks like you had everything you needed already. I'll watch as you work to the finish line on this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John Masters]

Nice looking build so far Enzo. And thank you the 'yellow'.  I might have to invest in a bottle.

 

And thank you @Corsairfoxfouruncle for that link.  It's a good one for sure.  If we ever do another M4 GB I might have to peruse it for some interesting scratch building ideas...

[trickyrich]

Gee Enzo that paint job looks really nice, not an easy one to mask at all, well done!!!  

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Next step is to apply the yellow stripe.  I masked this with Blutak worms and sprayed it.  However, it is very difficult to get a reasonably consistent width. I touched the stripe up with a hairy stick and I feel i could have saved myself a lot of work had I used a hairy stick from the start.

 

The running gear is ready to be fitted as well.

 

 

Running gear and tracks fitted.   @PeterB  @Stew Dapple and @Ol' Scrapiron provided some insight above which shows that the tracks should be painted in the base colour.  I tried this but they looked far to light and really weird.  Instead I used the brown colour from the Mig paint set, which is too light for the camouflage but looks suitable for the tracks.

 

[PeterB]

Looking good Enzo. Yes the yellow, or maybe cream strip can be a pain.

 

Pete

[Enzo the Magnificent]

7 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Yes the yellow, or maybe cream strip can be a pain.

 

It's very stark at the moment but I think that the weathering will tone it down a bit.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I decided that the yellow stripe was too bright, so I overpainted it with Lifecolor UA-528.