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Type 10 Tank Tamiya 1/35


glibble

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Dear Friends,

 

Allow me to share the build history of my Tamiya Type 10 Tank. I started this project many months ago, but I joined Brit Modeller too late to participate in the "Turning Japanese" Group Build.

Here's what it looked like on Day 1: Tamiya's kit with Passion Models PE set.

eTBoCNa.jpg

I thought this was going to be a quick and easy build, but I was dead wrong. I thought this was another "patriotic masterpiece" like their Type 90 or Type 74 back in the days. But instead it was sub-par to the kits they released in the past decade. It felt like they really rushed to get this one on the market. Most details are excellent, but many corners were cut 🙄.

The Passion Models PE had a lot of errors too.

But most importantly, my project was stalled by a series of unfortunate events in life, but that's a long story...

Things were so bad that I hesitated posting WIP here, because I had doubts about finish it.

Well, with the build close to the finish line, I'm finally comfortable sharing it here.

 

As a teaser, here's what the main body looks like dry-fitted with tape:

sxmAOcK.jpg

 

(p.s. Some of you may recognize the photos from my post in Armorama... Yes, I decided to jump ship! 😎)

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7 hours ago, Stef N. said:

Looks like a bit of clamping will be needed in a couple of spots. Were the mudguards and side flaps moulded like that or have you tweaked them to make them look realistic?

The mudguards and side flaps are stock parts. Tamiya did a good job here.

The overall fit was good, except for the joining of the top and bottom hull... more on that later.😉

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For the headlamp guard meshes, I had trouble following the instruction from Passion Models.

WWjHhoH.jpg

Passion Models (Left) tells me to glue the PE directly on the exterior casing, but Tamiya (Right) tells me to glue it on each of the lamp brackets.

The problem is the PE is exactly the same size as the opening, so if I followed Passion Models' instructions, I would have to glue it on the rim with no overlap.

(I know, this is probably a piece of cake for ship modellers... 😆)

To me this is too fiddly and I didn't want to risk denting the fragile PE. So I played it safe and glued them the Tamiya way:

FJpVvYZ.jpg

And here's what the completed front assembly looks like:

pxaZntI.jpg

I'm not happy with the result because it looks nothing like the the real thing. But at least it's better than using Tamiya's plastic mesh.🙄

 

Onward to the gunner's hatch!

cnxMhTu.jpg

I wanted to build this model with the hatches open, but the gunner's hatch is completely blank, plus 4 ugly ejector pin holes.

It’s a shame because even their Type 90 tank is more detailed in this respect.

So here's my little scratch build attempt:

k8C2jE4.jpg

(Bugger, everything looks well aligned until you magnify your pics, don't they? 😅)

Here's what it looks like painted:

7bq4UFB.jpg

Looks like I made the parts slightly oversized! Oh well, at least it was fun scratch building😏.

I would add the strap in the middle later using paper.

 

Turret Stowage Basket:

This is the reason I bought the Passion Models PE set. To me, this huge basket is the most prominent thing on this tank.😆

The frame itself was a complete joy to build. Tamiya really engineered this well:

tpnfKEJ.jpg

However, the PE set was a near-disaster:

w1XWa4f.jpg

Many pieces were slightly too big and wouldn't sit flat.

FwdWAKy.jpg

This corner had to be trimmed a lot to fit.

Pu70erO.jpg

Ah, much better!

For those interested, I made a little note - The pieces with an underlined number had to be trimmed:

uBg1Ygp.jpg

Parts 8 and 13 have check marks because they were snug fit during dry-fitting, so I didn't want to peel them off the part, which is on the right of the picture.

Parts 15 and 16 were mislabeled and had to be swapped. More on that below:

mnkg24P.jpg

As you can see, they made 2 more errors on the instructions 😒.

You really can't trust these instructions without dry-fitting everything. Dry-fitting saved my day!

 

By the way, I used a small trick for picking up tiny PE: toothpick with tip dipped in dilute hair gel.

Lc60H9t.jpg

I got the idea from some gent on Youtube, who suggested using water. I added hair gel to make it more sticky.

Make sure you dilute the hair gel with lots of water, and remember to rinse the PE afterward.

 

Here's the main stowage basket assembled:

ChpbfDa.jpg

And here's the completed side basket:

PM9SG11.jpg

And finally, here's what they look like attached to the turret:

88HTeXD.jpg

Just look at the size of this thing! It's so huge it will make any American tank crew very, VERY Jealous! 🤣

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On 10/20/2022 at 1:52 AM, Stef N. said:

Superb metal work mate. You've made a tricky job look easy. Good tip with the hair gel. (Not something I've bought for 30 odd years😀).👍

Thank you! I don't use the hair gel much these days too. Last time I used any was for a job interview years ago😆

On 10/20/2022 at 4:39 AM, Maddoxx77 said:

Great work so far! That basket is a little work of art. I think you are doing a great job tackling the build with faulty instructions. 

Thank you, this basket alone took me 2 days haha.

On 10/20/2022 at 7:21 AM, LeeM said:

Nice work on the PE. Looks like a nice model.

Thank you!

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Let's continue the build...

The turret was relatively easy, although a few places have to be painted before assembly.

DULWmwV.jpg

The periscope lenses were fun to make, but masking them later was a pain in the a$$.

vl8F3xS.jpgThe overall fit of the turret pieces was good, considering there are a lot of sharp angles to join. Tamiya did a great job here!

However, the smoke grenade launchers needed extra care. This is something I neglected.

o0ePJI8.jpg

I got lazy and just glued each launcher into the rectangular slots without test fitting. As it turned out, the slots are too loose and the launchers could be pointing at bad angles.

For example, the starboard side looks fine:

KRVCxbm.jpg

But the port side has one that doesn't come out completely:

awHeQzT.jpg

(Reminds me of my wisdom tooth situation 😁)

 

Some small details I added:

F0gGYZy.jpg

There are hundreds of grab handles and loops on this tank that one could spend a lifetime scratch building. I chose to do only 4 here😅. By the way, any tips on how to bend wires consistently? I couldn't make the two handles in the above foreground the same size.

CydQ1av.jpg

 

On the commander's cupola ring, there are 2 travellers with rollers like this:

eFdTHKu.png

I noticed the kit does not have any detail on the outer face, so I drilled shallow holes to mimic the roller axles. Hope they'll look convincing from a distance!

MsaBGeF.jpg

On the left is the MG traveller before drilling. On the right is the hatch traveller after drilling.

 

For the hull, I mentioned before that the fit was not so good. This is because Tamiya made the lower hull thinner than usual. As a result, mine came slightly warped and twisted.

What's also unusual is that the upper and lower hull are almost entirely joined by these tabs near the middle (where the arrows are pointing at):

VoIy0i3.jpg

This made it more difficult to correct the warping, as the front and back are free floating, so to speak. The back plate actually does not touch the upper hull! What a stupid design 🤦‍♂️.

By the way, I made a strut (circled in red) to prevent the sideskirts from caving in.

UO8tSvf.jpg

Because of the way the hull sides and the sideskirts are molded as one piece, and that the sideskirts are very long, it is better to paint and assemble the wheels and tracks first. So here goes..

Dyodqi7.jpg

RelCXnw.jpg

And here's what the tank looks like without sideskirts:

bzBhvOF.jpg

Notice the tracks are loose. I guess Tamiya miscounted the track links. The hull construction was tedious and unsatisfying. It is really light and feels like a cheap prop. I don't know if Tamiya was trying to save on plastic or something. In fact it is so light that the bottom tracks are not touching the ground completely. I probably have to add some lead weights later 🤦‍♂️.

 

By the way, this is quite an odd sight for me. I'm used to seeing at least 6 road wheels on modern tanks, but there's only 5! I guess Japan really tried hard to keep this tank 44 tonnes.

 

Anyway, enough ranting about the hull. The tank looks much better with sideskirts on:

jT1OTDz.jpg

 

And here's the end of the long and somewhat painful construction.

I could finally move on to the painting stage!🙂

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  • 2 weeks later...

Compared to the construction, painting this model was relatively smooth sailing.

Except I didn't want to use my lacquer-based primer this time, so I tried Badger Stynylrez instead. Turned out Stynylrez is complete rubbish. It was thick as tar, didn't spray at all, and clogged my airbrush!😡

After weeks of searching, I finally found my favourite: Mr. Hobby's Aqueous Surfacer 1000.

Y01ZTcc.jpg

It is probably just as good as the popular Mr. Surfacer 1000, but since it is water/alcohol-based, it smells much better! I was surprised how little is written about this product, especially on English websites. Mr. Hobby really needs to promote itself better outside of Japan...

Vuub8tA.jpg

When mixed with their Aqueous thinner (T-111), I was able to get this satin smooth finish.🤩

Moving on to base colour: I sprayed Tamiya XF-73 JGSDF Green with some buff and white added as highlight.

VtEj6GW.jpg

This was my first real attempt at highlighting and I was quite nervous. It was really hard to tell if I was doing too much or too little. Looking at the picture now I guess even the camera had a hard time differentiating the highlights and shadows. Here's a better picture with the contrast touched up a bit:

NXVDrCP.jpg

I also noticed odd traces of white splatter during my highlights. Then the mystery was solved when I was cleaning my airbrush:

E4KlRRl.jpg

This is why I should never mix paint in my airbrush cup!🤦‍♂️ Especially for white, which seems to have heavier pigments and settles to the bottom faster.

Anyway, the model was then masked in preparation for the brown:

JinAncg.jpg

Can you believe this masking took me one whole afternoon? I really need to speed up or I'll never finish my stash.😂

The brown was XF-72, again mixed with buff and white for highlights.

U3d7UJk.jpg

Mmm, yummy. Reminds me of chocolate ice cream.😋

And here it is, with the masks removed:

F6xKHnV.jpg

By the way, the rubber skirts are XF-69 NATO black.

As an aside, I noticed the gunner's hatch wouldn't open to the right angle. Something was blocking it. I had to file a little V-shaped notch, where the arrow is pointing at:

m3QHfPW.jpg

The hatch now sits correctly like this:

RNksqUn.jpg

The next few steps were pretty basic:

hgyAjz4.jpg

Gloss coat, decals...

zqs9P4V.jpg

Good old wash with oil paint. There are so many panel lines it feels like an airplane model.

4P723iy.jpg

Oil dot filter was kept very minimal - only on the turret sides and front slope.

Dry-brushing:

tUln61z.jpg

I didn't know how else to weather this pristine modern tank. Because of a lack of example models online, I looked at Tamiya's official website for inspiration. As you probably noticed, they use a lot of dry-brushing on their models, which is what I tried here. It brings out the details nicely, but in retrospect I should have mixed less white to tone it down a bit.

RHQu02v.jpg
I'm particularly happy with the dry-brushing on the gun canvas. Tamiya sculpted this part quite realistically.

rVulfph.jpg

Small tools and MG were dry-brushed with flat aluminium.

F8b5QCO.jpg

By the way, for the gunner's hatch, I finally added the strap in the middle using paper:

a0TTAhv.jpg

This hatch turned out quite nice! 😁

 

Thanks for following along!

More weathering to come! (Dusting, streaks, some mud...)

Edited by glibble
Corrected description of Mr. Aqueous Surfacer.
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Good recovery from those modelling boobytraps. Your model is gradually looking like Tamiya's box art, so you are succeeding. You asked about tips for making grab handles the same size, so I Googled it. One video (among others) that came up is "How To Make Scale Model Door Handles, Ladders, Grab Rails, Tie Points Thin Copper or Brass Wire" at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtRLfOjGYkM. Over the years I have seen various tips on this site and other sites about making handles, so there is a lot of experience available: it seems to me that bending the wire over exactly the same thickness of whatever "former" you are using is vital, to ensure each grab handle you make will end up a consistent size matching its neighbouring handles. So you might bend your piece of wire in the jaws of a long-nosed pliers (for example); I suggest you attach a piece of paper sticky label or masking tape to one of the jaws, then draw a pencil line on the paper/tape at the position where you are bending: so then you can be sure each handle is bending over the same diameter. Or bend the wire over a "former" such as a very small rectangle of scrap wood or even a popsicle stick, or whatever makes the right internal "gap" for your handles, to produce a veritable assembly line of perfectly matching handles, tiedowns or loops.

 

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17 hours ago, Geo1966 said:

You're doing a good job here, it's coming together really well.

 

16 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Very nice work with the airbrush and the masking.

 

15 hours ago, Celestialsphere said:

Thankyou for bringing us along with you on your build. Looking good !

 

Thank you so much guys!

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1 hour ago, Peter2 said:

Good recovery from those modelling boobytraps. Your model is gradually looking like Tamiya's box art, so you are succeeding. You asked about tips for making grab handles the same size, so I Googled it. One video (among others) that came up is "How To Make Scale Model Door Handles, Ladders, Grab Rails, Tie Points Thin Copper or Brass Wire" at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtRLfOjGYkM. Over the years I have seen various tips on this site and other sites about making handles, so there is a lot of experience available: it seems to me that bending the wire over exactly the same thickness of whatever "former" you are using is vital, to ensure each grab handle you make will end up a consistent size matching its neighbouring handles. So you might bend your piece of wire in the jaws of a long-nosed pliers (for example); I suggest you attach a piece of paper sticky label or masking tape to one of the jaws, then draw a pencil line on the paper/tape at the position where you are bending: so then you can be sure each handle is bending over the same diameter. Or bend the wire over a "former" such as a very small rectangle of scrap wood or even a popsicle stick, or whatever makes the right internal "gap" for your handles, to produce a veritable assembly line of perfectly matching handles, tiedowns or loops.

 

Thank you @Peter2 for sharing this! I will try using a former or a jig next time. I should probably also use copper or brass wires next time. The wires I've been using are too stiff.

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I took a little break from weathering, and decided to work on the commander's main sight:

ijYy4K1.jpg

I tried to replicate the purple tint by mixing Tamiya clear red with clear blue:

IXlBhiR.jpg
But what the heck? No matter the mixing ratio I kept getting brown instead of purple.

After scratching my head for a few minutes I decided to push on anyway.🤔

This is what it looks like with the painted clear plastic backed by aluminium foil:

OlLDSzA.jpg

The foil was a PITA to handle and glue.

avrvr4u.jpg

I wanted purple but somehow I got a copper tint. There's a slight hint of purple in the darkest corners.

Oh well, not what I expected, but I kind of like it!

 

But next time I'll just buy those nail decorating films that people are using.

This is too much work for so little gain.😅

 

Edited by glibble
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Perhaps the red (a warm colour) is swamping the blue (a cool colour) when the two are mixed together and so the final result seems too "warm and brownish"? I wonder if you added more blue to your red/blue mixture, maybe that would give you the cooler purple you seek?

For grab handles, you might also try paper clips, as these will bend and cut easily, and afterwards they should hold the shape of the handles (or tiedowns) better than bendable soft wire. Also, apart from the small steel types of paper clips which everyone has been familiar with since time immemorial, stationery shops sell bigger jumbo-sized paper clips which are made of a slightly thicker diameter metal, some having a "brass" finish - a box of them can cost around 3 dollars/pounds/euros (or whatever currency isn't subject to hyper inflation, since I typed this sentence 🧐 ).

These thicker clips might be handy for thick grab handles; handles for on-vehicle tools; various straight "rods" such as cleaning rods; and other applications. Though thicker, these jumbo clips still can be cut with a snips, say.

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2 hours ago, Peter2 said:

Perhaps the red (a warm colour) is swamping the blue (a cool colour) when the two are mixed together and so the final result seems too "warm and brownish"? I wonder if you added more blue to your red/blue mixture, maybe that would give you the cooler purple you seek?

For grab handles, you might also try paper clips, as these will bend and cut easily, and afterwards they should hold the shape of the handles (or tiedowns) better than bendable soft wire. Also, apart from the small steel types of paper clips which everyone has been familiar with since time immemorial, stationery shops sell bigger jumbo-sized paper clips which are made of a slightly thicker diameter metal, some having a "brass" finish - a box of them can cost around 3 dollars/pounds/euros (or whatever currency isn't subject to hyper inflation, since I typed this sentence 🧐 ).

These thicker clips might be handy for thick grab handles; handles for on-vehicle tools; various straight "rods" such as cleaning rods; and other applications. Though thicker, these jumbo clips still can be cut with a snips, say.

Thanks for the tips. I suspect my red was the culprit. It was already turning brown by itself without mixing the blue. Maybe clear paints degrade over time?🧐

Also, I will try paper clips next time as you suggested. Sounds like a good idea.🙂

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Final chapter of this WIP: dust and mud.

The biggest challenge of this part was to keep the weathering light and yet interesting at the same time.

The Japanese tank crews keep their tanks very clean and tidy. Most of the reference photos show barely any dust and mud at all!

Besides, I've chosen to do my model in Fuji Armour School markings (same as the box art), which means it would probably receive more care than usual.

After comparing my reference photos, I decided to weather my tank slightly dirtier than this example:

03Z2oZ3.jpg

First step was a light spray of XF-57 buff on the side skirts and lower hull.

It helps to mask and spray the rubber side skirts individually to make the folds stand out:

K8c2uMA.jpg

Don't you think the front resembles some kind of toad or Ninja Turtle? 😆

6OnNi8z.jpg

The back side - I also sprayed a little black dot for each engine exhaust:

PFQKz5J.jpg

Then I applied a mix of AK Light Dust Deposit and Ammo Europe Earth on the upper surfaces:

z37YBdH.jpg

I was surprised how strongly the anti-slip surfaces "bite" onto the pigments. It took me a while to blend the brush strokes out.

dUzkj6o.jpg

And this is what it looks like after blending and cleaning up the excess dust:

flN7OyO.jpg

 

Then I applied some dust streaking on these side skirt holes with the same AK Light Dust Deposit. These streaks resemble a crying face, which coincidentally describes my mood during most of this project.😭

73HXvaq.jpg

Then I tried some mud speckling using the same mix:

p5eMeNR.jpg

I really need more practice with speckling mud. The spray pattern and amount were too unpredictable for me.

Anyway, I then added some darker enamel in concentrated spots to simulate wet mud.

I was more successful with the drive sprocket splashes on the left side than the right side:

rSuY2Yo.jpg

The bottom hull was done in a similar way:

z6RNVKq.jpg

I was going to flick this on the model like the light mud earlier. But judging by how messy I was with speckling, I decided to just stipple the dark mud with a brush.

Here's what the finished tail section looks like:

JSLkQz6.jpg
By the way, big thanks to Andy Moore's post on The Modelling News here:

https://www.themodellingnews.com/2016/10/done-and-dusted-andy-finishes-mengs.html

I learned a lot about dust and mud weathering from there.

 

With the weathering done, I could work on the final touches:

I added a chain for the gunner's hatch, as seen on my reference photos:

up29QGK.jpg

This is made from twisted thin copper wire. The same thing was added for the commander's hatch:

kMAATQc.jpg

I also added antennae from stretched sprue, but I won't bore you with that...

 

And finally, the last step was to apply a HEAVY WASH of Beck's down my own internals, and the job was DONE!🍺

nXqzTO6.jpg

 

A bit of Personal Note: (Skip if you wish)

This has got to be my most cursed model ever!

By that, I don't mean the modelling mishaps. But rather, it seemed like every time I worked on the model, bad things would happen to me in life the very next day.☠️

I mentioned in the beginning that the project was stalled by a series of unfortunate events.

Well, these things happened:

  • Roof leaked, had to deal with costly repairs
  • Car broke down twice, eventually had to be scrapped
  • Internet dropped out countless times, had to switch provider
  • Fan broke in the summer heat
  • Microphone broke during a video conference
  • Almost swallowed a centipede (it was in my mouth!)
  • Attended 2 unexpected funerals

I'm not religious or superstitious, but this misfortune certainly got me thinking...

At one point I doubted I'll live long enough to finish this model!

 

Well, I'm glad I crossed the finish line. I'll post some photos in Ready for Inspection soon.

But if you don't hear from me, that means I have been abducted by aliens.👽

 

Thank you for following along,

Glibble

 

 

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3 hours ago, glibble said:

But if you don't hear from me, that means I have been abducted by aliens.👽

It won't be alien, it'll be Ninjas. Beware the curse of the Ninjas.

That aside, it's looking to be very good. The weathering is just right.

 

John.

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18 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

It won't be alien, it'll be Ninjas. Beware the curse of the Ninjas.

That aside, it's looking to be very good. The weathering is just right.

 

John.

Thank you John, for the kind words.

And I'll be on the look out for ninjas tonight!🥷

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9 hours ago, LeeM said:

I was going to get one of these kits. But now I am not so sure.😲 You've do a great job given all your trials.

Thank you for the kind words!

Sorry, I didn't mean to discourage anyone from building one. The kit is not that bad, to be honest. But it's certainly not Tamiya's typical "Shake-n-bake". Like I mentioned in the beginning, this kit is sub-par compared to Tamiya's other kits released around the same time.

If you're building one too, just test fit everything and pay more attention to alignments of parts, and you'll be OK.🙂

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