Ok! If you've already decided I suppose I could go ahead and put you down when I post it.

Well my story here is not yet complete. I am not totally satisfied with the TC figure for my Chi Ha. He looks more appropriate for China than Guadalcanal... then today during a visit to the LHS today I saw these guys...

So I built the two standing middle guys. I am very partial to the one with the flag tied around his torso... here they are next to the kit TC figure

Well since I worked on the tankers, I had this set handy nearby and was on something of a roll...

and I built up two this evening....

Then it was time to clean up the workbench for Weekend Madness...

SP: Those are awesome, I'm a big fan of MiniArt, though I don t have this set yet. I have a couple of the FineMolds tank crew figures which are great though the MA ones have much better poses. And that infantry set- pure classic Tamiya goodness, must be at least as old as the Type 97 kit.

Yes those Miniart sets are great. To qoute he who shall no longer be named here, "I love them, and want to marry them". I have a set of the fine molds IJA tankers as well, but they are buried in storage with my Ha Go. The IJA Infantry figures are indeed nearly as old s the original Chi Ha release- the sprues are stamped 1976, the year after the tank was stamped. Oldies but goodies indeed.

Excelent updates guys 

jibber

Chi Ha GB??? ..

LOL this could be traslated in italian language as " who have GB" .. 

Surfsup, Jibber, Bsyamato, & Stikpusher: My apologies, when you posted your finished builds I promised I'd get them posted when I got back. Completely slipped my mind till today at work, they're all posted now- as usual if you don't like my choices yell at me and I'll change them out.

Sunny picture is fine for me :)

Bsyamato: Maybe not the best photo of your model but I thought it was more dramatic looking .

And thanks for the Italian lesson!

BTW folks: I couldn't resist picking up a little Christmas present for myself:

Zoukei-Mura 1/48th Shinden

Just got it yesterday and well, forget waiting for Christmas I opened the box right away! After all it is a good policy just to make sure all the parts are there right!?! I mean if the Trojans had opened that friggin' wooden horse outside their gates instead of taking it inside they're have saved themselves all kinds of problems right? Right?!!

Anyway the exterior detail was nice but I don't think all that much better than the old Tamiya kit. The interior though- WOW - as you can see from the photos the engine is detailed out the yin-yang. And the gun bays are just insane. The plastic parts here are way more detailed than most PE I've seen!

Terrific Shinden kit Cliff  

Yeah, the Shinden is great! I have the big one in my stash and the little one seems to be as good of a kit as the 32nd version!

Oh wow, I looked at the 1/32nd kit but didn't want to spring for what it costs! The more I look at photos of it though the more I change my mind though!

Still 1/48th is more my scale. Maybe they'll do a 1/72nd scale one for you Bsyamato!

Finally have another update on the Tony! All markings painted on using Montex Masks. Only a few stencils added. Just gave her a coat of Gunze Gloss in preparation for washes.

Nathan: That looks really sharp, I might have to look into some of these masks myself!

Great work Nathan!

Let me get straight to where I am at the moment with my other GB entry – the Tamiya Dinah. First let me say that i`m only using the True Details resin set №48462, all other additions to the model will be scratched.

I`ve glued the resin inserts by TD and put some different gauge wires on the right side of the pit. I`ve scratched the missing rear section of the main fuel tank, replaced the moulded hydraulic pipes, also made the reserve hydraulic pipe from fine solder. In the observers compartment i`ve erased the moulded pipes and wires and started replacing them with wire, fine solder and bras pipes from Albion alloys. Then I turned my attention to the main wheel wells. There`s a nasty seam right in the middle of the wells which I tried my best to erase but it`s not perfect. The wells are completely empty while there should be a whole bunch of details so i`ve started adding the piping and actuators that are clearly visible on the real plane. The other major detail that`s missing in the kit is the back of the engines which are visible from the wells. I`ve tried to replicate some of the details using different materials. The end result isn`t close to the original but is better than nothing. I also made some adjustments to the wells which were open from behind but actually they were boxed so I replicated this using leftovers from vac plastic sheets. Everything on the photos is primed with Alclad black primer.

That is all for now, hopefully there will be an update on the models soon. Now for some pics!

Hmmm, for some unknown reason part of the pics didn`t come out so i`m posting them separately

Nice scratch work Congo! Thats a fine looking cockpit.

Yeah, great job on the cockpit and fantastic job getting rid of that annoying seam in the landing gear bays. I think I left them in mine since I couldn't really figure out a good way to get rid of them.

I finally polished off the Ki-100! Fresh off the bench! Since my last update it got an oil wash and some final post shading and exhaust stains. All the small parts got glued on and then off to the photo shop. I did notice a few touch-ups were needed here and there, and they have been corrected after the photos were taken. To re-cap, I used and Aires cockpit along with resin exhaust, wheels, pitot tube and gun barrels, resin gear doors, and Montex masks and a Vacuuform Canopy for the sliding part. Tail stripe was masked and painted. The only stencils are a few from the kit. The heavily weathered look comes from preshading and post shading/fading. I was following the real life pics I posted back here, so anyone thinking the weathering is overdone, take a look at the pic and then decide!

Hope to hear your thoughts and critiques.

...a few more:

Hey Nathan, hold on while I pick my jaw up off the floor... Wow, that's just fantastic work!

Great looking bird, Nathan! Congrats on that build.

Hey Cliff. You gonna extend this GB? Just finishing up a 109 and have a Ki61 Tony itching to be built! The way I read it, I only have 3 days left to get it done!

Panzerpilot: Nope, not doing extensions. You however are more than welcome  to roll-over the Ki-61 into GB III!

Nathan: Posted you to the front page.

Thanks Tom and Gamera. Glad you like it.

Nathan... Great finish man... Outstanding work!

Doug

Thanks Doug!

Fantastic work, Nathan!

I love the well-weathered look!