Wow, you're doing the dry-dock too!?! That's going to look incredible!!!

So do you want me to go ahead and put you down? Really want to see this one!

The little tank painted and mostly glued together.

It has a bulldozer blade that needs attaching after some work on the headlights.

The rubber on the road wheels was brushpainted using Tamiya acrylics.

I really like this model. Fujimi has done a great job with design and engineering. It fits together extremely well with no fettling and no filler. It didn't even need a swipe of Mr. Surfacer. It's very well detailed. The only things I added was the mesh and the machine gun handles. This kit makes me want to build some more Fujimi small scale armor.

johnsan....Looking very good. I find Tamiya acrylics hard to brush on even on tiny parts.

Well, stick a fork in my George cuz it's done! Added the little thingies here and there and completed with the aerial and insulators. Markings are from the 407th Fighter Squadron 343 Naval Flying Group.

This was a very easy kit to put together and is just fantastic built OOB. The salt chipping actually produced a chemical reaction with the surrounding paint causing it to fade so it looks even better in the flesh

Well salt does tend to bleach paint. Looks like a good effect for modeling. I'll have to try that.

Tamiya acrylics brush very nicely. You need to slow the drying time down. I thin them with Tamiya's X20A thinner and add a bit of their Paint Retarder (acrylic) to the mix. The Type 10 has 12 wheels needing rubber. It took about 45 minutes to paint these wheels using the one batch I mixed. With the retarder added I find I'm able to brush over wet paint and blend edges. It's even useful for brushing blotches.

Beautiful looking George, the salt weathering came out great!

Thanks guys. I can't wait to use that technique on the Bandai 1/24th George that I have lurking in the stash!

PJ... Excellent finish up on your build! I've never tried salt before but likely will give it a try soon!

Johnsan... I agree about Fujimi. I think they do a great job on there kits, I just wish they would have added more detail to their aircraft kits. Fit though, cant be beat. A floor with a seat and a stick just isnt enough for a cockpit.

Doug

Doug

Thanks, glad u like it. Actually you can use coarser grains for 1/32 or 1/24 and finer grain for the smaller scale. The damp surface is the trick to attaching the salt and once dry, you can fine tune by removing some grains with a toothpick.

Thanks for the tips! Ill do a few test panels and experament a bit.Cant wait to see a 24th scale George! And again... What a find and at a great price.

Doug

Johnsan: Wow, I'd swear that's a 1/35th scale model if you hadn't said otherwise. I've never tried any Fujimi armour but I'll agree that their aircraft kits are pretty nice stuff.

PJ: Super nice work there!!! Love what you've done with the salt chipping. I've tried the hairspray technique and had good luck with it but the salt I haven't tried yet.

Got you posted to the front page!

Gamera

Thanks. The hairspray method will work too. I use it specially on armor white wash schemes. I like the salt trick on aircraft cuz you can isolate most of the effect as sharp edged peeling plus the added benefit of fading due to  a chem reaction of the salt with the paint.

OK.  The last time I posted I had a seat belt dilemma.  The kit had none.  So I went to the LHS and they had none.  When all else fails, go to ebay.  I received the fret today and added the belts.  Fairly easy and adds a nice touch to the cockpit.  Now I can button up the fuslage this evening and things should move along quickly from there.  So far this kit has been fun.  By the way, if anyone needs some 1/48 IJA belts (49005), let me know.

Craig

Well crap.  Now that I took a closer look at the rear seat, I installed the top over lapping strap backwards.  Oh well, it still looks pretty cool.

I glued the fuselage together, then attached the wing, and finally added the horizontal stablizers.  Everything fit quite snug.  I'll have very little filling and sanding.  Hopefully I can start the extierior painting this weekend.

I assure you Gamera, it's 72nd. I meant to throw a 100 yen coin in these last photos, but forgot.

I finished the tank today.

On to the Ka-14 and the F-1

Hey Craig: Nice work there! I wouldn't worry too much about the direction of the seatbelt I guess some ground crewman could have been in a rush and put it on backwards. And hang onto the rest of them, they don't take up much space and you might decide to use them again some years from now. Big issue I have with them is the bag is small enough that I can never find the old set when I need it for a new model.

Johnsan: That detail is so good she just looks like a bigger kit to me! Amazing what they can do these days. Love the camo scheme, it looks great. I'll try to get you posted to the front page this weekend.

PJ: Awesome work on your Goerge! The paint chipping looks great!

Craig: Nice progress! Those PE belts look really nice.

Johnsan: I want that photo with the coin as proof. I don't believe you. She looks like 1/35 to me! You did one heck of a job on this little bugger!

SSpartan.....Thanks for the nice comments.

SSpartan - since you asked so nicely.

If you guys are interested in small scale JGSDF subjects, you really should check out the stuff Aoshima, Pit Road, and Fujimi have been putting out lately. They've offered some lovely little jewels of subjects not normally encountered in the States. Very nice sturr.

Thanks for the very kind comments.

Wow, She really is a lot smaller than I imagined her to be . Great work!

PJ - great job, and excellent utilization of the salt technique.  Definitely a subject to rely on when going for a war weary look.

Johnsan - there it is, the money shot.  Great work on this little gem.  The crisp details really do belie the true scale of this one.

regards,

Jack

Johnsan... Incredible! Very nicely executed!

Doug

geez that looks smaller than the T-72M i did for the 48 hour GB. i know it isn't. very nice build. what colors did you use? i usually go with tamiya NATO or MMA dark green and dark earth. finally got some pics of my JGSDF TYPE 87. haven't decided if the suspension is going to be in travel mode (sits higher and curved track) or static mode (sits lower and the track runs straight across the top of the road wheels). indy track so will use karl's tutorial for that

WIP pics. PZ-IB in forground and no wheels on the spaa as yet but it is big. interesting way to connect the guns so they are parallel. haven't decided if the handles are going on before or after camo painting. probably before but not until i am ready to prime so i don't break them. mounting holes did not align with pins on the 2 boxes for the radar mount so i carved them out. just  annoying given how well everything else fits.

Johnson: You sir are posted! Again, nice work!

Wayne: Wow, now that is a seriously badass looking AA gun. Strange the holes didn't line up like that.  

Thank you, gentlemen. 

It is a smaller MBT. The last JGSDF tank, Type 90, was inspired by the Leopard 1 and was sized similarly. It proved too large for most roads and bridges in Japan. So it has mostly been used in Hokkaido, which has wider bridges and roads. The Type 10 was designed not to be limited by infrastructure constraints.

Waynec, Tamiya has released 3 JGSDF colors, #s 72,73, &74. GSI has also issued a boxed set of Mr Color JGSDF lacquers. Tamiya's are flatter and look like a touch used. GSI's are semi-gloss and newer. Both sets are very good matches to equipment I've seen. Both are much better matches than Tamiya's Nato colors. 

Again, thank you for the very kind comments.

Wayne, your Type 87 really looks mean. Any chance of a photo in a less cluttered setting?

Wayne... I'm not very well versed in armor... But that is one mean looking piece of hardware! Cant wait to see that baby done...

Doug

johnsan i will look for them my next visit to LHS though this is 6th on the paint queue and won't even get primed until i get a warm day or 2. obviously a silly putty masking job.

i think the 35mm cannon is longer than the PZ-IB. note in the pics nothing is glued on so there wuill be some alignment issues.

That looks like a very nice model. Is the photoetch from the kit or aftermarket? You probably said up-thread, but I'm much too lazy to hunt.

I didn't even consider silly putty for masking mine. Too hard to find hereabouts. I'd thought of using a liquid mask, but ended up just using appropriately shaped chunks of Tamiya tape. This did mean about 4 paint sessions with the green.

Looking forward to seeing your further work.

Japanese equipment just seems odd looking. I've often noticed a similarities between real and anime. I wonder which inspires which.

That thing has a very strong resemblance to the Gepard. I wonder how much influence the Gepard had in its' design.

You can also add Trumpeter to the list. I have some 1:144 tanks and they look awsome!