I was still recovering from my accident first of the year and bored so I figured what could be better than a vintage Tamiya 1/35th AFV? So I pulled this sucka out- it was labeled on the inside of the hull - 1979- back when I was in elementary school and gluing together plane kits with big globs of cement and trying to paint with those awful little Testor's 75 cent brushes and the paint in the square bottles

Yeap, battery and motor mounting holes- blanked them off:

Made blanks for the open sponsons  over the tracks"

And then on to the fun stuff- painting!!! I pre-shaded with a set of AK Interactive paints for Soviet armour- in the end pointless since you can't see any of it:

Added the camouflage with Silly Putty: 

I did put down some hairspray under the brown to try to chip away a little of it from wear. Didn't work too well, think either it was too little hairspray or too much paint since I pre-shaded it too and it may have been too thick. I really liked how the camo can out- too bad the whitewash covered up most of it: 

Again more hairspray and then the whitewash. I really liked how it came out too- and then the Woodland Scenics 'snow' covered most of it up :

Used the 'rubber band tracks' from the kit, which I glued down to the tops of the road wheels- I guess they might not be good enough for purists but they look fine to me: 

Anyway I think she turned out ok for a fifteen dollar kit, I tried a bunch of new stuff and learned a bunch of new techniques here. Plus I applied several pieces of advice I got from my whitewashed snow laden M10 from the nice folks on this forum. There are a few shiny spots on the back of the Type 74, someone here- I think it was Karl, suggested having wet places from where the engine heat melted the snow so I gave it a go. I kinda like the looks of it so a big thanks to everyone who helped out with the advice and comment!!! 

Lol, thanks Reaper, it's one of Tamiya's old kits that you can still get for a really cheap price as opposed to their new seventy buck ones!

I have to admit I thought the turret insignia were cool so I scrubbed away a lot of the 'whitewash' there so they'd show more. So I guess they do look a little 'off'.

Excellent results!

The old Tamiya kits can be a lot of fun.

That turned out great! I have the same kit in my stash and I hope it turns out as good when I do get around to building it! I am with you on those turret markings- they are sharp!

Hey, Cliff, that looks pretty good from what I can see! You need some better lighting on those pics, but from what I can see it looks pretty cool!

I confess that I've never seen this kit built up before this!

Hey thanks guys!!!

Karl: You're right, I really need to set up some sort of photo booth for photos. As I said the room was well lighted by a big bay window and they still showed up dark. I suppose I could take them outside but a photo booth would give me power to control the lighting- which would be a big improvement.

Funny, I'd never even knew the kit or the tank existed till I saw it on Hobby Link Japan's website and thought it's a pretty sleek, cool looking AFV and plus the kit's really cheap!

Very nice,a real winter warrior

Thanks Tojo!

BTW: One more winter subject and I think I'll be putting away the 'snow' for awhile...

Hey Gamera, JGSDF armor is a rare subject on most forums (that I visit). 

I remember building the Type 74 kit#35114 in the mid eighties. A fun kit that went together like a snap. I built and painted mine like the 'winter version' as well but did not look as good as your build. It looks like it was really tracking through some slush and mud. This brought back memories 

G thats looks great, and I agree with RB, those old Tamiya kits are a lot of fun. Maybe its like riding a 20" banana seat bicycle, takes you right back. Nice weathering, very cool kit.

Terry  

Thanks guys!

Very true Terry, after building a stream of complex AFV Club and Dragon kits it's just fun to go back to something simple for a change. And right on SprueOne, it's just a perfectly fitting kit, even back then Tamiya had the engineering down pat.

I don't think I've seen another built up either, probably is a lack of interest in Japanese subjects outside Japan plus as a Cold War vehicle it never saw combat, well outside Godzilla movies...

Sorry I missed this one. That is a rare one to see finished so well. I like the figs too, though they do look too clean to be real tankers lol. J/K!

The problem with your lighting wasn't that there was enough light. Your aperture needs adjustment? Or try adjusting your ISO to compensate? I'm... not really good with cameras.

Thanks Mike!

Not sure about cameras. I can't find the cable to connect my camera to my PC so these photos are my five year old HTC Android phone. It lists itself as having higher resolution than my ten year old camera but I don't know how to fool with the different settings. Guess I should just mess around with it- after all I can just reset it back to the standard settings if I really screw things up.

SprueOne

Hey Gamera, JGSDF armor is a rare subject on most forums (that I visit). 

I remember building the Type 74 kit#35114 in the mid eighties. A fun kit that went together like a snap. I built and painted mine like the 'winter version' as well but did not look as good as your build. It looks like it was really tracking through some slush and mud. This brought back memories 

i have 2 of these in 1/72 (aka OTS) and have been looking for a 1/35. i have a whole shelf of JGSDF and PLA in the stash plus some Korean stuff.

it is fun to do something simpler and use all your skills in the painting and weathering. i am doing the old Tamiya SALIDAN . given the motorized wholes it is going to be muddy and the MG barrels HAVE to be replaced but the painting and weathering will be a hoot.

GAMERA do a WIP on your next build. your snow looks great and i need to do a couple snow scenes. HOW DID you do the soft camo edges using silly putty? i like silly putty but always get a hard edge.

She's pretty!  Really nice build.  I think the JGSDF Type 74 is one of the best looking tank ever.  And your rendition is pretty convincing.

Wayne,

What a coincidence.  I got 2 1/72 kits of this tank as well.  One's been sitting in the depot (aka unfinished kit project holding area) for years now.  Maybe this year... maybe this year...

one is anolder kit the other is with the new AOSHIMA tank transporter

Hey thanks guys!

Wayne: I picked this one up at HobbyLink Japan, I think I said for fifteen bucks but looking now it's nineteen. I'm afraid the soft edge on the Silly Putty camo must be the camera and/or the pre-shading and fading since it did turn out with a hard edge.

I might do a WIP yet, I'll have to find something good. I remember Bish got all kinds of useful advice on his Jadgpanther.

A very nice display. I missed it- how did you make your snow?

Brrrrr!

Thanks GM! It's just the Woodland Scenics model railroad 'snow'. I sprayed the tank with a matte finish and while still dry sprinkled it on the upper surfaces. The chunky snow on the wheels and lower areas were from Doog's idea of mixing the snow with white glue and goopping it on. The base was just a layer of plaster with some white glue smeared on it for the snow and then I dumped some more on the thin places and added a little dilute white glue to make it all stick.