Thanks, very kind of you!

Check Youtube, there's loads of figure painting videos there. And Highlanders stuff here on the figure forum. Took me years to reach this point and I'm nothing compared to him.

I don't know much about tanks but I do know exceptional work. Great job I love the cherry blossoms and your fantastic figure painting. The last pilot figures I painted ended up with Vulcan skin tones and when I tried to correct they now have jaundice. Someday if I manage to get all my planes done. I would like to try a tank or two

Thanks! I love figures, I think they add life to any model. 

Gamera, that is some really nice work. Gotta say I love those figures.

Hey thanks bunches guys!!!

Chris: I didn't come up with any real story behind this just a kinda 'calm before the storm' idea. Operation Downfall, the invasion of the Japanese home islands, was scheduled to be launched in the spring of '46. This was intended to be just before the Allied forces hit.

I didn't do much weathering on the Type 5 since if the Imperial Army had gotten any built they wouldn'd have lasted long against the sort of firepower the Allies were bringing to the fight. So she's pretty much fresh from the factory.

The geisha, well she was supposed to be on the other side being chatted up by the enlisted men in the staff car. But I think I said somewhere the figures provided by Pit Road with the car are 1/35th and molded pretty close to what '40s Japanese men would have been- about 5'3-5'5 / 1.65m tall. The geisha is 1/32nd scale and would come out to about 6 foot plus/ 2 metres tall. I thought putting her beside the car standing and with the smaller figures sitting the difference wouldn't be noticable. I was dead wrong. I didn't want to dump her since it is a nice figure so I moved her away from the 1/35th figures where I think the size difference is a little less in your face. I figured she was just out on a stroll but I like your explanation better Chris.

BTW: Actually there were no geisha from '44 to the end of the war. The imperial government shut down all the tea houses and geisha parlors and drafted them to work in munitions factories. One of the first things the Allied occupation forces under MacArthur did to get Japan back under a peacetime civil attitude was to get tea houses back open and the geisha back to work. I figured here some big shot general or admiral pulled strings to keep his favorite geisha out of the ammo plants.

Just great work, I like how all the elements work togather. 

Robert

Cool dio Cliff. It all ties together so well. I love the addition of the geisha figure.

I like it!  The Geisha is an interesting addition.  I'll assume she's there to honor the tank crew with a relaxing cup of tea before a great struggle.  It looks to me that they're moving into a defensive position.  The light weathering suggests that the tank hadn't seen combat, yet.  

Great Work,

Chris 

Thanks guys!

Assuming that if the Japanese did build any Type 5s they'd have been kept there for home defence I was thinking what I think of when I think of Japan- torii gates, cherry blossoms, and geisha were three of the first things to come to mind.

Hey,

How did this get here! 

Sorry, but I totally missed it.

 This is an interesting yet imaginative

grouping of collective efforts. Very good job

on a rarely seen subject(s).

Nice composition and story.

Gee friggin' whiz, two months since my last update and back to page four.....

Well, after ten and a half months I think it's time to stick a fork in this. Again I'm going with outside photos, I do need to set up some sort of photo booth whenever I get around to it.

Thanks Griffin! 

Well, considering Japan's industrial base at the time I can't imagine they could have produced more than a handful of these. 

And by 1946-47 the Allies would have: 

US: M26 Pershing, possibly the T29, T30, T34 series heavy tanks that were canciled due to the end of the war

UK: Comet, Centurian

USSR: IS-III, T-44, T-54 tested in '45, entered production in '49- could have been rushed?

Anyone of these had better armour, a much better gun, and would have been available in much greater numbers. Frankly, seems the Japanese had finally designed a tank that would have been halfway decent in '44 but by now it was '46 and it was once again an obsolete design. 

I'm addicted to Red Orchestra BTW. It actually stresses me out when I think about playing and I can't sleep after playing it!

Great job. It's coming together very nicely! The Geisha girl looks cool. Look forward to seeing the final scene. 

Could you imagine if they put this thing into production? It looks menacing but it doesn't look very practical. That profile and armor slope is just begging for an AP round to rattle around inside! 

Hey, thanks SprueOne! 

Nice figs

Hey Garzonh- big thanks! 

I played WoT for a little over a year and stopped when it seemed I ended up spending more time getting angry and cussing at the screen over stupid players on my team than having fun! Guess I should have just lightened up some. 

I did add a little streaking on the sides since the last photos. Considering the strength of what was left of the Japanese army and the Allies I just figured these tanks would be knocked out pretty quick not giving much time for rust and weathering. 

Gamera

 I've been distracted by the wargame Soviet Corps. I've been playing it every night when I should be modeling...

very nice built gamera, way to go, it is always nice to see some different models than tigers, shermans and nashorns...

Dont worry on the game, I have the same issue...I keep distracting myself with Wordl of Tanks...

This build looks good, I liked the light weathering...its always very difficult for tankers to stop weathering and rusting everything..heheh..at least for me.

Thanks for sharing 

Oh great, looks like I'm updating every month now 

Anyway the figures are pretty much complete. Will probably do a little more tinkering but not much. Wish I could paint like Highlander over on the figure forum but I guess they'll do for three footers/metre figures (aka they look decent three feet or a metre away).

 Hopefully the base will be done this weekend and I'll have some finished photos. Also hopeful the difference in scale won't be too noticeable since I'm going to keep the 1/35th and 1/32th ones apart. 

Thanks G, sounds good! It's a work in progress so I'm still fooling with it.

I like it!  You might want to scrub off most of the mud from the contact surfaces of the road wheels.  And then spatter on some darker colored mud here and there for contrast.

Looking really good!

Gee friggin' whiz- has it been a month since my last update?!?!!

Anyway I've been trying something a little different. I like how the hairspray technique worked on whitewash so I thought I'd try it on mud. I sprayed a couple coats of hairspray on the running gear and then the mud coloured paint. Then using a moist stiff brush I scrubbed the areas where the 'mud' would chip off. I'm still working to get this right, any comments or advice would be useful:

Before:

After:

Thanks guys. I was going to get to the mud today but now I'm gun-shy about putting it on and possibly screwing up my paint work...

Those colors look great  I like the color you made for the rubber on the wheels.

Gamera the paint job came out great.  Can't wait to see how the wet mud comes out.

Robert

Thanks Karl, you do me too much credit though!

And thanks for the advice. I love that idea of going with a more wet mud on the lower areas. Going to give this a try.

I love it--a masterful paint job. Love the color modulation and panel shading. VERY nicely done so far!

Done be so quick to totally obliterate any gloss in the weathering processes. Mud is wet, and you can get a lot more out of your "mud" effect by leaving some of it glossy; ie. "wet". Save some of the mud coat until AFTER you dull it, and then use it on the lower surfaces leaving the dull (dry) mud higher. You'll get a nice "double contrast" from both the tonal differences in the shades but also from a persepctive of "dry" (flat) vs "wet" (glossy).

Ok, finally got some updates here. Sorry, she's still glossy since I'm still spraying muddy paint on the running gear. I'll hit her with a matte coat when done.

I'd hoped to make a little better progress here but recently I've been distracted by the wargame Soviet Corps. I've been playing it every night when I should be modeling...