Nice work Stik. Hope the camo painting goes well for you. As far as the Gunze paints spiderwebs- you need to thin the paint more. Not enough thinner and the paint will do this. I usually mix Mr. Color at 1 part paint to 1.5 parts thinner. Once you get the ratio down they spray like a dream.

Alright, its time I breathe some life back into my Tony build. I left off riveting the whole model and I started assembling the resin pit. Last night I finished attaching all the PE. I used a combo of the Aires and Eduard sets, as they each contain some better done parts.

I had alttle trouble trying to figure out the order of the rear bulkheads and headrest as the Aires instructions are crap. I think I got it right:

I decided to try and correct the kits extremely shallow wheel bays, as they look just toylike. I cut out the bottom and built it up with plastic strip. There's little room for error and I had to thin the top wing with a dremel. ....I'm still dry fitting and will let you guys know how it goes I should have just left them alone...

P. S. Photobucket sucks..

Well that explains the price difference. 

Well I have had a busy morning here. Yesterday afternoon & evening I added details to inner face of the TC hatches based off a few photos from some kind folks here and elsewhere, using stuff that somewhat or vaguly resembled the real deal from my spares bin. I also filled the bottom of the left sponson with some sheet plastic, and painted the radiator prior to gluing it in place today. (Now only somebody with a Surefire light or some other small handheld equivelant can see it... )

Then I glued it all together and while everythin was drying I decided I would see if this fine Verlinden figure that I had in the stash would work better than the kit TC figure. So I built him up. As well as the kit TC figure...

once built I thought, 'jeez he looks a little tallfor 1/35', so I compared him with a 1/35 scale ruler and the kit TC figure- he scales out to nearly 2M tall in 1/35! While the kit TC comes in around 1.7M tall, far closer to the average real Japanese male of WWII.

By the time they were done and I had made my discovery, my Chi Ha was dry and ready for paint. So I airbrushed on a base coat of Gunze Mr Color "Khaki", which I presume is matched to what Steven Zaloga said the IJA called "Parched Grass" in his  Concord book "Tank Battles of the Pacific War".

The other two camouflage colors that the IJA used on their AFVs (according to Mr Zaloga) were Khaki (actually an Olive Green and on real vehicles the base color, and later replaced by a Willow Green), and Dark Brown. I will first see if I can hand brush those, so that I do not have to mask for airbrushing a hard edge pattern like the IJA used in 1942, after letting the base color dry overnite. Now during today's airbrush session an interesting phenomenon occured. I began to get "spider webs" or "cotton candy" fibers building up on small raised detail edges. Now my garage has a ton of small spiders and at first I thought, 'wow they set up camp fast in this build over night'. But then more and more appeared as I continued airbrushing and I realized it was the paint itself doing this. Now this is only the 3rd or 4th time that I have airbrushed Mr Color paints and I have never had this happen before. Mind you we have some rare weather conditions today- bone dry extremely low humidity coupled with warm dry winds out of the Northeast from the Great Western Basin called "Santa Ana Winds". Has anybody else encounted Mr Color paints doing this before? Here are a few photos

on the ball mount hull MG

and on the tow cable

By the end of my painting session there were so many little fibers in the air (I had a fan on to blow them away from me) it looked like one of those Toho Studios monster movies with the giant spider that would shoot his webs at other Japanese monsters (I cant remember that ones name). All I needed would have been some appropriate theme music on my Ipod among the movie tunes that I was listening to at the time. The situation was no more than an annoyance, the stuff clears up with a soft brush. But this was just something new for me.

DUHH!!!!!!! I looked back and the $32.00 models are the pre-assembled pop it out of the box and display die-cast stuff... 

I knew Dragon sells this stuff but it wasn't thinking apparently when I looked at their site...  

Anyway they have two actual kits listed -one on sale... 

LINK 

It's the importers here. Some of the import companies (MRC being the worst) put a serious mark up on kits when they reach us here in the good old US of A. Or are you referring to a sale price?

Plus I notice on the Dragon US site at least some of the kits are priced twice what the others are: $14.50 versus $32.00 bucks. Looking at the descriptions I don't immediately see what the difference is.  

BSY, there are some older kits of the Type 97 in either 1/72 or 1/76 by Airfix and Fujimi. I dont know if they are still in production, but if they are, they should be more affordable than the Dragon kit.

Gamera

Bsyamato: Dragon makes a couple of Type 97s in 1/72nd. They're kinda expensive though...

Link to Dragon Website

mmhh...  need to take a look for some offers at cheaper cost on sites 

Nice updates Stik :)

I am gonna be painting it in the IJA three color camo of red brown and dark green over khaki in a hard edge pattern.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and comments. This humble gent really appreciates it. Have only the Anchors plus Chains along with Railings and Rigging to go. What colour Scheme are you going to do the 97 in SP..??

Yes, I will be painting mine based upon the photos of  the ones at Guadalcanal. No bands to be seen in those photos, and white unit marking. The tanks are not as well documented as some, but enough decent photos exist to see those things.

I can't vouch for the accuracy here. I'm not sure about the white/black markings but according to the book the yellow bands were from earlier in the war although some vehicles carried them all the way to the end. So these paintings might be based on tanks from the early war before the invasion and your photos are from later vehicles/repainted from the invasion itself maybe? That's just my best guess.    

Actually those photos are helpful. I might be able to replicate that stuff. But  that build has the markings in black. In the photos I have seen, the unit markings were white, and no yellow disruptive bands in that camo pattern. But yes the photos are much appreciated!

Funny, I was thinking the other day if I should do a part III or take a break for a year. Seems interest had been slacking off, though I'll admit I haven't been contributing much here lately myself. If three of you are interested I can't see it hurting to run a part III though.

BTW SP I did find these photos of the hatch if it's any help. Not too clear I'm afraid:

And these renderings of a tank from the 1st Independent:

And I'm probably violating copyright laws by posting these so let me at least give credit where it's due. Very good book with piles of photos I've never seen anywhere else. Expensive but if you have an interest in an odd a niche as Japanese AFVs it's one of the few books out there:

I wish Tamiya would release some Japanese armor in 1/48, I think I would be very into it. That 1/35 one has motivated me.

I certainly have interest in a part III, Cliff, if you need any encouragement. Unless Tamiya coughs it up, would be a plane or ship though.

That Yamato is excellent, very impressive work.

Cheers

Tony

i have my TYPE 96B 8x8 IFV in this GB so that shouldn't be a problem.

I dont have that many JGSDF AFVs, but I would gladly do those if they are allowed in Part III.

i have 7 JGSDF vehicles in the bunker stash so i would be up for III next year.

Turret before finishing work today

and on the hull after completion

All that is left to add is the idler wheels, tracks,  and the radiator under the grill (not that anyone can see it) I can start painting tomorrow.

Surfsup, it' a deal! I am loving watching this Yamato build of yours! The Japanese surface warfare ships had the most visually pleasing looks to my eye, power and grace combined. And Yamato certainly  epitomizes that look. Your attention to detail here is a pleasure to see.

Bsyamato: Dragon makes a couple of Type 97s in 1/72nd. They're kinda expensive though...

Link to Dragon Website

Fabulous Yamato Surfsup! 

Nice start Stik :) wishing one in 1/72 

Wow, again great work- esp considering those floatplanes are I assume about the size of a large beetle! And again I'm amazed by all those tiny AA guns and the PE on the catapults etc- I'd have knocked it all over the place.

Thanks for the comments everyone they are greatly appreciated. Have been away thanks to work but am back. Will watch your build with interest SP. I really like the ungainly look of those AFV's. Ok back into it. The Cats and A/C are now on board so will have some more soon.....Cheers mark

Any time I get burned out from a Dragon/AFV/etc. kit with high body parts count kit with everything molded seperately, I know I can go build a Tamiya tank for something to get my armor moejoe flowing again.

So far the only "gig" I have found on this kit is that there is no detail molded on the inner faces of the hatches. No locking mechanism details. So I guess I need to see if I can find any images online, as I will have the TC hatch open.

Really, I've got one around somewhere, I just assumed the kit had motorization holes.

Great to see you making so much progress, a bit different from the latest Dragon superkit with five zillion parts!

I got in about 30-40 minutes worth of work today. All the fiddly bits added to the upper outer hull, and just a few parts left to add such as the idler wheels, tracks, bow MG and radiator. So I will call the hull about 95% done. And I began work on the turret, probably about 50% done there. I will try to get some photos posted in the next few days.

There are none on this kit!!!

Yeah, fill those motorization holes!!! I miss those on newer kits!

Yes, it really is a beauty of a kit. Tamiya did not mess around on this build. the engine deck louvres are molded like the real thing, and it even has a radiator to ge beneath it! Not that you can see it without a serious light or unless you leave the engine access hatch loose. This kit is nearly 40 years old now... stamped 1975 on the inner hull.

Cool SP, nice model - an oldie but a goodie there- welcome aboard!