RG, I could make an educated guess that the Japanese were worried about the Soviets making super heavy tanks and having to face them eventuall. The Battle of Khalkhin Gol did show the Japanese how inferior the tanks that had and I believe they were only facing light Soviet tanks. 

From reading the little history on O-I the design was in response to the poor showing of Japanese tanks against the Soviets. 

One thing to keep in mind that all major combatants during WWII had super heavy tank programs. No power wanted to fall behind. 

GreySnake

 

One thing to keep in mind that all major combatants during WWII had super heavy tank programs. No power wanted to fall behind. 

 

Yup, and the manufacturers have been releasing kits of most of them over the last decade.  Meng released the British A39 Tortoise, and I think DML the American T28, both of those are in my stash too. 

To get this back on track of the theme of the GB, I am getting close to a project decision.  It is down to a plane, aircraft carrier, or a vehicle.  

Yeah, the thing is so just plain weird I had to have it. I've got a lot done on her, hopefully I'll be ready for paint soon. Hope have some photos up before much longer. 

Robert: Sounds cool, looking forward to seeing what you pick! 

Well, the O-I is together. I did get a little more done on the hatches after this photo:

Here is she is sitting next to a 'normal' Type 89 medium tank: 

I sprayed her with a rusty red-brown primer last night. It's a little patchy and I'll have to hit her again this weekend. Then I'm going to spray some hairspray on her and scrub a little off to get a worn paint effect to show the primer/rust look. 

Or that's the plan anyway... 

A new Japanese GB? How can I resist?  Its like an annual thing! I am in, not sure what yet and will be a month before I can start.

GAMERA, That is one monster of a kit!

Waikong: it's great to have you along! 

Steve/Modelcrazy stated it's like an annual thing too! I keep saying I'm going to drop it but I always get several people ask if I'm running it next year so I always end up doing another one... 

Drop it? What are saying? Thats crazy talk. Its gb #12! Honestly this gb always inspires me.

Okay, she's coated with primer red brown. I think the Japanese used the same red brown primer. Anyway a couple coats of hair spray and I'll lay down the parched grass green and chip and wear it away to show a little of the primer.

Or so is the plan:

Gamera

Id like to get in on this GB if I could. 

I have a vintage original 1977 boxing Hasegawa N1K2-J George I would like to build.

Thanks

Gamera,

That tank looks more like a pillbox/fortress!  It's hard to imagine the Japanese would have had enough metal to make such a monster!

Deeve: Sure! I've got you down. What scale is she? 

Real G: Yeah, it was originally intended as a mobile fortress, aka if the Soviets invaded Japanese held China these things were supposed to trundle forward to the front line and then be dug in. There they'd support infantry and smaller tanks with their big guns. As I understand they weren't intended to move about during the fighting. 

And as to lacking metal the Imperial Navy largely put the end to the project in not giving the army the steel they needed for these monsters. 

Gamera. 

72 scale. 

Deeve_

Gamera. 

 

72 scale. 

 

Got it! Awesome, and thanks!!! 

I put the finishing touches on my Hasegawa 1/72 N1K2-J George tonight. I tried to do some paint chipping by laying down primer, then aluminium, then the topcoat. Afterwards I expected the Tamiya topcoat to just chip off easily. This wasnt the case. I chipped it with a toothpick, then a Dremel barrel sanding bit (I tapped it all over and dragged it around a bit), then scraped an xacto blade gently. Got a mixed bag of results. Not too satisfied but it was an experiment. Next time I will either use the salt method or the hairspray method. I didnt have any hairspray (not much use to me) so I tried without. Seeing how easily paint seems to chip for me when I dont want it to, I figured it would chip without any problem! Kit went together pretty easily. Not much detail but for a kit thats almost as old as I am, I am impressed with it.   Anyways, heres some pics I took.

I paid $6.99 for this one at a LHS. I had to laugh at the $1.40 price tag on it. I imagine this is the price the original purchaser paid for it.  

Looks cool Deeve!!! 

I usually just use hairspray, about three light coats seems to do the trick. 

Going to post you now and thanks again for joining us! 

I think it looks great.  Maybe if you did the chipping before the Tamiya paint had cured very hard it might have been easier, who knows.

Nice build Deeve (Although, I think I missed the in-progress posts ). The wavy demarcation line between the grey and green paint on the nose is a nice touch! I have this kit in my stash as well -- almost chose it for this GB since for last year's GB I built the 1/72 N1K1, but I whimped out and chose a Tamiya ki61 .  Would like to find some nice aftermarket for my Shinden-Kai before I tackle it...  But enough about my  plastic pipe-dreams -- youd did a real nice job here. Great work!

Deeve_

I put the finishing touches on my Hasegawa 1/72 N1K2-J George tonight. I tried to do some paint chipping by laying down primer, then aluminium, then the topcoat. Afterwards I expected the Tamiya topcoat to just chip off easily. This wasnt the case. I chipped it with a toothpick, then a Dremel barrel sanding bit (I tapped it all over and dragged it around a bit), then scraped an xacto blade gently. Got a mixed bag of results. Not too satisfied but it was an experiment. Next time I will either use the salt method or the hairspray method. I didnt have any hairspray (not much use to me) so I tried without. Seeing how easily paint seems to chip for me when I dont want it to, I figured it would chip without any problem! Kit went together pretty easily. Not much detail but for a kit thats almost as old as I am, I am impressed with it.   Anyways, heres some pics I took.  

I tried the hair spray chipping on my N1K1 for last year's Japanes GB (yes apparently everything is about last year's n1k1 for me). It worked amazing. It just turned out to be too much chipping for what I was after so I ended up painting over it and going with the factory fresh look.  I think I will give it another go with my Tamiya Ki-61. Want to do a heavily weather ship - we will see how it goes. 

On that note, I hope to start my build soon. I might Tag Team with a FB Group build "Model in a Month" theme that is starting soon... Hope that does not get me in the dog house.. 

Gamera

Looks cool Deeve!!! 

I usually just use hairspray, about three light coats seems to do the trick. 

Going to post you now and thanks again for joining us! 

 

cbaltrin

Nice build Deeve (Although, I think I missed the in-progress posts ). The wavy demarcation line between the grey and green paint on the nose is a nice touch! I have this kit in my stash as well -- almost chose it for this GB since for last year's GB I built the 1/72 N1K1, but I whimped out and chose a Tamiya ki61 .  Would like to find some nice aftermarket for my Shinden-Kai before I tackle it...  But enough about my  plastic pipe-dreams -- youd did a real nice job here. Great work!

Lol. I tend not to post in progress work due to how difficult it is to post pics on this forum compared to others. 

That demarcation line on the nose was only on the 343-45 instructions I downloaded. None of the others had it, just a straight line..

Nice work, Deeve. And I use the hairspray method and it works great. Your bird looks very convincing and well worn. Great work.

BK

LOL, I would have done the same! Always defer to the cool paint scheme! And , if all else fails, a bit of manufactured ignorance does not hurt either...

Deeve_

That demarcation line on the nose was only on the 343-45 instructions I downloaded. None of the others had it, just a straight line..  

BrandonK

Nice work, Deeve. And I use the hairspray method and it works great. Your bird looks very convincing and well worn. Great work.

BK

 

Thanks. I am gonna try it in the near future. Working on a Wildcat now, but I want to do it pretty fresh. After that a ME110. :)

I have piles of Japanese stuff in the stash so theres plenty of opportunity.

cbaltrin

LOL, I would have done the same! Always defer to the cool paint scheme! And , if all else fails, a bit of manufactured ignorance does not hurt either...

 

 

My thought is to always go with the more interesting paint schemes. 

Always happy to see more stuff entered guys!!! 

BTW, I need to get some photos up. The O-1 is painted in the first coat and chipped. Need to take the photos before I mask her off for the camo. 

Looks good Greysnake! 

And I know what you mean about getting older. 

Sorry, kinda busy haven't checked the website in a few days. 

Well any progress is good progress! As long as you're moving forward Greysnake. 

I know what you mean about airbrushes, they only follow women, cars, and computers as the most annoying things in the universe... 

Airbrushing has become my least favorte part of any project now second to that is painting figures. 

I learned to embrace the Airbrush... PE's not yet.

Please put  me down for the 1/48 Hasegawa Shinden.  An old kit, time to dust it off the stash.