Oh wow, hello Chieftain! I played WoT for about a year but ended up dropping it about two years or so ago. I still run by the forum every now and again and read the Chieftain's Hatch. Really enjoyed the ones about how the M4 wasn't nearly the disaster Belton Cooper painted it out to be. 

I'll have to look at the instruction sheet when I get home but I do remember the prototype being painted all over Kare-Kusa (parched grass) which is a khaki/ light washed out olive drab colour with no camo. I'll have to check for markings.

Vallejo makes an acrylic primer that should do the trick. Gunze Sangyo makes a lacquer paint with it and the two camo colours as well. I think AK Interactive now also makes a Japanese paint set in acrylic.

Funny, even though I've dropped out of WoT I love how much cool new stuff that's been brought onto the market due to the game. I picked up Trumpeter's Chinese Type 62 light, which is basically the WoT WZ-131 last week, though now I notice WoT has the Type 62 as well.   

PS: Checked the instruction booklet and it doesn't show any markings on the prototype Type 5. The whole tank is shown as straight kare-kusa with no markings at all.

That camo shceme looks great. All the preshading and everthing. 

Gamera,

I'm late to the party, but your Type 5 is looking great!  I have the Type 3 partially built, and was wondering about Japanese camouflage application.  Did they spray the green and earth brown on the real tanks, or were they brushed?  And what was the color demarcation lines typically like?  Sharp and clean or fuzzy?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks guys!

G, sorry it took a bit to get back with you but things have been a bit hectic. From what I've read the camo shades were sprayed on the tanks. They did have a soft edge to them but tight enough that scaled down to 1/35th they should look hard-edged.

Gamera,

OK good to know.  I'll use Silly Putty to mask then.  Thanks for the info!  (It's not going to be built real soon, as I have the Modelkasten plastic indie tracks for this kit and it is quite tedious to assemble!)

Sounds cool G! I have that kit, figured I'd use the 'rubber band' tracks in the package though getting the correct sag with them is yes- a pain. I'm curious how your Modelkasten tracks come out.

Gamera,

The Model Kasten tracks have end pins which must be inserted into the track with enough glue to secure them in place, but not so much that they fuse two track segments together.  The guide teeth are separate pieces which are much easier to glue on, but are succeptible to tweezer launch due to their small size.  I think the assembled segments feel terribly fragile, and think that I'd better use acrylic weathering washes to avoid having the track fall apart due to any reactions with paint thinner.  They do look very nice though.  I'll dig the model out and post a photo of an assembled section.

Ouch, those sound like a real headache G, but yeah they do look much better finished.  Love to see photos of how they look built up. 

Gamera,

Here is what Modelkasten's Type 3 tracks look like on the sprue.

https://flic.kr/p/F9k8iH][/url]Type 3-01 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Assembled, they look thus:

https://flic.kr/p/F9k736][/url]Type 3-02 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

They fit well over the kit sprockets, but the links are kind of "wiggly", and the light weight may lead to segments not falling naturally between the return rollers.  I have read about people cementing the track into solid runs to preserve the correct look of the track sag.

Ouch G, I used tracks with pins in them like that in Trumpeter's T-28 and they nearly drove me the rest of the way insane. I used the pins that were visible on the outside and left out the ones on the inside that were hidden. They do look good though. 

Vision Models makes a nice set of workable tracks for the Type 97/Type 3 that snap together. I found these workable tracks work better when you put them where you want them and then use liquid cement to lock them in that positon. 

Gamera,

Is the Type 97 track common to the Type 3?  If so, these may be the best solution:

http://hobbyterra.com/product/assembled-metal-tracks-for-type-97-chi-ha-japan-tank-sector35-3538.html

Fully assembled white metal tracks!  I have purchased a couple of sets for other tanks and they look great.  I have done three Friul tracks (Cromwell, Churchill, IS-III) and quickly tired of cleaning out the track pin holes and cutting/inserting/gluing wires.

G, far as I know the Type 3 was simply the turret off the Type 4 with 75mm gun mounted on a Type 97 hull. The running gear should be the same.

Those look great but $40.00 bucks is a little rich for my blood. The Vision sets run for about $17.00 and since they snap together are pretty easy to work with.

http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=5393

I just used the kit ones for my last Japanese tank and thought they turned out ok, gosh I need to get some photos taken and the thing posted.

You may find on my facebook several more pics of Imperial Japanese Tanks ;-) and additionally there's also available made by VALLEJO a set of IJA colors of WWII called "IJA Colors Early/Late 1937-1945" Acrylic Airbrush Colors of 8x 17ml bottles with Ref.No. 71.160

Cool, thanks! I didn't look around your page any further than those links you posted. I'll be sure to check when I get some more time. 

And thanks, I did see those Vallejo paints, I intend to pick them up when my Gunze IJA paints run out. 

BTW: Tracks on, hopefully will have some new photos up this weekend or sooner. 

Melchior: Finally got a chance to look around your Facebook page. Very cool! Love your Type 5 and Ka-Mi. And I noticed you have one of the Aurora female tanker figures, neat, I've looked at them but not ordered any yet. Love those Objekt 279 'UFO' tanks and that weird T31 demo tank too (never seen it before)! And some really cool Soviet Cold War stuff, very cool stuff all around!

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...

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).

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.

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

Robert

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

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...

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:

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!

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

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. 

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 

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. 

Nice figs

Hey, thanks SprueOne!