Great progress and a very interesting subject. The tracks look very realistic.

TJS

Hope to see more work on her when you're feeling better. Built one years ago, and it's a great little kit. Not the most detail but everything fit really well. Only real work was the complex camo scheme. 

Gamera,

I noticed the road wheels have mold mismatch, meaning some fill-sand-fill-sand will be in order.

Interesting subject.  Very angular (straight up and down) for a late war design.  

Keavdog - Yeah, and with a max armor thickness of only 2 inches in front, and much less everywhere else, I think USMC M4s would have had them for lunch.

Gamera - I was mulling about how the camo scheme was applied on the real thing.  Was it sprayed, brushed, or spat from cups of sake?

As I remember they were sprayed at the factory. I use Silly Putty as a mask.

Though I think you can just go with a solid coat of Parched Grass (I don't remember the Japanese words for it- you'd probably know). It looks like a pale bleached version of US Olive Drab. 

Gamera,

I like the 3-tone camo, so I'll be going with that.  I have to work today (drats), but I spritzed on some primer before heading out the door.

I'll need to inspect the road wheels and detail areas to fill in blemishes and make sure everything is tidy.  I'll try to take out the Aerosan and start airbrushing both.

Looks good G, glad to see you back to work on her. 

Got my paints:

Gamera, I think I'll follow your advice and use Silly Putty to make the color demarcations.

I've used those paints on most of my Japanese armour. Only weird thing about the paint is if it's a little too thick it will spray this weird spider web type stuff- hard to describe but you'll know it if you see it. If it does add more laquer thinner to it. In fact I found myself adding about two-three times as much thinner as I would with acrylic paint. 

Best o' luck! 

Gamera,

I have heard of that problem, but have not yet experienced it myself.  The Gunze lacquer paints have a tendency to dry out in the bottle if left for a prolonged period of time.  But I have a bottle of their "Replenishing Fluid", which rejuvenates them.  In fact, my paints had dried up to a goo, so I used the fluid to make them right again.  The high thinner to paint ratio is probably due to the pigment density.

Good to know you're on top of the situation. First time it happened to me I was staring at the model, "Is it that dirty? Where did the spider webs come from, I just washed the darn thing off!!!' It wasn't until later that I saw the paint making fiber threads coming off the airbrush that I figured out what was going on! 

I'd not heard about the 'Replenishing Fluid' - I'm going to have to check that out- thanks!!! 

Gamera,

I think the spider webs are in part caused by incompatible thinner.  I had that problem spraying automovie paint.  When I switched to a different thinner (I think it was acetone), it went away.  I have airbrushed Gunze Mr Color paint before, but I use their thinner and have had no problems.

Maybe "Replenishing Fluid" is just Mr Color Thinner with a different label!  

Actually this was using Mr. Colour Thinner. So I dunno. As I said the problem went away with a little more thinner. Don't look at me, my degree was in biology but I didn't take any more chemistry than I had to.

Hmmm, I'll have to check around to see if the Replenishing Fluid is the same stuff.