Anyway, the Type 95 Ha Go was about the most commonly-encountered Japanese tank in the Pacific and after having seen enough of them KOed in photos I kinda developed a soft spot for them. I'm not sure exactly which unit/location I want to do yet, but I'm leaning towards either Iwo Jima or Tarawa. There's a very useful colour photo of a Ha Go on Tarawa at showing the brown, green, and yellow (but not the "parched grass" colour) which also whet my appetite for this build.
While I'm dropping URLs, Taki's website is also pretty much essential:
Unfortunately, FineMolds kits are uncommon here in Vancouver, and when you see them they tend to be prohibitively expensive (a local hobby shop has their 1:72 Bf109K-4 kit for over $40 CDN!) So I mail-ordered from the AFV Modeller shop without thinking twice, as the Canadian dollar's performing really well against the pound and I've heard enough positive feedback about FineMolds in general. I think this positive feedback must largely be based on people just being happy that someone out there is kitting WW2 Japanese vehicles, because on opening the box I was in for a shock. Quality-wise the kit's about on par with Italeri, but with sharper detail and fewer sink marks; that said, expect a lot of flash and mould shift. Also, dry fitting is essential or else you'll be in for some nasty surprises, particularly while assembling the multi-part lower hull.
A pleasant surprise is that, despite also offering a more comrehensive PE set which I decided I wasn't going to order, the kit comes with PE for the exhaust shroud, as well as a white metal tow cable assembly.
This is where I'm at to date. The casemate for the hull MG position is being worked on as it presents some annoying gaps where it's supposed to meet the hull. You can see that the upper hull/glacis plate needed some shimming to eliminate some more gaps (more on this in a minute...)
The reinforcing wedges inboard of the final drives were incorrectly spaced, so i replaced them with styrene - I may yet replace these again as they styrene looks a bit too thick. The red arrow indicates the kit's mount for the bow towing shackle - I'm still checking my references, but this style may be an early feature; check the detail in the next photo and you'll see what I mean. The top edge of the lower glacis had to be sanded down dramatically to line up with the upper hull/glacis plate.
You can see here the shimming required on either side of the upper hull/glacis plate (left and right arrows) I still have some feathering-in of the styrene to do, hence the Mr. Surfacer. You can also see some nice sheet metal texturing moulded onto the kit fenders. The kit also features some residual marks from when I assume they were laying out where the rivets and bolts would go (which you can also make out in that last shot) - it's a weird detail I've never noticed anywhere else. I'm hoping this may not be obvious when I prime the model. The inset image is of one of the remaining Type 95s on Peleliu and the towing shackle mount which I'll be scratchbuilding on my kit.
More work required to make this area of the kit not look like crap. the lower edge of the opening had to be shaved/sanded so that the grillework would fit, and further work on the sides of the opening was required so that the already-present gaps would at least be uniform so I can shove some styrene in there... oy gevalt...
That's all for now,
DG
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