Tamiya 1/35 Japanese medium tank. Type 97 (Chi-Ha) A photo record.

Well I made one of these a while back so the photos are a bit dodgy but let's at least see what I have.

Black and white photos don't do this camo justice.

The Type 97 Chi-Ha (九七式中戦車チハ, Kyūnana-shiki chū-sensha Chi-ha or simply "Type 97/57") was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of World War II. Thank you Wiki.

Verily, a goodly amount of materials in the box.

All this above makes one of these below...

The Type 97 hull was of riveted construction with the engine in the rear compartment. The tank had a four-man crew including a driver, bow machine-gunner, and two men in the turret. In the forward compartment, the driver sat on the right, and bow gunner on the left. The commander's cupola was placed atop the turret. Internal communications were by 12 push buttons in the turret, connected to 12 lights and a buzzer near the driver.

The Type 97's low silhouette and semicircular radio antenna on the turret distinguished the tank from its contemporaries. After 1941, the tank was less effective than most Allied tank designs leading to In a new version of the Chi-Ha in1942, with a larger three-man turret, and a high-velocity Type 1 47 mm tank gun. It was designated the Type 97-Kai ("improved") or Type 97 Shinhōtō Chi-Ha (Japanese: 新砲塔チハ; "New turret Chi-Ha").

Sprue map...

And we start with the wheels.

Cleaning the mould lines...

Rubber inserts for the wheels. All done...

Putting the hull together...

Choosing a paint scheme.

Highly diluted black for the panel lines and shading. I tend to use dark browns and greens now to soften the contrast...

The black is a bit strong. Lessons learned.

Dry brushind using an old brush. Add a little light colour before wiping most of it off on a tissue.

Then lightly brushing to get a brighter highlight.

Browns for mud and dust.

Ideally the pattern is...

Browns and light browns for mud

Black for panel lnes and shade.

Lighter browns for dust.

Light colours for highlights.

Dark browns (I often use wood stains) for oil stains.

Fitting out the hull.

The thickest armor used was 25 mm on the gun mantlet and 15–25 mm on the hull front. Power was provided by an air-cooled "V-12 21.7 liter diesel Mitsubishi SA12200VD" engine, which provided 170 hp (127 kW).

Final details...

The Type 97 was equipped with a Type 97 57 mm main gun, the same caliber as that used for the earlier Type 89 I-Go tank. The cannon was a short-barreled weapon with a relatively low muzzle velocity, but sufficient as the tank was intended primarily for infantry support.[12] The main gun had no elevation gear, therefore, the gunner used his shoulder to elevate it.[13]

The tank carried two 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns, one on the front left of the hull and the other in a ball mount on the rear of the turret. The turret was capable of full 360-degree traverse, but the main gun was in a "semi-flexible mount" allowing a maximum 10-degree traverse independently of the turret.