Neil Merryweather
SMF Supporter
very convincing, Tim 
The Road to Singapore: Malaya 1941-42
- Thread starter TIM FORSTER
- Start date
scottie3158
SMF Supporter
Tim.
They look great I will have to look that stuff up.
They look great I will have to look that stuff up.
TIM FORSTER
SMF Supporter
Trees glorious trees!!
None are fixed in place yet - hence the slightly wonky appearance. They may be getting a little trimming in places and I have some loose leaves coming from Mininatur to cover any gaps - but to all intents and purposes they are done. Phew!
None are fixed in place yet - hence the slightly wonky appearance. They may be getting a little trimming in places and I have some loose leaves coming from Mininatur to cover any gaps - but to all intents and purposes they are done. Phew!
Neil Merryweather
SMF Supporter
there's a lot in that base ,excellent work Tim
Simply stunning work Tim
!
!
scottie3158
SMF Supporter
Tim,
Cracking work mate.
Cracking work mate.
Peter Gillson
SMF Supporter
- Joined
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Tim
very nice trees.
Peter
very nice trees.
Peter
TIM FORSTER
SMF Supporter
Thank you all for your comments - and apologies for five months silence.
I'm afraid that there hasn't been much progress with the diorama itself in the meantime, but those who have followed this build so far are in for a bit of a shock when it comes to my little Ha-Go…
It is fair to say that the Fine Molds kit had its share of advantages and disadvantages, but I had managed to get a fair way through construction.
FineMolds end of the line
But then disaster struck. The kit was on a shelf in my modelling shed one day during the hot summer when it seems that a coincidence of strong sunlight and the angle of the window created a beam that was sufficient to melt the plastic on part of the turret!
To be honest, the damage was not that serious and, with a little bit of effort, I might have been able to repair it. However, this experience had reinforced a paranoia which I had already developed about the slightly ‘soapy’ quality of the plastic in the kit and, if truth be told, I had started to become a bit disenchanted with the kit generally.
At the same time I had started to jealously eye the Dragon equivalent: Type 95 Ha Go ‘Early Production’. So I took the plunge and bought the other kit.
As we will see, the Dragon version is not without its faults, but I have to say that it is, overall, the superior kit. Not only does it have (for the most part) crisper details (such as the embossed writing on the tyres), but it also comes with full internal details for the Type 94 37 mm main gun and the two ball-mounted Model 97 7.7 ball-mounted MGs. These are especially important for anyone (like me) who wanted to build a model with an open commander’s hatch and no crew figure, because the Ha-Go has an especially large cupola hatch for such a small turret.
In a way, switching to the Dragon kit was a shame, because I had already gone to considerable lengths to scratchbuild these guns for the Fine Molds build… but since this hobby is largely about the pleasure of achieving the representation of the real in miniature, I am just going to put this down to experience!
Also, although I had already taken the trouble to scratchbuild much of the rest of the tank’s interior, I decided that this could all be transplanted into the new kit. And so this:
Fine Molds interior
… became this:
Unpainted Dragon interior
… and then this:
First Aluminium on interior
… and then this:
Interior weathered
I'm afraid that there hasn't been much progress with the diorama itself in the meantime, but those who have followed this build so far are in for a bit of a shock when it comes to my little Ha-Go…
It is fair to say that the Fine Molds kit had its share of advantages and disadvantages, but I had managed to get a fair way through construction.
FineMolds end of the line
But then disaster struck. The kit was on a shelf in my modelling shed one day during the hot summer when it seems that a coincidence of strong sunlight and the angle of the window created a beam that was sufficient to melt the plastic on part of the turret!
To be honest, the damage was not that serious and, with a little bit of effort, I might have been able to repair it. However, this experience had reinforced a paranoia which I had already developed about the slightly ‘soapy’ quality of the plastic in the kit and, if truth be told, I had started to become a bit disenchanted with the kit generally.
At the same time I had started to jealously eye the Dragon equivalent: Type 95 Ha Go ‘Early Production’. So I took the plunge and bought the other kit.
As we will see, the Dragon version is not without its faults, but I have to say that it is, overall, the superior kit. Not only does it have (for the most part) crisper details (such as the embossed writing on the tyres), but it also comes with full internal details for the Type 94 37 mm main gun and the two ball-mounted Model 97 7.7 ball-mounted MGs. These are especially important for anyone (like me) who wanted to build a model with an open commander’s hatch and no crew figure, because the Ha-Go has an especially large cupola hatch for such a small turret.
In a way, switching to the Dragon kit was a shame, because I had already gone to considerable lengths to scratchbuild these guns for the Fine Molds build… but since this hobby is largely about the pleasure of achieving the representation of the real in miniature, I am just going to put this down to experience!
Also, although I had already taken the trouble to scratchbuild much of the rest of the tank’s interior, I decided that this could all be transplanted into the new kit. And so this:
Fine Molds interior
… became this:
Unpainted Dragon interior
… and then this:
First Aluminium on interior
… and then this:
Interior weathered
TIM FORSTER
SMF Supporter
There are actually quite a few shots of the inside of Ha-Gos on the internet these days, including the magnificiently restored specimen that turned up at Tankfest a couple of years ago. The latter shows that everything was painted in a silver grey paint, a bit like British AFVs of the period.
The hull interior was based on anything I could lay my hands on in the spares box. The light brown floor and transmission came from an old Italeri Achilles kit and most of the light grey bits from an AFV T34 interior, as did the engine parts. The driver’s dash is a cut-down Tamiya German radio set and the rivets are Archer transfers - this was the first time I had used them and they certainly save a lot of time! The base colour used was Vallejo acrylics: Aluminium highlighted with Steel with some details picked out in Brass and Rubber Black. I then used Vallejo Acrylic Wash and added some spent MG shell casings from snips of brass rod. The larger shell cases are actually from the 2-pounder set, so they are technically too large (40 mm as opposed to 37), but they look fine…
First Aluminium on interior
First Aluminium on interior
Interior weathered
It’s certainly not supposed to be anything like 100% accurate, but just to show something approximate in the gloom of the lower interior visible through the hatches…
Although the Dragon kit comes with a very nice reproduction of the main gun and ball-mounted MG, the ammo stowage is the most glaring omission. It also shows how cramped this turret must have been - even for one over-worked commander.
Luckily I was able to simply transplant most of my scratchbuild from the Fine Molds kit. The shell clips are simply made from left-over photoetch ‘sprues’ (it’s always worth keeping these after you have used the actual PE parts) bent to shape and the scalloped rests for the bottom of the cartidge cases (which were stored upside down in the real tank) came from a German grenade box kit. The shells are actually for German 3.7 cms guns and hence a little too long, but they will look fine through the hatches.
Another distinctive aspect of these Japanese tanks are the asbestos panels which line much of the interior. These were made from plastic strip and Archers transfer rivets.
Fine Molds interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
The Fine Molds kit did yield some useful parts for the turret floor however - specifically the clamps that hold the turret in place on the ball race. You can see them heare after painting and weathering.
Interior weathered
The hull interior was based on anything I could lay my hands on in the spares box. The light brown floor and transmission came from an old Italeri Achilles kit and most of the light grey bits from an AFV T34 interior, as did the engine parts. The driver’s dash is a cut-down Tamiya German radio set and the rivets are Archer transfers - this was the first time I had used them and they certainly save a lot of time! The base colour used was Vallejo acrylics: Aluminium highlighted with Steel with some details picked out in Brass and Rubber Black. I then used Vallejo Acrylic Wash and added some spent MG shell casings from snips of brass rod. The larger shell cases are actually from the 2-pounder set, so they are technically too large (40 mm as opposed to 37), but they look fine…
First Aluminium on interior
First Aluminium on interior
Interior weathered
It’s certainly not supposed to be anything like 100% accurate, but just to show something approximate in the gloom of the lower interior visible through the hatches…
Although the Dragon kit comes with a very nice reproduction of the main gun and ball-mounted MG, the ammo stowage is the most glaring omission. It also shows how cramped this turret must have been - even for one over-worked commander.
Luckily I was able to simply transplant most of my scratchbuild from the Fine Molds kit. The shell clips are simply made from left-over photoetch ‘sprues’ (it’s always worth keeping these after you have used the actual PE parts) bent to shape and the scalloped rests for the bottom of the cartidge cases (which were stored upside down in the real tank) came from a German grenade box kit. The shells are actually for German 3.7 cms guns and hence a little too long, but they will look fine through the hatches.
Another distinctive aspect of these Japanese tanks are the asbestos panels which line much of the interior. These were made from plastic strip and Archers transfer rivets.
Fine Molds interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
Unpainted Dragon interior
The Fine Molds kit did yield some useful parts for the turret floor however - specifically the clamps that hold the turret in place on the ball race. You can see them heare after painting and weathering.
Interior weathered
TIM FORSTER
SMF Supporter
Another part of the interior that required a lot of work was the interior of the commander’s cupola.
The hatch is very large - taking up about two-thirds of the turret roof area. With the hatches open the inside is visible even without peering down into the turret interior.
Now this is one aspect of the kits where the Fine Molds version is actually better than the Dragon equivalent. The Dragon cupola has no interior detail whatsoever, whilst the Fine Molds version does at least have the inside fittings for the hatch hinges and also the small circular vision / pistol ports. However, what neither kit offers are the impressions of the six horizontal and two vertical vision slits which surround the cupola itself. There are also two prominent vertical weld beads inside because the cupola ring itself was made from two semi-circular pieces.
Ha-Go Restoration
You can see the inside of the vision slits and one of the weld beads in this image of a restored vehicle.
When I was sill intent on fiishing the Fine Molds kit, I tried to drill out the vision slits all the way through from the outside using a very fine drill. This was only partially successful - partly because the Fine Molds cupola is also way too thick. Once I had the Dragon cupola (which is at least thinnner) I decided a different approach.
Here you can see the two cupolas side by side with the Dragon part on the left and the FM one on the right (the reason that the FM one is grey and not dark green is because I had sprayed it with primer to see how well my work had gone - I was not impressed!).
Comparison between the two cupolas
Next I cut out two strips of thin plastic sheet which were the right size to wrap insde the Dragon cupola and cut the vision slits into them.
Cupola interior inserts
These were then glued inside and, once dry, sanded to make them as thin as possible. Next I transplanted all of the hinges, etc from the FM part into the Dragon cupola. I also added some bolt heads from slices of stretched sprue and the weld beads from the stretched sprue also, softened with liquid cement and then pressed gently with a knife the make the weld beads.
Cupola interior complete
It looks a bit messy here, but once everything was painted I was quite pleased with my efforts.
Interior weathered
Interior weathered
Interior hatch details
In this last shot you can also see the replacement grab handles and hatch latches which I added to the Fine Molds hatches using brass wire and spare photo-etch strips. These were moulded solid on both the FM and Dragon kits, so you have to make them which ever kit you buy. It’s an odd feature of many of these kits that they give you 3D handles for use on the outside, but seem to think it is acceptable to mould them as simple raised details on the inside of hatches - even when you want them positioned open.
The final detail I added to the inside of the cupola was an AA mount for the MG (from a small piece of brass tube). I believe that not all Ha-Gos were equipped with these, but if you look carefully at the shot of the second tank at Bakri (with the dead crewmen alongside) you can just make this out. The FM kit also had the mounting brackets in the correct position, but not the tube.
Here is the finished model before exterior painting begins...
The hatch is very large - taking up about two-thirds of the turret roof area. With the hatches open the inside is visible even without peering down into the turret interior.
Now this is one aspect of the kits where the Fine Molds version is actually better than the Dragon equivalent. The Dragon cupola has no interior detail whatsoever, whilst the Fine Molds version does at least have the inside fittings for the hatch hinges and also the small circular vision / pistol ports. However, what neither kit offers are the impressions of the six horizontal and two vertical vision slits which surround the cupola itself. There are also two prominent vertical weld beads inside because the cupola ring itself was made from two semi-circular pieces.
Ha-Go Restoration
You can see the inside of the vision slits and one of the weld beads in this image of a restored vehicle.
When I was sill intent on fiishing the Fine Molds kit, I tried to drill out the vision slits all the way through from the outside using a very fine drill. This was only partially successful - partly because the Fine Molds cupola is also way too thick. Once I had the Dragon cupola (which is at least thinnner) I decided a different approach.
Here you can see the two cupolas side by side with the Dragon part on the left and the FM one on the right (the reason that the FM one is grey and not dark green is because I had sprayed it with primer to see how well my work had gone - I was not impressed!).
Comparison between the two cupolas
Next I cut out two strips of thin plastic sheet which were the right size to wrap insde the Dragon cupola and cut the vision slits into them.
Cupola interior inserts
These were then glued inside and, once dry, sanded to make them as thin as possible. Next I transplanted all of the hinges, etc from the FM part into the Dragon cupola. I also added some bolt heads from slices of stretched sprue and the weld beads from the stretched sprue also, softened with liquid cement and then pressed gently with a knife the make the weld beads.
Cupola interior complete
It looks a bit messy here, but once everything was painted I was quite pleased with my efforts.
Interior weathered
Interior weathered
Interior hatch details
In this last shot you can also see the replacement grab handles and hatch latches which I added to the Fine Molds hatches using brass wire and spare photo-etch strips. These were moulded solid on both the FM and Dragon kits, so you have to make them which ever kit you buy. It’s an odd feature of many of these kits that they give you 3D handles for use on the outside, but seem to think it is acceptable to mould them as simple raised details on the inside of hatches - even when you want them positioned open.
The final detail I added to the inside of the cupola was an AA mount for the MG (from a small piece of brass tube). I believe that not all Ha-Gos were equipped with these, but if you look carefully at the shot of the second tank at Bakri (with the dead crewmen alongside) you can just make this out. The FM kit also had the mounting brackets in the correct position, but not the tube.
Here is the finished model before exterior painting begins...
scottie3158
SMF Supporter
Tim good to see you again and what away too come back. Excellent work on the updates and scratch work. It will look stunning with some paint on.
rtfoe
SMF Supporter
Fantastic comeback Tim. The Ha-Go un-identical twin looks much better and the switch over was a good decision even if the mantlet on the FM kit was easily repairable. Funny as FM is always seen as the finer molded kit...no pun intended. 
Cheers,
Richard
Cheers,
Richard
