OK, so the next stage was definitely the most daunting.
Hand-painting camouflage is something I don’t believe I have tried since I was about twelve… and that would have been either an
Airfix plane or a Matchbox tank.
There are other ways, of course. The most popular these days seems to be to use ‘crazy putty’ to mask the different layers of camo one after the other and then apply the colours with a
airbrush. Or you can try and mask each area with multiple layers of masking tape.
However, both of these involve a lot of pre-planning and, it seems to me, an awful lot of work before you even get to put paint on the model. Plus this was, after all, a
hand-painted pattern and I had a set of paints that were designed (apparently) for
brush painting.
So who was I to argue?
That didn’t stop me from trying to be clever in other ways. Initially, I printed out some line drawings of the Ha-Go and started to map out the pattern on those with felt tip pens. But then I thought: “Just get on with it!” So I did…
As I have said, the Type 95 I am depicting here must be one of the most comprehensively photographed examples of the Second World War, so at least I had something of a head start. However, the difficulties with old black and white photos are many and various. First off, we do not have a nice walk-around to show the tank from all angles. Secondly, even when we have what looks like a decent shot (like some of those above), the tricks of light and contrast simply make some of the tones simply disappear.
However, using the parts of the pattern which are visible - most notably the front of the hull, the turret side and the port side of the fighting compartment - I did my best to guess what else was going on. So I am certainly not suggesting that this is anything like 100% accurate…
At this stage, with no washes or weathering, the results are a bit toy-like I admit. But then that is what the next stage is all about - making this look more like the real thing, albeit in miniature...