introduction

Needing a small scale Japanese tank from the 60s, I was pleasantly surprised to find this little kit available and snapped it up. Considering it is the size of a quarter, the detail is impressive. Outside of waiting for the Mr. Surfacer to dry, this is about a 5 minute build.

history

In the mid-50s the JGSDF had a need of a new tank to replace their aging M24s and M4s. As the current M47/48 series was too expensive and big, it was decided to build the first Japanese tanks since 1945. Mitusibishi Heavy Industries responded and their 90 mm cannon tank began entering service in 1961.

overview

Five minutes, eleven parts, some surprisingly good detail for a tiny kit. The kit comes in a small plastic bag stapled to a thick piece of cardboard with a picture of the tank and some informative text on the front and an exploded diagram/instructions on the back. The track parts are made of a rubbery plastic similar to what Dragon uses for its DS tracks. The rest are of typical shiny hard plastic.

the build

Take the hull bottom and fit the track halves into the corresponding two pegs. Glue the upper hull half to it before gluing the small box on the left side into its slot.

Glue the turret cupola to the top and attach the M2 MG. Put the rather obviously overscale smoke dischargers into their slots and add the Main gun to its slot. Attach turret to hole with the large turret peg. Try and figure out how you're going to weather the darned thing. . .

final thoughts

It's a small kit, so it's a rather small review. For its size, the detail is quite nice and, if you are truly crazy, would provide a great base for superdetailing. I have included a couple of pictures to explain both why I am making my first kit in this scale as well as show the typical operating environment of a 60s Japanese tank. . .