Global Scale Modeller

Hello everyone!

This will be the build log of Dragon's relatively new release of the Japanese Ha-Gō light tank. I intend to build the tank, some crew members and a diorama that I haven't quite fully fleshed out the details of yet.

The kits:


I've just mocked up the tracks for now since I'm using the pin technique to achieve the track sag and I want to get the fit right before I seal on the upper hull. The idler's can actually be adjusted back and forth which makes fitting the tracks very easy.


It's actually a really good kit overall. Lots of optional photo etch parts which I've opted to go for but you can choose to install the plastic parts instead. That PE plate on the back, for example, appears in plastic.


I also stuck together one of the figures and began mocking up the turret in order to position things like open hatches right.

Nice progress so far I've been often tempted by one of these myself looks like a nice kit .
Miniart make great figures don't they ?

Nice! Japanese tanks are so quirky in my opinion. You nailed the track sag by the way, very realistic!

Thanks, guys.

Construction of the Ha-Gō is complete. I've just got to seal the upper and lower hulls together which I'll do once I've painted the interior and the driver. This is a lovely kit from Dragon and one I would recommend. It's also currently on sale at Hannants for £23 for anybody that's interested. The Miniart figures are great, too. Obviously, the level of detail can't be as great as resin, but five figures in styrene is great value in my opinion.





The driver was originally a figure in a stood pose so he required a bit of surgery.

Excellent stuff.
Nice to see how well this can build up. I'll definitely be looking for those figures.
Nice use of the pin method on those tracks too.

Cheers!

I've made a decision on what kind of diorama base I'll make and have begun committing materials. The scene will be one of a road march that has come to a halt in the rice fields.

I tweaked the pose of the commander so he didn't look quite a stiff. The right hand was rotated about 90 degrees to better sit on the edge of the turret. He was also seated lower down because the cupola hatches on the Ha-Gō actually actually sit flat on their hinges. They're also so thin and flimsy on the real tank, I can't imagine anybody being able to put any weight on or hold onto them like he was previously.




I then ran out of clay so this is as far as I got. A good opportunity to show a cross section of how I construct my bases. In this case, layers of foam board terraformed with DAS clay.



Running in parallel with the road will be an irrigation channel. (I think it's an irrigation channel, anyway. They might also be overflow drains to prevent the paddy from flooding too much.)

The little ramp is just made from split bamboo skewers.

That's awesome composition.
It will be a hell of a diorama. Well chosen.

I got my hands on some more clay today and resumed work on the base. The irrigation channel walls have been made with stones from my back garden and I've twisted up a small tree out of copper wire which I intend to coat in gesso.

Everything is on for a test fit again but I think I'll re-do the rice in paper since I don't like the way the brush bristles look.

This is bloody awesome! I love the base already and its not even painted yet! I just think this scene works so well. Excellent mate, looking forward to seeing this progress.

I with Gav.... Superb!

Really great so far! Don't see many Japanese tanks. Will be keepin' up with this one.

It's been a while since I posted an update on this project because it's been slow going. I haven't really had much time to work on the diorama but I have managed to get a few things done. Paint has been put down on some of the scenery and the figures are pretty much complete save for a few touch ups here and there.




What was previously a wire skeleton of a tree has recieved a few coats of gesso, some of that lichen stuff and a bit of paint. The roots were made from milliput.



What has received the most attention however is the irrigation canal which is currently a big experiment on water effects for me. The successes and failures I learn from here will help when it comes down to filling up the paddy fields. Currently I'm using clear sealant and layers of gloss which I'm pretty happy with for the time being. Green pigments of crushed up chalk pastels have been stippled into key areas between layers of gloss to emulate algae and other surface scum.




The wood ramp has had some paint, wash and drybrush, too.



And a bird's eye view of the current layout for good measure:

That's starting to shape up well.
The water looks really good. Nicely done.

Thanks, Coen.

Did some more work on the diorama base today. It's received some dirt, pigments and grass. I homogenized some of the colours with the airbrush and highlighted others, especially the grass which was initially all the same dark green. Next the base is ready to have the silicon water applied.

Wow!!!!

Love that base mate. I've done very little AFV but I'm really interested in getting some diorama work done with some of my aircraft so you might find me nicking some of your techniques.

Freaking awesome stuf dude!

I've finally started committing paint to the model. First is a shot in it's primer colour, this is also where I got up to with the sealant water but that later got stripped out.



Here is the base after having all the silicon stripped off it. I wasn't happy because whilst in the darker recess of the canal, you couldn't really see it but for open water, the silicon is too milky. Next I think I'll try an acrylic medium. Does anybody have any experience with Vallejo water effects? Or does anybody know of any other good methods for achieving relatively deep water?




Finally I managed to get the camouflage sprayed on. It is a hardline camo so I had to mask bits off with some Humbrol Maskol. This stage also led me to accidentally losing a few hatch handles.





The yellow was a bit of a nightmare to spray on. It's like it was too thin out of the bottle so getting up close with the airbrush started blowing it all over the place. In the end I had to mask of more of the model and spray from further away. The only other problem with maskol and acrylics is it tends to leave behind flaky edges where the paint which has adhered to the model has pulled with it some of the paint that was on the maskol prior to peeling it off. It's not a massive deal, it just means I still need to go over some of the edges with a cotton bud in order to get rid of it.

All sorts of learning lessons goin on Hank
I've used that Vallejo stuff a couple of times and I like the results. You have to add it in multiple layers for deep water, so it's quite time consuming. It's also expensive as hell.
Yellow is a difficult colour to spray, as is red and white, blue can be tricky as well.
I honestly have no idea why, but every manufacturer that I've tried for yellow sprays with difficulty. So far only the ammo has worked better...but not perfect.
Paul Bretland may know of a manufacturer that does a good yellow, I know Tamiya makes a good flat white.
The key to painting the yellows is in thin multiple layers. It will run all over the place if you don't.

Awesome work on that dio. Great idea. Very well executed!
Definitely going to follow this one!

cheers

Thanks everyone.

The model is just about complete. It got the final lot of washes, weathering and drybrush today.






I've ordered some acrylic two part pouring resin and I'll be conducting some experiments with that in the hope of eventually using it to finally add the water to the diorama.

Okay so here's how it all went with the acrylic resin.





I'm actually very happy with how it turned out but one thing kept bothering me every time I looked at the base with the model mounted on it. It's probably one of the biggest diorama bases I've made to date but for such a small tank, it's much too big. To my eyes, at least. I think I'll always be more of a vignette builder since I rather my models get the spotlight and the scenery just be something that aids in drawing attention to the subject. This base was much too distracting. It's a personal preference thing.

Anyway, despite the hours I've put into this old base, I'm putting it into storage and starting again. I've learnt a lot from it so I don't at all feel like it was time wasted. It certainly was a good testbed for many things. Hopefully it will see the light of day again (I was thinking of using it in an all figure diorama) but for now I've opted to go with something a lot more modest.



A house number plate I picked up from the hardware store was the perfect size. I slapped some clay over it and with an afternoon's work, it'll be good to go. Not nearly as impressive or technical as the first base but I'm much happier with the model sitting on it. I've also scratched a couple of other items to help draw attention to the model; A small flag made from just stretched sprue and tinfoil which was then bent into shape and set with super glue. Also a unsheathed sword to sit in the tank commanders hand.



Thanks again for looking. The next update will probably be the finished thing.

That's really too bad. I loved the base.
With a few figures and local colour items like livestock, wagons, farm tools, etc, it would fill it out quite wonderfully.
However, that's only if you're trying to tell a story with your piece.
If you're just trying to showpiece the tank then a small vignette is the way to go.

I liked the base too, Coen. I like it enough that I intend to use it again at some point and when I do, I think I'll take your advice and fill it out with more stuff, perhaps a few civilians. I think it might work well for a Vietnam or Korea subject.

Until then, thank you all for following this build as it's now complete and I can move on to the next thing. The finished model can be seen here: http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 46&t=13894