This is the third instalment of my ongoing build of successful light tanks of WW2, in this case the Japanese Type 95 Light Battle Tank “Ha-Go”. By the start of the Second World War in the Pacific, the Ha-Go was already an old design from 1934. It had been operating in China and Manchuria against sparse armored opposition by the Chinese Nationalist troops operating even older Vickers tanks. During the Kalkhin Gol campaign, Type 95s suffered greatly against Soviet armor , as did all other types of Japanese tanks. However, in one notable action by the Japanese 4th Tank Regiment under the command of Col. Tamada managed to lead his Ha-Go tanks under the cover of a thunderstorm to closing distance and overran a Soviet artillery position of 12 guns. The next prominent success of the little Ha-Go was in the Japanese invasion of Malaya in December 1941. Two critical battles were fought in the first week of the campaign in Northern Malaya at Kota Bharu (the landing site) and near the town of Jitra along the old North South trunk road 55km from the Thai border. The British and Indian troops had established a blocking defensive line there, already anticipating the Japanese advance southward from Singora.
From December 11th to 13th 1941, the Japanese tank units kept bypassing defensive positions setup along the trunk road, culminating in the abandonment of Jitra and subsequently, the fall of the Port of Penang.It was one of the most under-reported British military disasters prior to the Fall of Singapore. The defeat in Jitra led to the dismissal of the British commander of the Northern Malaya operations, and the beginning of the British mad rush for the supposed safety of Fortress Singapore. How did the little Type 95 create such an impact on Britain’s defense of Malaya? The 37mm gun was a handy weapon in jungle warfare, and the tank had a good range of 200+ km and a road speed of 30kph. The crew were familiar with this tank and knew how to operate it to its best advantage, getting close to the enemy by using its mobility. By contrast, the British and Commonwealth troops in Malaya had no tanks, and only could deploy antiquated armored cars as mechanized units. The Japanese willingness to send tanks down plantation roads and widened agricultural tracks meant that they managed to cut behind anti-tank positions with ease. In its entire history, the Ha-Go variants were in the thick of Japan’s campaigns from China to Okinawa. About 2,700 tanks were built, making it the most numerous model among Japanese tanks manufactured . It was also the one Japanese tank most used by other countries, naming Thailand, France and China among their users.
Gallery
Construction Notes
Fine Molds of Japan makes this very nice 1/35 scale kit in its early variant and late war version. This Malayan Campaign kit represents the early version that was still in use in 1941. The fit is excellent, and similar in quality and clarity of instructions to Tamiya. I wished that it has come with interior details (it does not). The track arrangement uses the multiple piece track method that I had taught in this tutorial. The kit comes with some clear parts and also the photoetched muffler guard. This is a good kit for beginners from an assembly point of view. However, for the panting portion, any tank with FOUR camouflage colors can be officially described as challenging. I added Japanese tank crew figures from MiniArt Ukraine.
We start with the assembly of the lower hull tub. The fact that it has this bulkhead piece in the middle separating the crew fighting compartment from the engine space tells me that somewhere out there, there are customized inserts for both interiors.
The bellcrank arrangement for the chassis roadwheels were added to the sides of the lower hull.
I added metal mesh to the insides of the two ventilation and attached them with superglue.
The top half of the hull is dry-fitted onto the lower hull. The fit is impeccable, and so we continue with the build. The reason I have not glued the two halves togetherwas because we still needed to paint the interior Tamiya Flat While XF2.
The turret is a very irregular-shaped box with more acute corners than a star. Careful fitting is required in the prescribed sequence, and you will find a home for every panel. Disobey at your own peril.
The interior surface was airbrushed with Tamiya XF-2 Flat White.
After I glue the hull halves together, I spend the waiting time building the exhaust, muffler, and muffler cage
The base color for the Ha-Go as shipped from factory is an overall IJA Brown (Gunze Mr. Hobby C526). This color has a very reddish component to it. Some Japanese literature say that the other camouflage colors are applied by hand in the field.
The next two main camouflage colors of IJA Green Mr. Color C525 and IJA Ground Color C522, each applied by hand for the hard line effect and the slight uneveness of the field application. Feathered camouflage lines did not appear on Japanese AFVs until late 1943.
Last but not least, the unusual IJA practice in the early period of the war to apply continuous and intersecting strips of bright yellow (Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow) across the prior tri-colored camouflage. This pattern has to be carefully applied by hand. I chose to use an acrylic yellow over the lacquer based camouflage so that the latter colors do not interact in a bad, mixing messy way as the yellow paint is applied. This could happen if I was using Mr. Color’s own yellow paint instead of the Tamiya Acrylic. In this case, the Tamiya Yellow worked fabulously. By the way, there is a fifth color in this scheme. The IJA Khaki Mr. Color C527 was used ONLY for the barrel, and later the jack unit.
While the main hull and turret camo were drying, I painted the sprocket, idler rollers and road wheels
Wheels on!
I prepped the surface under the decals with Micro Gloss. The decals from the kit were excellent, easy to apply and softens just right.
I used the handpainting “chipping” technique to paint small blobs of paint scuffs and the beginning of rusting. I also do dry-brushing to raise the visibility of the rivets and ridges. A satin varnish is sprayed to seal the decals in and provide a uniform finish to the tank.
Once the varnish has cured, an oil wash of Lamp Black + Burnt Umber was applied.
The exhaust muffler unit is painted using the technique used in Tutorial 14. Notice how the muffler is clearly visible under the muffler cage.
Tracks on! Note the molded track sag as they drape over the top row idlers. Wicked effect! The rest of the fiddly bits come on at this time like the opened cupola hatches (for fitting in the commander figure later).
The pioneer tools and vehicle jack were attached to the port rear side.
The tracks and lower hull undersides were given an oil wash of 45% Burnt Umber + 45% Yellow Ochre + 10% Zinc White.
The commander figure was painted with the paint colors stacked behind him. For East-Asian skin tone, I use Tamiya Wooden Deck Tan XF-78 instead of the usual Tamiya Flesh XF-15 .
It is amazing what a commander figure does of a tank!
Once placed on the mixed grassy marsh landscape, one can see why this camouflage pattern worked in Malaya.
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