Type 95 Ha-Go

Actual tank that is being built. From Tarawa 1944 

Running gear assembled 

Main fuselage assembled, waiting on the Transmission to get installed. 

Designed something in Tinkercad to play the part of the transmission. Need to build out floor and a "firewall". The main parts are here however.
 

Transmission test fit into the hull. Hatches will be open so it needs something to fill the space.
 

Opened up. Will look much better painted, need to put in a firewall (not sure what to call it) and some controls as well as brake pads. 

Spring made out of copper wire 

Transmission installed
 

Some paint added and a few details
 

Assembled 3D printed stuff 

Assembly of Friul tracks. 

Original bag of tracks for one side of the model. 

Started with strips after cleaning up the parts. Substituted copper wire for the brass that came with it. Mixes feelings about that. The copper is so soft that if you need to apply any pressure it bends very easily. 

Added some texture to the body. 

One side track completed 

Close up of the finished track. 

Just about ready for priming. Added some texture to things. Started adding photoetch. 

Tracks burnished. First time I used a toothbrush to burnish and it worked really well. Soaked in AK burnishing solution then scrubbed. Super consistent. Do need to wash them first. 

First coat of Lifecolor rust. 

Final result after 4 coats and a lot of speckling.  

Final result after 4 coats and a lot of speckling.  

Primed! 

Primed! 

Primed! 

Primed! 

Primed! 

Primed! 

First coat of a very lightened khaki paint using Harvey Low's formulas. This will have been sitting on a beach for quite a while. 

First coat of a very lightened khaki paint using Harvey Low's formulas.  

First coat of a very lightened khaki paint using Harvey Low's formulas.  

First coat of a very lightened khaki paint using Harvey Low's formulas.  

First coat of a very lightened khaki paint using Harvey Low's formulas.  

First coat of a very lightened khaki paint using Harvey Low's formulas.  

First coat of a very lightened khaki paint using Harvey Low's formulas.  

As there is really no standard scheme for a Ha-Go at that time of the war I colorized some B&W photos of the actual tank (not this photo 🙂 ). Did not use this for color matching only where the correct colors went. This made masking go very quickly and will be something I do going forward to make life easier. Used my AK weathering pencils, they are definitely not made for this purpose but did the trick in a pinch. 

Used silly putty to mask. Something I did way back in the day. Silly putty has improved quite a bit and there are now no oils in it to stain the paint. It is about $5 for 4 or 5 eggs of it and it appears to be reusable. Quite a bit cheaper than the AK or other masking stuff and more readily available. 

Pink is the mask to protect the tan/khaki colors and spray the next layer which is green. To be clear I am not painting the rest overall green but not masking for the brownish color yet. See below for an explanation of this. 

Masking the tan off to protect. 

Masking the tan off to protect. 

Colored drawing is above the spraybooth as a reference. As I paint I keep an eye out for the areas that will be green and stay pretty close to those with this layer of paint. Also it is a very light coat so I don't produce ridges in the paint. 

Result with the green painted. 

Result with the green painted. 

Result with the green painted. 

Masked for the final coat. Green is covered with the yellow silly putty so exposed areas will get the darker brown/mahogany colored paint  

Brown paint layered on with all the masking. 

Brown paint layered on with all the masking. 

Brown paint layered on with all the masking. 

Brown paint layered on with all the masking. 

Final result with all the masks off. A couple of spots to clean up a bit but overall went on quite well. Late war the yellow stripe that you would see on a tank had gone away and this photo I believe was from late '43 or early '44. 

Happy with the result, on to weathering. 

Happy with the result, on to weathering. 

Happy with the result, on to weathering. 

Happy with the result, on to weathering. 

Happy with the result, on to weathering. 

From the back. Not super happy with it yet. The wash mellowed it a bit but going to rip up the mesh some and bend it as well as working through some of the paint issues that it still feels are there. It will look better when the entire tank is rusted as it will give context.
 

Basically all the different paint that got pulled out to work on this. Yes most of it was used at least a bit. It ain't over yet. 

Other view. Still too many "lines" on the paint. Some touchup will need to be done. 

Lots of paint on and the mesh also on the tank. 

After a couple of coats of rust on the muffler 

Coats of paint on the mesh cover. 

Beginning of the rusting process. Off white to give the rust a good base. 

Some messy weathering also damaged the exhaust a bit. 

Some messy weathering 

Some messy weathering 

Some messy weathering 

Looking at some some knocked out tanks near water it seems like they sprockets carry a lot of rust if the tracks are rusty.  

Lots more rust spots and chipping, some new panel lines etc 

Lots more rust spots and chipping, some new panel lines etc 

Need some dust and possibly some sandy mud after putting on the tracks. Then an overall flat coat (possibly rain effects also) and start work on the base.