Fine Molds

1/35 Type 5 Chi-Ri Japanese Tank

Kit Number: FM28

Reviewed by  Gary Telecsan, IPMS# 34779

MSRP: approx $98, available for less. Review sample provided by HobbyLink Japan: www.hlj.com/ The Chi-ri was Japan's last attempt at a tank to defeat the anticipated American invasion of Japan. Based on experience gained during the war, the Chi-ri was a new design, up-armored and armed with a 75 mm high velocity gun in the fully rotating turret, and carried a 37 mm gun in the glacis. Two machine guns completed the armament. Arrangement and slope of the armor was as modern as any late-war WWII tank. Only two Chi-ris were constructed. After the war, one of them was supposedly lost at sea on the way to America, and one was smelted in Japan during the Korean War. There is a wealth of info in the instruction booklet, but none in English. The kit comes with 283 orange colored parts on six sprues with hull and deck separate. There is also one sprue with 15 clear colored parts for armored glass and lights and 1 small photoetched fret with 6 parts. Instructions are 27 steps with exploded diagrams, and are easy to follow. There are several small alternative parts for planned production models which never made it to the line. For dedicated treadheads, three things are immediately noticeable: 1) the cannon barrels are plastic, the 75 mm being in two halves and the 37 mm a single piece. There is a hollow muzzle for the larger gun, but the 37 mm will need to be drilled out, 2) many of the armor plates show a realistic production texture (best seen on the photo of the unpainted mantlet), and 3) tracks come as individual links, 420 pieces, 210 each tops and bottoms, and there are no ejector pin marks. However, with two attachment points per piece, there is enough clean-up work to keep you busy for several evenings. The outer portions clean up quickly with a file but the inner portions are fragile and require a bit more care. I found I didn't even need a jig, the assembly went so quickly once clean-up was done, and the result, if one is careful with the liquid cement, is a very nice set of tracks that is fully articulated. A good picture is found on the Hobbylink website. However, during final assembly, I found the Tamiya liquid cement I had used was not strong enough to support the flex and I spent quite a bit of time redoing the links. If enough liquid was used to firmly hold the tracks, it was hard not to get the adjacent links stuck together. I finally went back to good old Testor's hi-viscosity liquid, and that worked better, but not before I welded several links together. The instructions call for 100 links per side, but I found to get realistic sag as seen at Hobbylink, 101 or even 102 were needed. In the pictures, the left side has 100 links, the right side, 102. Interior detail is minimal - ammunition container detail in the floor of the lower hull and some really nicely detailed gun breeches for both the cannons and the machine guns, and armored glass for all the viewing ports, but even with all hatches wide open, very little can be seen. Hatches do have interior detail. The instructions are in Japanese except for major titles and an advertisement for "detail up" parts, i.e., two metal barrels for the main and secondary armament which can be ordered. As usual, I found the best way to proceed was to make up sub-assemblies in approximately the order of the instructions, and then to assemble after painting. Step 1 I actually left for last, as if the radiator is glued to the underside of the vent, overspray will be unavoidable. Steps 2 through 7 dealt with the hull and suspension, and presented no problems. The detail in the suspension is truly fantastic! While wading through the usual road wheel preparation, I took time to assemble the 37 mm position in the glacis and also the 75 mm gun. There is a truly bodacious seam in the top of the 37 mm mantlet which took considerable work to eliminate. The breech and associated mechanisms for both guns are among the best I've ever seen - 11 pieces for the 37 mm and 20 for the bigger gun. It's a pity that so little can be seen in the finished model. In the photos, the 75 mm breech is shown in red lead primer, the 37 mm in natural plastic.

The rear exhaust is cleverly planned and one of the plastic pieces on sprue H is a jig to bend the photoetched screen which covers the main portion of the exhaust. It worked much better than my Hold n' Fold would have. I eventually finished construction by putting together the following subassemblies: turret with main armament; commander's hatch w/o glass installed; upper hull complete with tools, jack, and mounting brackets for cable, lower hull, and two sets of 100 track links. The exhaust system I left in 5 pieces to install after painting was complete. I also left the front of the headlight off, preferring to install the glass and front after painting rather than try to mask. The towing cable provided did not look very real to me so I left it off. And now, on to spritzing! Everything got a coat of basic black enamel first, rattle can from Walmart. The kit provides instructions for 3 schemes: the prototype and two "imaged" - imaginary - schemes for planned units should the Chi-ri have made it into production. The production schemes are either olive drab or a four color camouflage similar to that found on Japanese light tanks. I chose the more challenging prototype finish. I mixed up a parched grass color from acrylic craft paint, a light khaki. Two light coats of that were applied, followed by a partial coat of the same color lightened 30% with white on the upper surfaces and the middle of the angled armored plate. That's all there was time for, but in the future I'll be applying a number of filters and washes to represent the prototype as seen during the Korean War just before smelting. The tracks were painted black, and then rusted with a powdered pigment I picked up at a convention 6 or 7 years ago and whose name is now illegible. Any good pigment would produce the same results. The exhaust was finished in silver enamel followed by good old Testor's rust, and then given the same pigment treatment, including the photoetched screen. The texture present in the armor plate surfaces does not show up well in the pictures after painting, but is still there - washes and filters will really make it stand out. Decals are provided as pairs of id numbers for 5 proposed vehicles, and a single for the rear of a 6th test vehicle. The prototype has none. I tested one of the decals on the inside floor, and it went on over the textured floor with no trouble. I glossed a section of the floor, applied the decal, used Microset, and when matte was applied it looked very good. This was great fun to build, and even the tracks are not that much of challenge. Thanks to Hobbylink for the review copy!