Well, the tamiya Chia-Ha, being an old kit, not too bad. Finishing one up for the Pacific GB, but I’m wondering if there are any other WW2 japanese armor 1/35 kits out there without having to sacrifice any arms legs or my first born…
Only one’s I know about were Tamiya’s, they did like 2 or 3, don’t think any are in production right now
You could do a captured M3 Stuart.
I may have one to trade since we live so close to each other 
Finemolds makes an excellent tankette or whatever it is called. You will have to auction your firstborn to get one though. Sorry. Not much in the way of Japanese armor, but that is understandable, they had little armor in the war and few types as well.
THere is something by Tamiya at the LHS. I cannot remember exactly what it was, but I think it was self propelled artillery
Fine Molds kits are not that expensive. Originally many were in the triple digit range. Now most are under $40. Check out Hobbylink Japan, best prices and they will put the old Tamiya kit to shame. Most kits contain some amount of photo etched details. Some contain vision blocks and periscopes molded in clear plastic. Others contain individual link tracks.
They do some tankettes that are barely bigger than a 1/72 scale Sherman. They also do the Type 3 Chi-Nu which is a 75mm medium tank (their largest) which was designed to fight the Sherman.
Check out http://www.hlj.com to see their line.
Found it at GM (not in stock though) and the box says Type 1 75mm Self Propelled Gun kit number 35095
I’ve been looking for that kit.
Well, I can get it for you and send it if you would like. I don’t know the price, but I can check it out for you. Usually the LHS price is right about MSRP and they frequently run 10% off deals
i see some others done in the 1/72 scale but that’s about it…
Anyone wants the 75, let me know
Forgot to mention the RPM Japanese Ko-gata early WW2 tank based on the Ft-17. Squadron has it for $20 but you can find it elsewhere on line for less.
http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=MKR35063
Also the Academy M3 Stuart ‘Honey’ includes markings for a captured Stuart used in the Phillipines.
I still recommend chosing one of the Fine Molds tanks just to give it a try.
rob, that’s great… thanks… one of those would be perfect i think… couple of burnt out Japanese tanks with some marines around them…
Geoff- I just got a couple of your e-mails from Friday. Sorry! My e-mail at work was left on until Saturday
jason, it’s good… go ahead and get that 75mm WW2 SPGun if your LHS still has it and I’m going to get the one from squadron… I better be careful, I may end up recreating Iwo Jima… [B)]
OK, as soon as I get down there. Hopefully this week. Should probably just get your M-48 and ship them out together, huh?
yeah, that’s cool. let me know the cost i’ll send you a check with the cammo netting and polycaps too…
Ok…give me the week to get there
no worries… by the way, how is that “windtalkers” us-japanese infantry set if anyone knows?
Just DML’s set of Japanese infantrymen (the best plastic IJA soldiers) and their USMC figures packaged with a resin figure that is supposed to look like Nicholas Cage. Not a bad figure though.