I would like to make Italian heavy tank P40. We call it a heavy tank, but compared to German and US tanks, it’s probably a medium-tank class. It is sold by Tamiya, but the inside is made by Italeri. It is a package replacement or OEM production. Anyway, the kit is made by Italeri. The other day I unexpectedly got the Semovente L40 that I had been looking for for a long time, and I remembered that I had some other Italian tank kits, so I started with this one first. This kit was in short supply for a while due to the influence of Japanese animation, and it may be difficult to get it now.
The chassis is box-assembled, the wheels have a lot of rolling wheels, and the mold is a little loose. The assembly seems to be a little tricky.
Assembly of parts is easy because it is a partially connected tracks. It is difficult to get the coordination of the whole by assembling to the wheel.
The track and the teeth of the start ring do not fit well, so I cut off the teeth, wound the track, and then bonded the tips of the teeth again. This fits the starting wheel perfectly.
It assembles small parts such as folded Jellican racks.
The etched part is too thick to handle. The parts to wrap around the muffler are too hard to wrap properly, so I annealed them in the gas microwave before processing. A little distorted is battle damage.
The assembly is complete. Sounds good. Very cool.
I wanted to get the tank crew around the hatch, so I opened the turret hatch, but this big hatch is probably slidable. A system that does not flip over to the back even when it is open. So I built it like that. Sorry if I’m wrong.
The tank has a lot of rivets and looks like an old era, but this is also good. It seems to appear in Hayao Miyazaki’s illustration.
(2024/10/09)
I painted it with a black base coat. Just wondering, what color should I paint the back of the hatch? A sand yellow or buff is probably appropriate.
The yellow camouflage is the narrowest in the three color, so I added that part later. This time I was particular about stripe-like camouflage painting. The example of the paint on the attached booklet was like that. A vertical pattern on the front would have been better. But I’m planning to load a little luggage, so it won’t change much.
The colors used this time are light green, red brown and sandy brown. It seems brighter than the German tricolor camouflage. The image of bright sunlight in a Mediterranean climate, oranges and olives. I think it will eventually become dull with weathering.
(2024/10/11)
Italian P40 heavy tank was completed. A total of 1000 of these tanks were planned, but only 21 were completed by the time Italy surrendered in September 1943.
German troops stationed in Italy immediately took over the tank factory and secured five tanks and other parts that were still being manufactured. By the end of the war, the Germans had built an additional 100 P40 tanks. 60 tanks were completed in normal operation and 40 tanks were used as fixed positions without engine.
Marking was 1st Platoon, Tank Company, Karstjäger, 24 Fighter Mountain Division of the Waffen SS in April 1945. It was a tank deployed in Northern Italy.
Armed with a 75 mm tank gun and a Breda M38 machine gun. How about a 75 mm tank gun as an armament? It can barely compete with the Soviet T-34.
I picked up a German tank crew from Tamiya’s set. It’s a Wehrmacht, so it’s a little different from SS tank crew, but in terms of atmosphere, I think it would be like this if tank soldiers were on board. SS may have different marks on the collar and cap skull marking.
I put the surplus tracks, jerricans, wooden boxes, etc. on the front armor with a rack. There is surprisingly little space to put luggage on the back of the tank.
I put the bucket that was left over from the other kit, placed on the edge of my work desk, but I eventually lost it, so I used it this time.
It’s a tank as of April 1945, so if he tries for another half month, the war would end.
The inside of the turret was painted in flat white only for the visible part, but as far as I can see from the pictures, it is almost invisible.
Even though it is a Tamiya package, I thought it would be difficult to assemble because the contents are italeri, but it is not that difficult. A modeler who has built several AFV Clubs, Dragons and Border tank kits should be able to complete it without any problems. Or, if you are a fan of Girls and Panzer, many people might have made it. It was different from the German tanks I usually make and I enjoyed making it.
(2024/10/13)
