When I first received this model kit for review, the title that Dragon Models gave it, “Heavy Uniform Personnel Vehicle Type 40” had me confused. It clearly looked to me like the Auto Union/Horch 4x4 Type 1a produced by Tamiya in 1/35^th scale way back in the 1970’s. And sure enough, this is what the kit turned out to be! And to be fair to Dragon, the vehicle was indeed a “heavy” (as compared “medium” or “light” weight) 6 man personnel vehicle. The kit is in fact “kits”, as Dragon gives the modeler two identical kits within the same box.

Over the years, model companies haven’t exactly been falling over each other to produce WW2 Japanese military vehicles in the smaller scales: 1/72^nd or 1/76^th. Hasegawa produced a couple of trucks in their 72^nd scale series many years ago, while Airfix produced a Type 97 “Chi-Ha” decades ago in 76^th scale. For the time the Airfix kit wasn’t a bad little model, bar the rubberized plastic tracks which nothing seemed to glue together. So it was a happy surprise to discover that Dragon Models was producing not one, but two 72^nd scale IJA tanks in their “Armor Pro” series, a Type 95 “Ha-Go” light tank, and the subject of this review, a Type 97 “Chi-Ha” medium tank.

I have a number of Osprey’s “How-To” Masterclass books in my library and have benefited from and enjoyed every one of them. This latest volume by Alex Clark is no exception. “Small-Scale Armour Modelling” (yes, I know, it’s not spelled correctly in US English) is a wonderful look at the world of small-scale armor - my favorite modeling subject.

This book (like the Osprey Steve Zaloga armor Masterclass book I reviewed earlier this year) is presented in a hardcover format with a spiral-type wire binding. I really like this feature because it allows you to use the book as a handy desk reference while working, since it stays open to the page you need without having to crack the binding to keep it open. The page stock is nice and heavy and the printing quality is top-notch, with full-color photography used throughout to illustrate many of the how-to ideas in the book.

The book is presented in eight concise and easy to read chapters. They are as follows:

The summer issue of AFV Modeler lives up to its pedigree as a world-class modeling magazine. The cover article is a riff on Luftwaffe ’46. Using what I believe is the Dragon Panther II kit, Miguel Jimenez (MIG products founder) describes his flight of fancy – the Americans and Germans unite at the end of the war to battle the Communist menace using German equipment. The bulk of the article is devoted to giving the tank its marvelous finish. Using color modulation and the hairspray technique, the author gets a fantastic result using advanced finishing techniques.

The next article features Denes Benedick’s diorama. Set in the last days of the 1940 French campaign, the Bronco A13 Mk. II and Adler Kfz. armored car builds a very nice diorama depicting the British First Armored Division on the offensive.

These sets of masks are for the use in painting the model without painting the clear glass windows and lamps. The masks are made of a vinyl type of material and are different from the yellow “Tamiya” type of tape. Because they are of this vinyl type of material, they are much stiffer, but do allow you to place them fairly easily. However, it became a task to remove them without popping the glass out. There is a two part mask for the windshield that allows for a depiction of a dirty windshield that has been wiped clean by the windshield wipers. This worked very well and does make the weathering process easier.