Aoshima has released a number of vehicles of Japanese Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF), including this little gem. I don’t know anything about the ground equipment of the JGSDF, but this is what’s included as a description, “JGSDF 31/2 ton Fuel truck is mainly assigned to Logistic Support Regiment, utilized for fuel supply to tanks, armored vehicles, and other various vehicles in the field. It has “Ki” (danger) marking just like civilian vehicles.” This is one of a series of service vehicles in the JGSF that Aoshima offers in 1/72 scale.

The Kit

The Aoshima Kit of the 3 1/2t JGSDF fuel tank truck consists of 106 styrene parts molded in dark green on seven sprues. The cab is packed separately as well as a single sprue of clear parts. There are decals for one vehicle. There is some slight flash on some of the sprues. The detail is as crisp as you can expect for a kit at this scale. As with all 1/72 kits, there are many small pieces, so they must be removed from the sprue carefully. The kit instructions are in Japanese and English. The presence of two sets of instructions makes for cluttered text. Before starting assembly, it’s important to study them carefully, in particular the paint call outs.

Assembly

As with most vehicles, assembly begins with the chassis. The axles, full tank, and suspension go together easily. The drive shafts, however, are very fragile and must be removed from the sprue carefully. The connection points are barely adequate, so care must be taken when connecting the various gear boxes to each axle. Since the chassis and body are painted in two different colors (semi-gloss black for the chassis, olive drab for the body), the kit is assembled as subassemblies – the chassis, cab, body, and fuel tank and joined together in the final step. The only disappointment is that the tires have open backs. In this day and age, it would seem that solid wheels, even for a vehicle at this scale, is more appropriate.

The body is composed of two sub-assemblies - the cab and fuel tank. The cab is what you would expect from a kit of this scale. The seats are molded into the floor. There’s no decal or detail on the instrument panel. Thankfully, the windows are sold, clear transparencies and fit without a problem. The rear view mirrors are very small and the attachments are very small and fragile, so handle with care.

The tank rests on a frame that, in turn, rests on the chassis. There’s some finally molded rails that protect the spare tire. As one would expect, the shell of the tank is molded into two pieces. The top is covered by the fuel ports and the bottom is attached to the chassis, hiding any seems. Smart design. The frame and tank slip on without a problem. Attaching the cab and fuel tank to the chassis, though, takes some test fitting. There was some fine flash on the attachment points that needed cleaning up before the sub-assemblies fit snuggly to the chassis. It takes some work to get the fuel tank to lay flat on the chassis. You have to apply gentle pressure against the tank and the chassis to get the two sub-assemblies to fit. Once the chassis snapped into place, it remained in place, so I didn’t apply any glue. Let’s hope it stays that way! Unfortunately, I dropped the cab after final assembly and painting, breaking the fragile driver’s mirror assembly. I lost two of the three mirrors, so you’ll see it’s missing on the finished kit.

Finishing

The color call outs are for Vallejo paints but I substituted those with Tamiya paints. The chassis is painted semi-gloss black (X-18), the cab and fuel tank in olive drab (XF-62), and the tires in flat black (XF-1). The cab appears to have a canvas top. The instructions called for a mix of Mr. Color paints – JGSDF olive drab and brown. The box art and photographs online suggest either a khaki color or light olive. I chose khaki (XF-49). I applied a coat of future for a gloss coat to accommodate the decals. The decals were on the thick side and, unfortunately, had issues with silvering. Since these vehicles more than likely remain relatively clean while they are in use, I put on a dull coat and that was about it.

While JGSF service vehicles may not have a wide appeal in the North American market, as I have stated previously on other reviews, I enjoy the wide variety of subjects that come out of Asian kit manufacturers and this is a cool little vehicle kit. Despite the challenges of a braille scale kit, this would certainly be a nice addition to a 1/72 diorama for JGSDF subject matter. My thanks to IPMS USA, Dragon Models USA and Aoshima for giving me the opportunity to review this kit.