Next part of my catching up with the Japanese Battlefront pre-Pacific releases: the Type 89 Chi Ro (aka I-Go) medium tanks.

These come in boxes of five tanks, which is a bit weird really, as they fought in platoons of three tanks with a two-tank HQ. Must be Battlefront economics to always sell this sized tank in boxes of five.

Anyhoo, as you'd expect from Battlefront, these are lovely models: nicely detailed, and with relief deep enough to really bring out that detail when washed. Quality control was very good as well:  no missing parts, no horribly contorted parts, and everything went together very easily. You see, Battlefront, you can do it right!

The five tanks above were painted using the guide on the FOW website: spray undercoated in a deep yellow; camouflage added; then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. All I would suggest is that you think about where you want the thin yellow line to go before you paint the main brown and then green camouflage stripes i.e. plan your paint job rather than just starting willy-nilly.

The command figures are also well detailed. I love the pointing-chap, but I'm not sure about the bloke with the sword. Leaving aside his grip (that's the martial arts geek emerging from his lair!) I'm not sure that it's very practical to carry a katana, even a WW2 cut-down one, in a smallish tank such as a Chi Ro. Surely that's what a wakisashi is for!

Nice models, recommended for re-fighting Khalkhin Gol.