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Simon Nagorsnik
40 articles

IJN Komatsu G40 (1/48)

March 30, 2022 · in Armor · · 9 · 1.3K

The G40 bulldozer was initialized by the Japanese Navy in the early 1940's.
This is based on an agricultural tractor and was one of the first of its kind in Japan.
The intended use was to make the construction of airfields faster and easier, which was still done manually until it was introduced.

The quality of the kit (32565) impresses with sharp shapes and high accuracy of the part fitting.

Nevertheless, there is a lot of follow-up work to be done.
Some details are only shown in simplified form or are missing.
Before I could start painting, I still had to invest several hours of post-detailing work.

I also built the dio base myself and only the palm leaves lying on the ground are from Voyager Models (PE72031).
I wanted to show a arid pacific island where an airfield is being built.
The trunks of the palm trees consist of a wire framework, the broken ends of splintered toothpicks and I then covered, shaped and structured them with 2k putty.

The driver is offered by Res/Kit (RSF48-0002) which I slightly modified.

Reader reactions:
11  Awesome

28 additional images. Click to enlarge.


9 responses

  1. the painting, highlighting and weathering work on your builds is fantastic!

  2. Superb result, Simon!
    Congratulations!

  3. Nice that you like it and thanks for your comments mates!

  4. Nice! My favorite so far.

  5. Fantastic weathering!

  6. Thank you for your appreciative words
    Gary and Lis!

  7. Excellent work, Simon @s-nagorsnik
    Even the base is a work of art.

  8. Hi, amazing job!

    stunning!

    I am doing the same kit and I was wondering what is the right color for the hydraulic pressure hoses since that in the instruction sheet says to be a mix of brown red and hull red ...which I did but obviously it turned out a sort of dark reddish brown and not black like I suppose should be and as you actually did...are the Tamiya instructions wrong or ? ... just wondering

    btw...what did you use for weathering and mud ?

    Thank you much I will keep following your incredible work.

    Jacopo.

    • Hi Jacopo!
      First of all: Thanks for your comment!
      About the hoses:
      I can not say with certainty whether these belong dark reddish brown or black.
      I found pictures here where they look dark to black and have more of a brown or reddish-brown aging.
      Probably due to the corrosion of the steel wrappings.
      And so far such hoses are known to me only in black.
      I would also call it a matter of taste, I think a black coloring offers a better and more harmonious contrast to the light gray color.
      If it helps you (and it works);) here is the link for you.
      http://flattwin.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2010/04/komatsu-g40-01c.html

      Because of the weathering... I finished the model two or three years ago, but I didn't take any notes.
      But I think I used enamel products from AK Interactive and dry color pigments.
      Anyway, I did the chipping and scratches with the sponge and paintbrush with Vallejo acrylics.
      I hope I could help you with this, if you need anything else, please just get in touch.

      See you, Simon

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