I like this tank.

A mid 90's release, the Type 90 kit is all that we have come to expect from a Tamiya modern armor subject...with a couple of "why did they do thats?" sprinkled in.

More on those quirks later.

The box....


A shot of the main components clipped together.


The main hull was warped so I glued in some extra stiffeners to true up the hull sides, always good to start with a straight (ish) hull! No real reason there are (2) diameters of rod, I just ran out of one size and switched to the other,


More later, thanks for looking,
Ryan

I eliminated the road wheels' mold seam lines on my lathe.

A brass shaft was turned to hold the wheel, then I chucked it up, and took down the seams with sanding film and sticks. A light buffing from a paper towel finished the job.

One end of the shaft was machined to the same diameter that the suspension swing arm has, so the wheels just clipped on. I did machine it a little heavy so it wouldn't rotate when I applied sanding pressure.


Nice and smooth!



Complete overkill, for sure.....but is was fun!

Ryan

This technique looks awfully familiar to a book I happened to read about a certain Abrams

Looking forward to this one as well!

I've always liked the look of the Type 90's. I've been narrowing down my stash. As I've culled my modern subjects, this kit is one I could not let go of.

I will certainly follow this build.

Thanks for the time and effort to complete the blog.

As a fan of all things JSDF I shall be following this with intrest. I have the boxing with the crew loading ammo, and my build stalled because of my inability to paint the camo uniforms

Great stuff so far. I'm working on one, but I took a different route. Hopefully you will take more in progress pics so to see where the troublesome parts of the build are

Thanks gents, more pics coming soon.

Sean, Thanks, I hope you like the book, Armor Data II is coming due soon...in fact I need to be working on that build instead of this one!! (don't tell Andy!)

Brent, It looks very Leopard II like doesn't it, thanks for the comments.

Neil, I'm a fan too...I really like the Type 61, shame the kit is so old though. It needs a lot of work.

Mario, I haven't found troublesome parts just molding quirks that all kit have, thanks for checking it out.

Ryan

nice build so far I have this kit in the to do pile I did build a type 74 last year. looking foward to see this one thru
dave

The one piece tracks are well molded, however the sprue gates are pretty heavy. I found the best way remove them was to side cut them with a sharp sprue cutter. You can't really sand the vinyl so the first snip is important.

From online photos I have seen, there is another version of this track the JSDGF uses that has a rubber pad in the center of them, without the pad (as shown)they must bite a little harder on off road excursions.



OK the proof Tamiya can produce mud clearing holes in their modern subjects. C'mon Mr Tamiya now re-tool the Abrams and Patton series drive sprockets!

The reader will also note the proper way to mold a sprue gate to a sprocket....on the flat of the teeth. The gates that are attched to the end of the tooth are harder to remove and clean up in my opinion.



Thanks
Ryan

New pics today...

I clipped the tracks on and found them to be well fitting and not to tight.





The grab handles like most releases in this scale are solid molded. Molded detail was removed and replaced with copper wire formed in my "Grab Handeler", then where needed, bolt head detail was replaced with punched disk.



That's it for now.

Ryan Harden

Ryan,

Nice start. I also have this kit. I'm going to watch your build to pick up pointers for future build.

Thanks,

Eric'

Thanks Eric, it's a great kit.

Ryan

Nice detailing so far

Hey Ryan,

Looks really clean so far. I would detail the other handels as well (those are laying down on the hatches.) Hopefully the detail will be better. But it is ofcaurse your own choise. You solution of the warped hull is really neat.

Keep going!

Any updates on this one? I really like the looks on this tank

Ditto. I also like your honest, down-to-earth style Ryan

Thanks for your support guys!

Sadly, the Type 90 is set aside for a little while as the "Armor Data II" book production has started. I'm being tasked with buiding a M60a1 dozer tank from ODS. My coauthor Andy Renshaw is buidling the other (2) tanks for the book, the M113 and Abrams.

My M60 is a build Dr. Frankenstein would be proud of....

Academy Lower Hull
Ecsi Upper Hull
Academy Turret
Verlinden Dozer kit
Legends Engine and Bay
Allum Barrel
Royal and Eduard detail sets
And of course a little scratch build here and there.

Here is a ground floor shot of some bits...just clipped together fo rthe shot.



Ryan

Good gosh Ryan! I'll definitely check out that book if I can ever find it when it comes out.

I look forward to you picking your build back up on the Type 90. I've debated off and on over buying this kit, and I have no doubt watching your progress will help me finalize the verdict

Thanks Jeremy, The book shouldn't be too hard to find, Sprue Brothers seems to stock quite a few of the 1st Armor Data books. I hope to get back to the 90 soon.

Ryan