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Features:
- Highly popular and collectible item
- True to 1/72 scale
- Fully accurate mold
- Fully assembled
- Historically accurate markings and insignia
- Includes protective display case
Dragon Armor is adding to its range of Japanese subjects in its much sought-after 1/72 scale range. The new arrival is a Type 97 Chi-Ha tank, Japan’s most widely produced medium tank of WWII. Boasting a short-barreled 57mm main gun and two Type 97 machine guns, this tank was intended to serve as an up-scaled version of the Type 95 for infantry support. Armor protection was modest on this vehicle. A total of 2,123 tanks were produced from 1938-43, although 930 of these were of the improved Type 97 Kai version featuring a higher-velocity 47mm gun. The tank could move at a speed of 38km/h.
The Chi-Ha was used in combat in Manchuria and China, as well as fighting against the Allies. Indeed one of the largest tank attacks of the Pacific theater occurred at Saipan in 1944 when 36 Type 97 tanks of the IJA’s 9th Tank Regiment conducted an all-out attack against US Marines. Dragon Armor’s model portrays one such Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank that participated in this ferocious battle on Saipan. The colorful camouflage paint scheme is particularly well rendered. The accurate markings such as Japanese characters on the side of the hull, national flag emblems, prominent turret images and rear number plate. These markings are very interesting, especially when compared with contemporary Allied or German markings. Japanese tanks of WWII don’t usually gain the attention that equivalent German ones do, so this model allows collectors to get acquainted with a very important Japanese tank design. |
