On the whole tanks were not a big part of the Japanese method of making war in the Pacific between 1941 and 1945. They had been used successfully during the invasions of China in the 1930s, and had also proved successful during the early invasions of 1941 and 1942. However the terrain over which much of the Pacific War was fought was not ideal for tank warfare, Japanese tanks did not keep pace with the improvement of those of the Allies, and by the later stages of the war Allied anti-tank weapons were well able to disable and destroy them (as the Japanese philosophy of rapid attack meant armour protection was sacrificed in favour of higher speed). In any event the Japanese tended to make fairly little use of them, mostly employing them in an infantry support role or simply using them as mobile pill-boxes, and never used them grouped in the large numbers seen in Europe.
Like most armies of the day, Japanese tank crews wore overalls, of which there were both summer and winter versions. However none of these figures wear either of these, and instead have normal tropical uniform as worn by the infantry and other branches. This immediately makes them of little relevance to the campaign in China, and instead clearly aims them at the war in the Pacific, where it was common for men to wear this more comfortable uniform. All are in shirt-sleeve order, with the correct double breast pockets, although only one man has his sleeves rolled up. All wear the usual semi-breeches, and all bar one have their lower leg bound in puttees with the usual cross straps. The exception is the last figure in our second row, who has buckled leather leggings - normal for officers, which he clearly is as he holds his officer’s sword. Everyone here wears ordinary army boots, so there are none wearing the traditional split-toed tabi shoes. The only item of apparel that marks them out as tank crew is the tanker’s helmet, which can be seen on half of these figures, and is of the summer pattern. It has been properly done, including the cutouts at the ears, except that these cutouts have been sculpted extending to the base of the helmet, when in fact there was a fabric tab and laces here to adjust the fit. It’s a small point we know! The other half of the poses wear the normal peaked field cap as worn by all branches, which is reasonably well done here and was also common wear, but unfortunately the sculptor has not understood the havelock or neck shield they all have, and has made it as a single piece of fabric when it was always a series of 4 flaps. That is a more evident mistake then the helmet cutouts. However apart from the headgear, all items of uniform here are correct.
As might be expected of tank crew, kit is fairly minimal. Basically every man has a single ammunition pouch on the left side of his waist belt, and most have a water bottle suspended from a strap over the left (occasionally right) shoulder. Sidearms in all cases are a pistol held in a holster on the right hip from a strap over the left shoulder, and no less than five of the poses also carry a case for binoculars. Most have some form of machete knife on their left hip, but one man carries a bayonet here instead. All of this is as it should be, so no problems with kit.
Orion have made so many sets of World War II tank crew that this is a well-trodden path for them, and the poses largely reflect those in the previous tanker sets. In those sets we worried that the man clearly using his pistol would be a very rare event, but for the Japanese this would be less so, since it was not unknown for tank crew to disembark when they came across an unmoveable obstacle and continue the fight as ordinary infantry. Having said that, a pistol is still of little use in open battle, so this is more of a token action figure than a really useful pose in our view. The man next to him is a more useful pose, digging, but we seriously doubt the very inefficient bend in the shovel head, which looks nothing like the Japanese Army shovel or entrenching tool. The running man is a common if awkward pose, and presumably the last man in that row is standing in a turret, although of course he also has other uses. The remaining mainly relaxed or working poses are all fine, but we can think of no reason why a Japanese tank would be in possession of a German fuel can such as is seen on the figure next to the officer. Orion seem to think everyone had these in World War Two – that is not correct, and at best this could be a capture of an allied copy very late in the war, but essentially it is just wrong. The officer pose carries his sword, which makes sense as wearing it would be extremely difficult when operating in a cramped tank, and while we liked both the seated figures, the man taking a drink from his water bottle is holding it upside down, yet it does not reach his mouth, so he is either pouring it down his front, or else has not taken the stopper out! The man with the flag is a particularly good choice for this Japanese set, as many Japanese tanks had no radio, and signalling to each other with flags was common practice.
We have had some small criticisms of accuracy in this set, but the standard of sculpting is more of a mixed bag. First of all, the style and quality of the sculpting is excellent; every bit as good as the many tank sets that preceded it, with lovely detail and great, elegant proportions. The original sculpts must be a work of art in themselves, so it is a pity that there are problems in the making of the final mould. Although most of the seams are quite clean, there are several bits of large flash on various figures, but there are also problems with plastic fill. Several parts – mainly kit – are only partly filled, and sometimes bits are missing entirely, like the back part of the strap holding the holster for the man shooting his pistol (though the front is fine). Also some of the knives are particularly badly formed, and the very last pose has no kit round the back, but does have a very strange oval mark which looks a lot like there was once a water canteen there, but perhaps it fell off before the mould was made. These problems do disfigure the pieces, although as always you may find your own copies have these problems to a greater or lesser extent than ours. We don’t see how the sculpting could be improved, but the mould-making here does need some work.
The very last pictured figure wears a pair of what look like sashes diagonally across his torso, though neither have any beginning or end. We don’t know what these are. There was something called a senninbari, which was a sash worn round the body inscribed with good wishes as a good luck token, and there was also a sash worn in a similar way to signify your willingness to die for the Emperor, though these are not either of these, and exactly what they are, we do not know, so perhaps a misunderstanding of something the sculptor has seen, or a figment of their imagination.
As we have said, during the Pacific War the Japanese tank units were very much junior to the infantry, yet they too played their part for their country and their emperor, and this is the first time that they have been modelled in this hobby. We have had some small quibbles about accuracy, but in truth none of them seriously detract from the overall flavour of the set, which is very authentic. The problems with extra flash and plastic bits missing is much more annoying, and are a particular shame when the sculpting is so nice, but even with those issues this is still a decent set. We might hope for others depicting the men in overalls, and indeed several sets covering the largely-neglected Sino-Japanese War generally, and if they are made in the same way, but without the manufacturing faults, then they will be sets well worth having.