Modelkrak 1/72 Chokei Sensha Tankette – Type 92 with Trailer By Will Perry

Background

In the late 1920’s, the Carden-Lloyd tankette designs were popular with military procurement offices as well as armored vehicle designers. These tiny tiddlers offered little protection from fast metal objects, but they did provide an armored force at bargain basement prices. Japan joined the club - it bought the Carden-Lloyd design and used it as a starting point for indigenous designs. By the early 30’s these efforts had produced the Type 2592 Chokei Sensha, also known as the Type 92. This design weighed about 3,5 tons, carried a crew of two, and sported modern design features – a turret, front mounted engine, and a sloping glacis plate.

The Type 97 doesn’t seem to have had much of a history – just a starting point for the widely produced and operated Type 94. One reputable source (the excellent TANKS! website) claims that the Type 92 didn’t exist at all, just a bogus designation for early Type 94’s. The magnificent Japonska Bron Pancera / Japanese Armor vol. 1 (AJ Press, 2002) believes it really existed. This work has a short history, three photos and a couple of 1/35 side-views of the Type 92, including the trailer that’s included with the Modelkrak kit.

The Kit

Modelkrak’s Type 92 comes in a small, beefy box, with about 40 tiny parts protected by bubble-wrap. It’s hard to say exactly how many parts – my kit had a generous supply of spares (not included in the parts scan). Despite all the extras, the review copy was missing three parts. I fired off an email to Jadar Hobby (Warsaw, Modelkrak’s manufacturer and distributor). The parts were in my mailbox seven days later! The kit also includes an exploded-view instruction sheet with just enough info to get the thing assembled.

As the norm for resin armor, there are no open hatches or interior details. The trailer is a simple box on wheels, with tracks. Modelkrak could have made a more interesting choice by modeling an armored trailer, or, at least, providing a few boxes and drums to carry around in the utility model. For the most part, the moldings are crisp, and edges are straight. The surface texture of the parts will benefit from a squirt of primer and some delicate spot-sanding. All parts have pouring blocks to remove, often larger or thicker than the part they’re attached to. Size and fragility will make parts preparation quite a challenge, something that will keep you out of the pool-room for several nights.

Dry fitting wasn’t possible because of the pouring blocks, but kit assembly looks reasonably straightforward, with the exception of those resin tracks. It’s hard to imagine them wrapping around the suspension in an easy or tidy manner. At least there are many spares for practice.

There are no decals and the instructions cite “Olive” as the tank’s color. This agrees with a photo in Japonska Bron Pancera book, though a camouflaged example is also depicted.

Conclusions

The first resin armor I built had about six parts, but it turned out a long build because of crude molding and scratchbuilding to add detail. This kit is on the opposite end of the spectrum – many nice parts and lots of detail out of the box. But I’m sure that this will also be a long build, due to the clean-up of all those exquisite, tiny parts. Modelers seeking a more colorful and historic subject might prefer Modelkrak’s Type 94, or move up a scale to the pricey Fine Molds offering. But for those who like their armor tiny, exquisite and obscure, this kit will fill the bill.

Thanks to Jadar Model for the review sample and the terrific service with the missing parts.