Yeah. I’ll be honest, I don’t really like those early tech trees for the exact reasons that a lot of the vehicles are, iffy. Or just outright fake. Especially the horrid heavy section, with tanks like the “Type 97,” the “Mitsu-104,” and the “Type 4/Type 5” that don’t appear in anything other than foreign intelligence reports. The “Ishi-108” is probably the most egregious of those, it’s literally just an A1E1 Independent and, like the other “heavies,” doesn’t appear in any actual Japanese sources or had any engineers attesting to their existence.
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Can I have the vt4 video link?
The M55 has been leaked to be coming, though not as a vehicle for Japan.
Japan haven’t operated M55 as I know
Was confusing it with the M52A1, my bad.
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I’m going to assume that the “Early Ho-I” is just the one on the Chi-Ha hull with the Type 41 75mm
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So it’s just the Experimental Type 1 gun tank Ho-I (Type 1 Ho-I Prototype)?
It seems to be the “Early” variant N4MELESS was talking about yes, unless someone can say otherwise.
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Ha-Go Manchurian Commander/Radio
Not sure what to name it but its the Manchurian model with 2 antenna one in the front of the hull and one in the back also the side skirts. If its the Radio would it be the late or early one?
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Ha-Go Manchurian 2nd order prototype
A heavily retouched photo of Japanese Type 95 Light Tank 2nd batch prototype, the one of the three to receive the ‘North Manchurian’ type running gear.
真出好一. 日本陸軍九五式軽戦車 // グランド・パワー (№ 12 / 2003). — ガリレオ出版, 2003
Spoiler
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Chi Ha Kai/Chi-He
Has the Chi-He turret you can see the extra armor in the front half of the turret. I remember seeing extra armor for the hull (still chi ha kai shape) but I’m still looking for it (not talking about the track armor) that one would be the Chi Ha Kai applique. Also I’m not sure if this is the late chi ha or early Hull.
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Chi Ha Kai IJA 11th Tank Regiment on Shumshu Island. (Might have the Chi-He turret)
Don’t add this yet I need to find a photo from a different angle of this thing. If anyone got a photo please share it
Hard to tell from this angle if it has the Chi-He turret
Spoiler
Wood armor
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Chi Ha Applique
Applique I talked about but for the chi ha. Not 100% sure on the photo though, but does seem to have some thickness around the turret area like the model.
According to Fine Molds this modified Chi-Ha was deployed by the 23th and 24th tank regiment in the northern Manchuria.
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Type 74 105 mm SPH Prototype
The first prototypes were completed in 1969–1970, and the howitzer was accepted for service in 1974.
Spoiler
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Found the photo for the Type 75 Multiple Rocket Launcher Prototype
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Need help with these:
Are they post war?
Spoiler
Does this chi ha kai have Applique/extra armor? (Not the tracks)
I honestly cant see it.
This may be the only photo of a Shinhoto Chi-Ha with Imphal style extra armour. If you noticed the plate on the middle upper part of the hull, it probably looked a little out of place. That's because it came from an American made M3 stuart. Only three tanks were outfitted with this style of applique armour. This one is missing the lower portion of it's armour,
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M41 : I’m tired, boss.
Thai army: lol No.
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These are definitely not the same tank as in the Ropkey museum, note the placement of the rivets, as the Chi-He turret has two extra sets near the front and side as a result of the extra armor.
I don’t have any other photos of this exact tank, but considering again the placement of the rivets I think it’s safe to say that it’s not a Chi-He turret. Not to mention, no other photos or surviving vehicles from this theater show such things.
Yeah, the Chi-Ha in your image does not appear to be equipped with the applique armor. There is, however, at least one image of this improvement, which I made a post regarding alongside a different modification from Imphal.
Nope, all seem to be WW2 creations, you can read about them here.
It’s the small square plate outlined in the last image, I could hardly consider it “applique armor” but I guess it would provide a little bit of protection.
I wouldn’t concern yourself with it too much, because more interesting things have happened in Imphal anyways.
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I was basing it off the round thing on top of the hatch since Chi ha has it in the front while Ch-He is on the back. So my bad but wasn’t there any hybrids in the first place?
Its safe to assume it does not have the extra 25mm of armor on the turret? (The chi ha version you talked about)?
Thanks for the photo!
Its tracks but I meant the 2 tanks themselves if they had the applique armor like the photo you sent. I wasn’t able to see it.
I mean to be fair it is for the TT project it would make a nice event tank since japan only got 3 so fair I think since 2016. Also to be honest I still do not see the armor on the lower hull with shinhotos photos.
Out of curiosity what were they?
I just found a video, looks like the same tank? With sandbags on top of the turret
(loud music warning)
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That’s a lot of M113 “WERA” modifications
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Was there anything actually mentioned in the documents or it it made up?
Panther design was purchased to use as a reference for future tank designs. Japan constructed a test prototype in 1943. Instead of the interlocking armour the Germans utilized, Japan kept to standard welding of plates due to not having the capability to copy Germany’s matter of construction. Known changes to the design was replacing of the engine with a Daimler Benz Aircraft Engine (this is confirmed with O-I documents from 2015), resulting in the turret being located further to the front of the hull.
The Japanese designed their own interleaving suspension, by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The suspension after testing was then supposed to be used on Chi-Ri however this never left paper. Sloped armour on the Panther prototype influenced hull design changes that are reflected with Chi-Se medium tank. Visuals of the Panther were made in accordance to descriptions mentioned in both the National Archive the the record files from the O-I superheavy tank.
Iirc the Chi-Se was never a design beyond a proposal. It’s similar to the Ke-Ho in that no one knows what it really looks like, but in the case of the Chi-Se its backed by even less information which includes pretty much everything about it.
I can’t remember anything about the Panther thing, though. I remember Mai mentioning it years ago but nothing beyond that, and her track record is a bit spotty such as the Chi-Se thing which they walked back on once revealing that the only mention they ever saw of it in Japanese documents was literally in only one sentence.
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Mi35P🤔, if JP really get this we can have a new discussion HQ😋
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