Scale: 1/76 | Models used: Airfix – Chi-Ha Tank (No. 01319-4), Japanese Infantry (01718)

This particular Chi-Ha tank of the 1st Tank Division was driving along the road, when suddenly it was engaged by two anti tank guns. While trying to reverse the tank, it got hit on the wheels and the track, knocking it off. In a last ditch effort to fire at the enemy it received an impact at the turret. After the battle a Japanese infantryman walks past the neutralized tank.

This scenario is based on a real life event which took place on a road where British anti tank guns were positioned and fired at the enemy Japanese vehicles.

Japanese army Chi-Ha Tanks and trucks during the invasion of Malaya, 1942. Credit: Japanese Press (1930s-1940s).

I’m part of the Model Minutes Discord channel. On this Discord the members sometimes organise Group Builds. The theme was ‘It be broke’, where you needed to build a model that was either destroyed or damaged enough to not properly function anymore. I decided to buy a cheap Airfix Vintage Classics kit to participate. A good kit which delivers a nice representation of the Chi-Ha tank. Now I needed to destroy it.

It takes quite a bit of research and planning to decide where you want to add the damage and how you do that in a convincing manner. I chose to pick spots where you could damage a plastic part to the point where it would still look realistic and ‘in scale’. Places were this was possible: the wheels, the track and the turret. So I grabbed my knife and cut away one wheel, a piece of that wheel and pierced a hole in the turret. The track was deliberately not glued, this gave the impression that the track ran off the wheels.

In order to give the tropical look I used a reddish dirt texture and combined that with thick, lush grass and foliage. I wasn’t afraid to combine a lot of varied products. I can’t rembember the brand of the giant jungle leaves, but you can probably find them online. The tree is made from seafoam combined with foliage cluster. The base is made from foamboard and then painted black.

Despite containing a destroyed model, I sold this diorama in 2024.