Imperial
Japanese Navy came aware of efficient machines used to construct airfield after
capturing US airfields at the beginning of the pacific war. Up to that point
airfields in Japan were entirely built by hand. To speed up airfield
construction in the future, IJN ordered Komatsu to produce a bulldozer in
December 1942. Komatsu already had produced a successful domestic tractor, the
G40 Farm Tractor. Komatsu, used the G40 Tractor as their base and equipped it
with a hydraulic dozer blade, this gave birth to Japans first ever bulldozer.
From January 1943 till the end of the Second World War, Komatsu produced
approximately 200 G40 Bulldozers units, which were used by the IJN engineering
units in the South Pacific Theater.
There
is only one surviving G40 unit in the world today, which now on display in Japan
has a very interesting life. The surviving unit was captured by
advancing US units in the Pacific, and dumped in the sea with other captured
Japanese military equipment, only to be recovered later to clear passage for
ships. It was then transported to Australia, where it passed through many new
owners. In July 1978 the G40 Bulldozer unit was found working light duties on a
farm on the outskirts of Sydney, by the General Manager of WABCO Distribution
Australia, who were the representives for Komatsu in Australia. A year later the
unit was returned to Japan and restored and is
now on display in Shizuoka, Japan.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Tamiya
announced around January/February 2010 that they would be releasing the Komatsu
G40 Bulldozer in their 48th Military miniature series and then
released it
in the middle of March 2010. The kit has approximately 50 parts
have been molded in dark gray plastic and two small sheets for the decals and
metal transfers.
Assembly
is done in seven stages through out the instructions. The Komatsu Bulldozer kit
is very quick and simple kit to assemble. The morning I received this review
sample, I had it built within 30 minutes during my lunch break at work. I left
the tracks and dozer blade unglued for it to be easier to remove later when I
painted and weathered the machine.
I
primed the kit with Tamiya’a acrylic XF-1 Flat Black. I made sure that it was
well covered for the top coat of the main colour to ahdeld
too. The main body colour was painted with Tamiya’s XF-75 IJN Grey (Kure
arsenal). The caterpillar tracks were painted in XF-63 German Grey. Once I
sprayed the XF-75, it was a very light colored gray which I thought was way to
light, but it darkened up quite a lot once I applied a coat of Future floor
polish to protect the layer of paint from the black oil wash I was about to
apply. The instructions called the seat pads to be painted in XF-1 Flat Black, I
didn’t like the look of the end result and repainted the seat cushions in
XF-10 Flat Brown. Winsor Newton Black oil paint was used to coat the entire kit
for its wash process, once it was dry-ish 10 minutes later, it was rubbed down
to give it that worn dirty look.
To
seal in the oil wash and prep it for further weathering, I used Testers Dull
Coat lacquer. I figured that the bulldozer would be covered in sand/dust and
have a few scratches from clearing vegetation for the airfield. Tamiya
Weathering set was used to create the dust/dirt and the scratches were done, by
using a pencil and a small amount of XF-63 German Grey to give the scratches
different tones. I also used the pencil on the tracks. Oil/fuel leaks and spills
were added with Tamiya X-19 Smoke.
The
kit also comes with a driver. I did not include this in to my build as I plan to
use the Komatsu Bulldozer in a small diorama scene that planed.
The
end results you can get with this kit are outstanding. In total, I spent no more
than hour on this build. The construction process is simple and quick and this
kit would be a great kit for a beginner or a child to start off with. The level
of detail that Tamiya has achieved with this kit is outstanding. The fine
molding of the one-piece track assembly should prove that on this kit. I am
looking forward to the next releases that Tamiya announce in this awesome 1/48
Military range!
The
Komatsu G40 Bulldozer would be a great addition to any Japanese airfield diorama
that you have planned or captured airfield diorama! I can see it now…. An
Komatsu G40 Bulldozering a wreaked Wildcat airframe off a captured US Airfield!
I
would like to thank Hobby Link Japan for providing me this sample for review.Dave Johnson
Click on
images below to see larger images
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