COBI Type 95 Ha-Go Set 3115

COBI's Type 95 Ha-Go is a 1:35 model built from 380 blocks, 13.5 cm long, with movable wheels, tracks and turret. A Japanese tank crewman figure, a bilingual nameplate and a section of terrain with a Japanese flag are included. All markings are printed.

Built for a war without tanks in it

The Ha-Go was designed in the early 1930s for the war Japan was actually fighting, in China, where the opposition had almost no armour and almost no anti-tank guns. Against infantry and fortifications, a fast light tank with a 37 mm gun and 12 mm of armour was entirely adequate, and the Japanese army had more urgent calls on its steel and its shipping.

Then it met the Americans. A Sherman could destroy a Ha-Go at any range it could see one, and the Ha-Go's gun could not penetrate a Sherman from any angle at any distance. On Guadalcanal, in Burma and in the Philippines the result was one-sided in a way that has little to do with courage.

The other flaw was the crew. Three men, with the commander alone in the turret — spotting, aiming, loading and firing the gun himself while also directing the driver. Every army that tried this arrangement abandoned it; Japan never had the industrial slack to.

Specifications

Pieces: 380 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:35 · Also included: terrain section with flag
Model dimensions: 13.5 × 7 cm (5.3 × 2.8 in)