Tank Emplacement Timber reinforced. Designed for the Japanese Type 97 medium tank 1:56 scale No7 of 16 variants

Continuing my theme of the Pacific Theatre of Operations and my desire to provide my gaming friend’s with a very visual games board I realised I had not considered that the Imperial Japanese Army made extensive use of dug in and heavily defend tank and self-propelled guns. So began a journey which has resulted in 16 variations of an emplaced tank. This model introduces the addition of infantry fire pits offering some close protection for the tank.

This variant of the emplacement adds a fire print to the front of the tank. Add a suitable weapon from your bitz box. A Medium Machine Gun would certainly add some fire power.

The emplacement is approximately 160mm by 85mm and about 18mm high. The flat internal open area is 90mm long by 41mm wide. It is intended to represent a low profile defensive structure clearly gaining from cover and hard for the enemy to aim at accurately. Two fire pits are provided either side of the tank and should easily accommodate 5 figures, roughly half a section in wargaming terms.

The Type 97 Medium tank was designed by M. Bergman of New Zealand whose permission I have to rework his files to create something new that adds to the gaming communities range of models.

My intention is for you to add your own converted infantry figures. I anticipate that just as I had to cut the tanks lower wheels and tracks off you will to need to remove from the knee or mid-thigh downward on figures you decide to add to the emplacement.

If you have a resin printer then consider buying files from Studio Grozny who has an excellent range of Japanese and Australian figures. The figures shown in the screen shot come from their Japanese collection.

The tank fits snugly in. Insert from the back of the scenery and push forward until the tank comes up against the front. Then press down on the back of the vehicle. It is a snug fit but so far I have not had any problems lifting this vehicle in and out.

I have test printed the files and used a time saving 0.15mm layer height to print the models. I would recommend using 0.1mm layer height if you are printing them for yourself.

The Type 97 is a 4 piece model and the emplacement just a single file. The vehicle took about 5 hours and the scenic emplacement 10 hours to print at 0.15mm.

This model was designed by Neal Bowskill Copyright June 2022. These files may not be used to print for commercial gain.