Mami in Action #08.5 - JGSDF

Mami in Action #6.5 - JGSDF

 Hello again, everyone! It has been a while since we last had a new addition of Mami in Action. As such, we will be back in action today covering a Japanese domestically produced assault rifle, the Howa Type 89. Used mainly by the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF), the Howa Type 89 was first put into service in the year 1989. Like most modern rifles, the Type 89 comes chambered in 5.56 ammunition and is made from a combination of metal and polymer. 

The rifle itself comes from Platz's Realistic Weapon Series in which we featured the M4A1 not once but, twice. Astonishingly, Platz packs 6 rifles into each of this little boxes! The Howa Type 89, M4A1 and SVD Dragunov, two of each making for a total of 6 rifles.

Our focus for today we will be the Howa Type 89 assault rifle, with its integrated bipod and fixed butt-stock, it is  rather long rifle. Being a primarily domestic model, the Type 89 is not really well known outside of Japan. Moreover, Japan's lack of conflict also means this particular rifle has not seen much revision of changes since its original inception in 1989. 

To put together the Howa Type 89, you will need two essential tools. The first, is a bottle of plastic cement;

And the second are a pair of hobby nippers. Any brand plastic cement and hobby nipper will do but, make sure you have them as building without will be very difficult. 

Each box comes with two Howa Type 89 rifles together with an instruction manual. We will only be using one runner today as we are only going to build a single rifle. The instructions seen here are very important as they will guide you in building the rifle. Losing the instruction manual is not the end of the world but, it will make the the job of identifying the already vague connection points even more tough.

The Type 89 shares the same runners as the SVD sniper. Upon closer inspection, you can notice the various additional parts that came with the Type 89 such as a different skeleton butt-stock and a deployed bipod.

For this build, I decided to go with a normal type 89 layout with a solid butt-stock and collapsed bipod. Of all the miniature firearms I have built so far, the Type 89 certainly proved to be the toughest of them all with considerable amounts of adhesive necessary to keep everything in place. Even then, the butt-stock is no securely fastened and still moves about with slight manipulation. 

In the next addition of Mami in Action, we will Mami take the Type 89 out for a field test and see what she thinks about it. Will the long overall length of the rifle be its downfall? Stay tuned to Tiro Finale to find out. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!