Tamiya Zero A6-M5

[Squito2340]

Now that I'm out of the closet I thought that I'd post a couple of pics of a Zero I finished a while back. It's getting a little dusty in places- inside the windscreen is very obvious. This was the first model that I'd completed after a very long hiatus. Kept it very close to OOB just adding the plug wires and a few additional wires in the cockpit. Was and still is a great kit.

The beaten up appearance was created using maskol- and then toned down. I heard that the paint didn't stick too well to zeros so I went to town on it.

 

 

 

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Very nice Jeremy!

 

Kev

[Juggernut]

Nicely built Zeke. The coloring is very well done and paint chipping not too drastic. The aicraft cockpit coloring is correct for a Nakajima built A6M5.... My kind of IJN aircraft. Only one or two things that I can see that you'll want to make note of for your next piston engined aircraft build. Aircraft engines have two spark plugs per cylinder and thus have two spark plug leads per cylinder, one in the front and one in the rear of each cylinder. I'm also thinking that the engine cowl supports should be aotake instead of black but I suffer from CRS so don't take that as a hard fact. For a model done on coming back from a long hiatus, you've done admirably well.

 

LOL, overly drastic paint chipping on Japanese aircraft is a pet pieve of mine and you've done the zero justice by not chipping the hell out of it (even though you think you did). The story behind the paint chipping to the best I can ascertain is that earlier in the war, probably up to and including mid to late 1943 and possibly into 1944, the Reisen was coated in an oxide red primer prior to its receiving color coats. Consequently, these Reisen did not chip as bad as the later ones which had color coats painted over bare metal. In the coral atolls of the pacific, paint was sandlblasted off the leading edges of wings, propellors and cowls but did not look anything like the huge chunks of missing paint from Japanese aircraft built later in the war. Obviously, it looks sandblasted, not peeled off in sheets. The Tamiya kit represents the early A6M5 (although not the earliest version characterized by an exhaust collector...no individual exhaust stacks on the first production A6M5's) and would most likely have been built with an undercoat of red oxide primer.

 

Forgive me for giving more than just a simple "nicely built" aircraft. The A6M is an aircraft which I am very fond of and very familar with (but still learing new stuff all the time). Yep, I'm a zero nerd.... Guilty as charged.

Edited February 13, 2013 by TimC

[Squito2340]

Thanks Kev and Tim.

Tim, I really appreciate the advice. It's always good when we can be frank and call a spade a spade when its obvious. This is why I joined! Where I live there aren't many opportunities to vocalise and share points of accuracy but I'm trying to do something about it.

P.S. Points of accuracy are never taken as criticism with me but more as an opportunity to learn from the learned.

[Out2gtcha]

Cool!

 

Very nicely done man.

[BarryWilliams]

Excellent Zero and a great kit.

[Nick32]

Awesome build, and for what its worth i think the weathering is spot on.

I'm on a continuous hunt for one of these kits, i understand Tamiya have stopped production?

Thanks,

Nick

[Squito2340]

Nick I think they are still available. For what it's worth HLJ are still offering it as available but not in stock- short wait. Noticed that it was discounted too however this discount usually negates the cost of postage.

[Guest Peterpools]

Jeremy

Welcome back and a superbly done Zero. I'm a 'Used but not Abused' guy when it comes to weathering and love the faded and worn look on the cowl. I agree that the paint chipping is about as far as needed to demonstrate the poor adhesion qualities of the Japanese paint without beating up the finish.

Very well done.