Tamiya A6M5 Zero

[LSP_Kevin]

Looking mighty fine Kev. I'm looking forward to seeing how the painting comes out. I wonder what made you try out thinned oils for your pre-shading? Did you use regular turps to thin the oils? Inquiring minds are dieing to know .

 

Hope you had a great holidays with your family and that you can get some time to build.

 

Dan

 

Hi Dan,

Good to hear from you mate. Hope you had a good Christmas.

 

I got the idea of using oil paints from Brian Criner's Osprey Modelling book on the Zero. He used Burnt Umber, but not having any I substituted Raw Umber instead. I think the main idea is the colour involved, rather than the medium, so I guess any similar colour in another medium should be just as effective. I thinned it using white spirits, which is the same mix I use for oil washes. And that was where my over-thinning came about - treating it like a wash mix instead of a standard paint mix for airbrushing.

 

I have to be honest though in saying that I'm really not sold on the whole pre-shading thing. I just can't seem to get it right. I think other modellers use the effect fantastically well, but I end up covering too much of it up trying to avoid a nasty patchwork effect. I just can't bring myself to leave all those prominent lines showing through the paint work! And then I'm left with no effect at all and wondering why I bothered. Light-coloured undersides aren't so much of a problem, but darker top surface colours are. I seem to have much more luck, and achieve better results, with with the standard repertoire of post-painting effects.

 

I guess I should bang together a few quick 1/48 scale models for the sake of practising various finishing and weathering techniques.

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

Another quick update. The top side is painted now:

 

 

As you can see, the pre-shading doesn't show up at all, as I basically covered it over completely with the camo coat. I did however manage to achieve the deliberately patchy effect I was going for, though past experience tells me that this will even out considerably under subsequent gloss and flat coats. I'll be keeping this one fairly clean, so it's really just decals and fiddly bits from here.

 

Kev

[DaveJ]

Looking great, Kev!

 

It's almost impossible to get pre-shading to show through a dark color like that. Maybe if you had used black and really laid on the shading first, but even then...

 

Glad to see it nearing the finish line!

[ruzlkampf]

Wow, Kevin...You sure pulled off that 'patchy' upper color well. I'm going to be trying that on the pancake this time around, cause of the 'mono-color' dark blue it'll be painted. Think it'll look too toy-like without patchy weathering of some-sort. I'll bet you'll still be able to see the effect even after you put the clear coats on it fine. Probably make it even more pronounced!

I've never been able to make a 'pre-shaded' effect work out very well, probably cause I usually really 'lay the paint on' too heavy over it. I sure can see the effect on your undersides great though. This paint job is really turning out well.

Cool that you're trying out some new techniques with the artists oils. I screwed up and went to the wrong rack and picked up acrylic artists 'oils' by mistake.(tubes look identical) Soo, I've been playing around with them for awhile now and really like them. Neat stuff.

Looks like you're heading for home on this build, and it won't be much longer now. Can't wait to see your next progress pics! Later, Russ

[LSP_Kevin]

Well, a bit more work done since my last post. Gloss coat is on, though the bottom at least will need one more coat:

 

 

I've also painted the yellow leading edge and fitted the pitot tube. Here's a shot of the drop tank, where I thought the pre-shading worked out really well:

 

 

And the cowling:

 

 

You can't really tell from the photo, but the upper and lower halves actually came out two slightly different colours. It's quite pronounced in the flesh, but I'll probably leave it, and write it down as a field replacement part.

 

Next update should have stickers! Thanks for looking in guys.

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

She's looking nice and slick Kev. Well on your way to getting her done soon and what a gem she's turning out to be. Patchy paint and preshading are a bear to get just right. You work like the devil to get just the right contrast but not so much as to make it look cartoony and then everything gets washed out when you apply the gloss coat or the reverse when you shoot the final flat finish :angry: Looks like you're about spot on with your drop tank. I'm looking forward to seeing all the decals on and then how you apply the weathering.

 

Dan

 

I know what you mean Dan. You seem to achieve fantastic results with your builds, but I'm still searching for the right combination of techniques and approaches that will yield the result I'm after. As for this build, I'm probably not going to weather it much at all, but I'm a little way from thinking about it at the moment.

 

In other news, I've done some minor decalling and have dealt with a few of the fiddly bits. Ironically, in having a close look at the engine, I realised with a nasty shock that I'd fitted both mounting frame/ring thingies upside down! :angry: I was going to let it slide due to the difficulty of doing anything about it. However, I also realised that the side cooling flaps no longer lined up with the exhaust stacks, and the domino effect took over from there. I ended up prising off what I could, and cutting the rear frame in half so I could remove it. After some more butchering, I've got it all back together the right way up, and have certainly learned my lesson for next time! (That would be, RTFM, carefully!)

 

Kev

[Barry]

Great looking build you have going here.

Keep up the great work.

 

Barry

[LSP_Kevin]

Well, a couple of steps forward and a step or two back - always the way with my builds! Firstly, I've got the stickers on:

 

 

However, not all went strictly to plan. After a couple of applications of Micro Sol (Super Sol actually), I still wasn't satisfied with the way the decals were settling into the surface detail, so I pulled out my bottle of Mr Mark Softer, as I'd heard it was really effective with the thick Tamiya decals. Here's the result:

 

 

This stuff is much thicker and more viscous than than Micro Sol, and tended to pool on the decal's surface, eventually scarring it. :angry: The damage is on both upper hinomarus and to a lesser extent on one of the fuselage ones. I could probably pull them off and scrounge replacements, or even paint them on, but I'm over it now. I've tried washing the marks off (no good, they're stains!), and also gently sanding them out, but to no avail. I'm hoping that subsequent weathering and clear coats will mitigate the effect and make it all look acceptable.

 

Anybody had better luck with Mr Mark Destroyer? Where did I go wrong?

 

I am really happy though with the way the upper hinomarus conformed to the elevator actuator fairings:

 

 

Ironically this was all Super Sol!

 

Hoping to get this all finished by the time I return to work on the 14th.

 

Kev

[big matt]

Man, that sucks. I had a similar experience with Mr. Mark Destroyer as well. It wiped out the wing insignia on my Dauntless, Yellow Wings Decals. It burned holes in them. I had read that it was the perfect setting solution and picked it up at the lhs. Apparently the label(in Japanese) reads something like, "Don't put this on your decals unless you want them to disolve".

I would like to know what is wrong as well.

 

Bummer.

 

Zero still looks great though.

 

Matt

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks for the encouragement Matt. Unfortunately the problems continue with this build, though that tends to be how it goes with me.

 

I've done a panel line wash, which is all but invisible on the upper surfaces:

 

 

Anybody got any advice on panel line washes for dark camo colours? It's looking OK underneath though:

 

 

However, a close inspection of the underwing Hinomarus will indicate that I didn't learn my lesson viz Mr Mark Softer. Ah well, at least I know it wasn't a one-off aberration. Never again!

 

The other frustration I suffered is the strange crazing of the floor polish gloss coat over the decals:

 

 

Thankfully the effect is magnified in the photo, but it's still noticeable on the model. As you can see, the effect is only over the decal! We don't have Future down under, so I use a product called 'Shine Magic', which though made by Johnsons, is not the same stuff as Future. It's cloudy in the bottle and contains a small amount of ammonia. I suspect it has reacted with the decal softeners I used (both Micro Sol and Mr Mark Destroyer in the end).

 

Oh, I also broke off the little spigot atop the starboard landing gear for rotating the gear leg up and down.

 

After holding much promise early on, I'm really getting fed up with this build now!

 

Kev

[Loic]

Hi Kev,

 

as far as the wash on the upper surfaces is concerned, here is my 2 cents opinion....

 

"Classis" brownish washes on dark green surfaces always tend to be barrely visible.

I would say that one option is to apply a black wash (or at least much darker).

An other option is to go for a much lighter wash (ie sand yellow or light earth) as this gives some interresting effects I think (I have in mind a couple of F4U corsairs finished with the grey/sand wash that looks sensationnal!).

 

What I would myself actually do is a mix:

- black around the engine area and where ever there might actually be some oil and such mixed with dust

- sand yellow or light earth everywhere else as this is supposed to be just dust and durts

 

Appart from that, it is a shame for the decals (ask why I hate decalling now!) but try to figure that out one way or an other as this great build or yours dicerve to be completed my friend!

 

Cheers,

 

Loic

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks for the great ideas guys. I think the panel lines on this kit might be too fine for the pencil idea Dan, but I might try it on the Revell Zero, where my rescribing is anything but petite! I've already got the engine attached and the cowling fitted, and aim to finish her off tomorrow with a flat coat and final details.

 

I'm also working on the standing pilot figure that comes with this kit, but have no idea how to achieve a convincing flesh tone. Care to offer a figure-newbie some advice Dan? Anyone?

 

Kev

[Loic]

Hi Kev,

 

I am no expert but here is how I proceed.

First apply a base coat of Humbrol H93 or H94.

Then, do some sort of dry bruch effect (not the ral thing) and pre shadding by applying some slight touches of white on the edges (like nose, chin, etc...) and dark brown in the ressesed area (like the eyes, the space between fingers, etc...) and the beard.

Then, mix some original H94 or H93 depending on what you used first with some oils paint (red, yellow and sienna) The mix must have a collor that is just slightly more reddish than the base color for "white flesh". For a "japanese flesh", I would go for something with little more brown than red maybe (NOT yellow!). The purpose of the oil thing is to give some consistency to the paint cause we are now going to had some thinner until the paint cover the base coat but is translucent enough so the pre shadding stuffs are still slightly visible... It must keep the consistancy of paint and must not look like a wash. This is the hardest bit!

 

I recommand that when you do the all process, (base coating, pre shadding, etc...) you use a scrap piece of styren and build some dumy faces on it so you can test your dillution before applying on the real figure. You know it is good when your little man looks like it has not been shaving for a couple of days...

Then, once completely dry (the purpose of mixing the oils with base coat is that it will dry someday!) you can add the details (eyes, eyebrow, hairs, etc...), the eyes being the most difficult to capture to me!

 

Here are 2 exemples of what it is like on the real thing: 2 little guys that take care of my Tempest

Look at the hands especially as the pre shadding effect is quite visible.

 

HTH.

Cheers,

 

Loic

[Loic]

Forgot to say: I usually work out the flesh areas at last cause if you mess up slightly (put some paint where you were not expecting too), I find it easier to rework the uniforme rather than the flesh area.

...

[LSP_Kevin]

FINISHED!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apologies for the poor photos, but I took them in a bit of a rush. I'll try to get some better ones for the gallery shots.

 

I gave up trying to fit the supplied aerial wire and called it done. I couldn't get the cowling to fit snugly at the end either, but I suspect I didn't get the engine installation 100% right. Oh well. Despite the troublesome decals and a few bone-headed mistakes by yours truly, I really enjoyed this build and am quite pleased with how it turned out.

 

Thanks to everyone for your interest and encouragement.

 

Kev