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Tamiya 1/32 A6M5 zero converting to A6M3 Type 22


Thomas Lund

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A couple of years ago I got my hands on Tamiya's beautiful A6M5 Type 52 kit. However the I couldn't really find any schemes that rocked my boat, so it stayed in my stash for some time. I've always loved the Zero and particulary the late models (A6M3 onwards) for it's grace, but at the same time I've always found then to be a bit boring camoflage wise.

 

This one is different and since it was flown by Hiroyoshi Nishizawa ( http://en.wikipedia....yoshi_Nishizawa ) it fed my ace fetish as well.

 

A6M3_Model22_UI105_Nishizawa.jpg

 

Delivered in normal overall grey with blue-black cowl it was rather crudely overpainted in the field. To me this looks absolutely fantastic. I spent some time circling that A6M5 in the stast knowing that the conversion was not that simple, but in the end I had to succomb and go ahead.

 

The A6M3 Type 22 was sorta an intermediate stage between the early (Pearl Harbor) Zero and the one represented in the kit. Overall the Type 22 has a Type 52 fuselage/cowl but with a few differences. The exhaust system and cowl flaps were closer to the early type, collected and exiting through the lowest cowl flap. No big deal to change, I bought the Quickboost A6M2 exhaust and it seems to fit beautifully. Makeing new cowl flaps shouldnt be to hard. The carburettor intake on the top of the cowl has a slightly different shape, again not too hard to change with a little carefull sanding. Finally the spinner was a little bit shorter and with that I plan just to round it off with a sanding stick.

 

cj9pfQ2.jpg

 

 

However the big problem is the wing. The A6M3 Type 22 used the wing from a type 21 (the early 'Pearl Harbor type) and there were some considerable differences to the Type 52 wing I had. Most notably each wing was 1/2 meter longer, the flaps shorter and the ailerons longer and quite different from the Type 52.

 

xHjgEEP.jpg

The flap bit would be easy, just shorten that bit, but the wing extension was rather daunting. I did up some cad drawings to find out what to do and decided on where to cut and how much to insert. Making new ailerons would have to be a later project. I was rather concerned about having to make fine surface details on the new bit to match the ones on the kit part. However I am a huge optimist so I was ready to go ahead. I was literally sitting with the razor saw in my hand when it dawned on me: Tamiya's A6M2 Type 21 kit has the correct wing. I was not going to spring for a complete kit, but perhaps I could get my hands on some spare part frames. I put the saw down and the kit went back into the stack for a couple of weeks while I investigated. In the end I was able to get two frames, one containing the wing and one with the folding wing tips. The Type 21 kit also includes some bits to go inside the joint between the two, but I didn't bother to get them.

 

I was ready to go again. Here's what I started with:

 

Tamiya's über-nice kit

 

Oai4IwH.jpg

 

 

The bits and pieces. Eduard photo etch flaps - I looove pe flaps and although I know they were not always/rarely left down I really dont care and leave them down - the Quickboost exhaust, Eduard cockpit pe and maskes. The last two I regret buying, the first because I really do like the cockpit in the kit and the last one because I forgot there were masks included in the kit.

 

VZ4Un5f.jpg

 

And finally the spare part frames I got hold of

 

5sSiBJZ.jpg

 

Soooo.. ready to go

Edited by Thomas Lund
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First order of business was to check how bad the Type 52 fuselage to the Type 21 wing was. The result: perfect. Gotta love Tamiya

 

hKNwbOa.jpg

 

But hey - what's that. The transition from the lower wing to the forward fuselage was not a match.

 

DYK0oyH.jpg

 

The difference between that bit can be seen more clearly here. Type 52 wing on top

 

kjO5jD5.jpg

 

So a transplant was needed. A bit of sawing, a bit of sanding and then a drop of CA and voilá. Fit is actually better than the photo suggest, but if I added tape to hold it down you wouldnt be able to see anything anyway.

 

znbnP4L.jpg

 

IlM7J82.jpg

 

Edited by Thomas Lund
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Ok, so actual assembly started. I removed the appropriate parts in the wing and added the Eduard flaps and gave it a coat of WEM Aotake and an oil wash.

 

TSaEsGQ.jpg

 

I painted and assembled the cockpit

 

ORwtIoa.jpg

 

rHEUo3n.jpg

 

uB0kAs1.jpg

 

CT71raF.jpg

 

 

Fuselage painted, hook well in place and that's basically all it needs before I insert the cockpit and close it up

 

InK1ToP.jpg

 

Edited by Thomas Lund
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But with regards to the wing I ran into another problem. I had used instructions for the Type 21 kit (found online) to determine what sprues I needed, but I missed a bit. In the Type 21 wing there are two panels over (or rather below) the gun compartment. The Type 21 kit includes two styles of there (maybe a hint that Tamiya might do a Type 22 or 32 later - you can thank me when they do :whistle: ) but these were on a frame that I didnt get and didnt plan to.

 

9nOC1tV.jpg

 

Again I contemplated how to do this. These panels had two aerodynamic bumps on them presumably to cover the feed mechanism for the wing guns, so doing the panels themselves would not be a big deal, but making these bumps and especially making them identical on the two wings was a serious challenge. Again it took me a little while to think of checking the Type 52 wing, for which I had no use anymore. And sure enough there they were, although cast into the rest of the wing. A quick check with Aero Detail ensured me that they were the correct type (there were two at least) for the Type 22.

 

k0OdVop.jpg

 

So.... chop chop chop, sand sand sand and a little glue, and these were fitted to the Type 22 wing.

 

Ljcj6iZ.jpg

 

 

 

So this is status as of today... I am actually really enjoying this chopping and converting, a first for me.

Edited by Thomas Lund
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Fantastic work, Sir!

 

I'll be watching this project with great interest, as I have something similar in mind and have yet to see anybody really pull it off. I have both Tamiya kits, as well as the Swallow Type 21 and the 21st Century kit (which is a mish-mosh of different variants, but has a fairly decent cockpit) and I also have the UMI A6M3 Type 32 conversion. My plan was to figure out a way to do this conversion without having to buy two more Tamiya kits, as I would like to build the ones I have, OOB. I'm not sure if that's even possible (well, anything is possible, but the amount of work involved is something else....) , but you've done an excellent job so far and I'm sure this will be educational.

 

Thanks for posting,

 

John

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Man, your doing a great job on this. Well thought out. Pit is really nice, and wing probs seem to be handled nicely. Will follow !..........Harv :popcorn:

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Thank guys - much appreciated !!

 

Very nice project Thomas, a path I'll be treading one day, if I remember correctly the A6M2 kit has a couple of "extra" spinners, one of which may be applicable to the A6M3.

 

Yeah, the A6M5 kit's got two spinners too, but I havent gotten around to checking it out seriously, but it crossed my mind. Where is Mancunia ?

 

Fantastic work, Sir!

 

I'll be watching this project with great interest, as I have something similar in mind and have yet to see anybody really pull it off. I have both Tamiya kits, as well as the Swallow Type 21 and the 21st Century kit (which is a mish-mosh of different variants, but has a fairly decent cockpit) and I also have the UMI A6M3 Type 32 conversion. My plan was to figure out a way to do this conversion without having to buy two more Tamiya kits, as I would like to build the ones I have, OOB. I'm not sure if that's even possible (well, anything is possible, but the amount of work involved is something else....) , but you've done an excellent job so far and I'm sure this will be educational.

 

Thanks for posting,

 

John

 

I fully understand not wanting to buy TWO Tamiya 1/32 kits to do one. I got this one relatively cheap 50GBP vs normal 80GBP (ish) and the spare frames were 18GBP so that's not completely outrageous. Considering that the wings fit like a glove on the fuselage - i was betting on that Tamiya used the same CAD drawings to do the A6M2 - I really think this is the easiest way to get a Type 22. With the wing length issue out of the way the fixes are relatively minor

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Terrific project Thomas, and really nice planning and execution. I too have plans for various Zero projects, including a Rufe from the Doyusha kit, and a Type 32 from the 21st Century kit. I'm looking forward to following your progress!

 

Kev

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  • 3 weeks later...

So... after a small break I'm back on this project again.

 

The break was because I lost a part - a frame that goes behind the instrument panel. I had a feeling it would show up again - not a really small part - so I was stalling a bit to avoid scratchbuilding it. Eventually my pal found it amoung his parts, apparantly it got mixed up at a build meeting. So, back on track.

 

Tamiya wants you to insert a clear plate with kinda some cylinders on into the back of the instrument panel, the cylinders forming the instrument glass. On the back of this plate you are suppose to put a decal on to show the instrument faces. I was afraid that the faces would be too far into the panel, but was convinced by my building pals that it would not be a problem so I did it that way. Didn't like it so I stripped it off again - fortunately it was mounted with future so a soak in Windex sorted that out.

 

At first I planned to scan the decals - now without any adhesion and slightly wrinkled - and clean up the image and print them individually for mounting on top of the cylinders on the clear plate. Before I got that far I rediscovered the Eduard pre-painted cockpit fret that I'd bought but ignored since I thought the cockpit was fine by itself. On that fret were the instruments - much nicer than Tamiya's actually, with color - as an insert to replace the tamiya part. Since it didnt go on the back of the clear part it was a little further up front and it was ok with me. I mounted them and got the idea to mount the tamiya cylinder-plate parts in reverse so the cylinders sticking out backwards to simulate the instrument back sides. A tiny bit shallow but it works.

 

Here's the panel - not easy to photograph something so small...

 

w91eyDs.jpg

 

The one thing missing now was the seat belts. I used the ones with the set, some kind of self adhesive thingies with PE buckles. Didnt particulary like them - they seemed to stick to anything but where they were supposed to, especially themselves. I wished I'd bought a pair of these new fabric belts, but I weren't in the mood to wait. Eventually they were done and fitting to the seat worked quite good - they lie down a lot better than PE belts. They were quite shiny so they got a coat of matt varnish.

 

So, cockpit is completely done now and hopefully I can mount it tonight and close up the fuselage. After that the engine needs some attention

 

5yOQVsS.jpg

 

 

Edited by Thomas Lund
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Guest Nigelr32

This is a pleasure to read Thomas. I love that cockpit, and from what I'm reading, it looks like it's OOB?

 

I have the type 21 kit in my stash, and long to start it, but I have far too many in progress builds to start another!! Keep the pictures coming please, I'm loving it!!

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