kkarlsen

Thank you very much Richard, you are too kind! Kent

Well the photo was kind of inviting to do that, the only one thing that's missing is the photographer Thank you very much, all! It was the first time I ever did a Japanese plane, and if it wasn't for Ondrej at Special Hobby, I still hadn't. Now on to other adventures... or the shelf of doom? Cheers: Kent

I've tried to recreate a vignette, based this photo of one of the planes of Matsuo Hagiri together with some of his 'colleagues' on board the carrier Soryo. The Special Hobby kit is 'High tech' in the sense that it's including resin details of the engine and cockpit, as well as fret of photoetched details. https://www.specialhobby.eu/en/1/1/a5m4-claude-hi-tech-1-32.html?&listtype=search&searchparam=A5M4 Build thread is here: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/94082-mitsubishi-a5m4-the-father-of-the-zero/ Thanks for looking.... Cheers: Kent

The A5M4 is finished, a couple of preliminary shot's of the finished build.. As usual the markings are a mix of kit decals, Berna decals and some 'in-house' printed decals. Cheers: Kent

I already got those IJN tie downs Cheers: Kent

A mixture of duraluminium & Exhaust manifold Cheers: Kent

Further progress... Preparations for the painting. The A5M4 is assembled. Then I took a brake from the A5M4 to start working on the carrier deck display base. 4 mm strips of balsa wood stained in different tones to make a natural wood deck. I couldn't resist to try the arrangement for the base. Next the weathering: There are photos that suggest at least some of the A5M4 had some weathering.. These photos gave me the courage to start the weathering process. I didn't want to do another A5M4 which came right of the factory. Continuing on with the salt weathering... It's a mess but it does the job... The result of the salt weathering... Next I used some diluted clear orange with a mask, to add the shade of the lacquer at least used by some of the carrier based A5M4. The engine has been fitted. And the landing gear. I like the 'battered' worn look of the aircraft. After all I didn't want to do another 'shiny' A5M4 coming right out of the factory. Cheers: Kent

Thank you Paolo, if I can be any assistance to your build, just ask! Cheers: Kent

Not at all, here you go: Kent

This weekend I managed to finish the riveting, fix the cockpit in place and to begin the assembly of the fuselage and wings.. The riveting of the fuselage halves.. Top wings.. And elevators.. View of the cockpit in place.. The cockpit with some extra detailing... Fuselage assembly with a closer look of the riveting... Notice the slot for the scratched wing spar... I had to do some work to get the wings to fit the fuselage. In the end I resorted to building a 'wing spar' firstly to keep the alignment right of the middle wing. It has to be horizontal and also because the top wings doesn't have the same thickness as the wing root, it's sagging. In this way I solved both problems Almost there! Cheers: Kent

Thank you Paolo! Yes I know about the 'golden varnish' and I will try to find a way to make this work. The last thing I want to do is a nice shiny new aircraft. I'm hoping to achieve some kind of weathering, blending different tones. Maybe my preferred weathering method will be applied in some way, salt-weathering. Cheers: Kent

No I've been told that I can do anything with the kit Cheers: Kent

Thank you Gary, it's also great to be back to some normalcy! Cheers Kent

Thanks Gent's. I've been distracted elsewhere, so now I'm ready to do what I hope will be the final 'stint' of this build. The Special Hobby kit is lacking most of it's riveting. An odd decision? Only some basic rivets on the fuselage and nothing at all on the wings. the Wingsy kits in 1/48 scale has all the rivets. And even the Clear Props! kit in 1/72 scale... Wow! It's been that kind of job you try to put off as long as possible... But here I go with my trusted 'Rosie the riveter' at hand, starting with the underside of the wings, to get into the rhythm. If one makes a mistake, it's not very noticeable. There some minor differences of the details of some of the rivets, but better than no rivets. The finished result of the first part.. Cheers: Kent

Thank you Tolga & Jaro.. Kent