jelliott

Thanks for the comment Mark!

Some more work on this kit. Overall the kit isnt too bad. As this is my first A6M in this scale, I cannot comment or compare to others out there. I would have liked to have had the option of dropped flaps or separate ailerons, elevators or rudder. Here, I've added the Tamiya XF-11 for the top color and XF-12 for the belly (I dont have shots of that yet). Here is what I have so far, stared work on chipping and worn effects for the paint.

Here are few updated pics of this build. The fit of the wings to fuselage is great! There is virtually no seam lines to worry about on the bottom of the aircraft. The join at the rear of the bottom wing, lines up with a molded seam line that goes completely around the fuselage, just behind the cockpit. The area under the nose was perfect. There was some filler used on the wing roots as I was not able to get them to close up. I used Perfect Plastic Putty in this area and smoothed it out with cotton q-tips dampened with water. I've started the engine as well, I may add some ignition wires to dress it up a bit; however, it wont be seen when the cowling is in place. I've primed the aircraft with black Stynylrez and then a coat of AK Extreme Metal Duraluminum. I'll be coating some areas with chipping fluid so that the metal scratches will show. Sorry this last pic is so dark.

MPK, I have not built the Tamiya kit so I cannot give you a comparison of the two. I can tell you, so far the fit is great. Dry-fitting of the bottom wing to the fuselage has shown that there will be minimal seams to clean up. Even holding them together, the front part of the wing that mates up to the fuselage disappears and is perfect! As I have started to get onto other pieces and parts, specifically the gear doors, there are a couple of odd-placed ejector pin marks that need to be filled. There are a total of 6 on the main gear doors and three on the smaller inner door. The main doors are easily handled, the smaller doors;however, are tricky. They are in areas that are difficult to get to, I will be using Perfect Plastic Putty to fill these and smooth out with a damp q-tip.

Thanks guys, I'll have to get some other pics taken soon. I've progressed a bit farther than what these pics show. I've got the pit all painted up and slightly weathered and have started working on the fuselage. So far the fit has been pretty good, a little seam clean-up has been needed around the nose area. I'll try to get some pics taken and posted.

I'm currently starting a build of the new tool A6M5 Type 52 Zero from Hasegawa. I replied to a comment in another thread and was encouraged to start a WIP thread for this kit. This is my first topic I've posted here. The molding of this kit is very nice. The instrument panel and sidewall detail is very nice. There are decals that can be used for the instrument panel if you desire; however, on my build I am going to be painting the dials and details instead of using the decals. This build will be 98% OOB, the only thing I will be adding is some light details in the cockpit area, ie. stretched sprue for some lines along the floor and lead foil for seatbelts. And finally the pilot figure. I know its kind of hard to see the detail in this picture, but I was thoroughly impressed at how good it looks. I did have to do some filing and sanding where the torso and legs fit together as well as were the head joins the torso. The kit comes with three different heads as an option. Since I began construction, I have decided to not have the figure inside the aircraft as it would hide a lot of the detail. I am planning on still painting it up, but as a practice piece, as I've not had too much luck with figures.

Greetings, this is my first post here, so forgive me for just popping in. I am currently building this kit. I have to admit, I've never built the Tamiya kit so I cannot compare the two. I can say; however, that this kit is going together very well and has some fantastic detail. I've read that it is not as complex as the Tamiya kit, which is to be expected. I did notice that, in the photo link provided above, that the picture of the interior, they used the included decals from the box. I thought that the detail that was molded onto the instrument panel and the sidewalls was too nice to cover with decals. What I have done is hand paint what I could using a fine brush and a cocktail stick, then covered each dial with a drop of clear acrylic to give the gauge face the glass look. I'll try to get some shots of it and add them to show what I did. The pilot figure is probably one of the best molded 1/32 figures I've ever seen! I will not be including the pilot inside the aircraft, since it would obscure the detail inside.