John F Smith

This is the display of both the Tamiya and ICMTH 1/32 scale A6M2b "Zeros" side by side.
 
Hope you enjoy them.
 
The builds of both models can be found here on the site.
 

  

  

  

  

P.S.  I will be doing the Bf 109f from this same company and the companion injected molded kit from Hasegawa (Priller's aircraft), but not right away.  As much as I love these cutaways, I need a break!!
 

Just now catching up with this amazing project, Kevin.
 
So very impressive!
 
Count me in as one of the followers on this one!!!
 
John

Looking good, Kev.
 
I've got this kit, too, but I've never cracked open the box.  Moldings looks pretty nice overall.
 
John

Many thanks John, it was first seeing your build that made me want to try the IMTCH P51, I use yours and Chris's as reference, at least till photobucket stopped hosting.
 

 

 
The side panels and oil tank mounted.  Used some of the Eduard set for Tamiya.  Will probably stop here and start the belly scoop, then return to the cockpit.

Outer skin glued down.  Might do a wash and some detailing later, but want to move on to the engine or the fuselage.  Fit was generally good, a little effort is needed for it to lay down on all the formers.
 

.....And the last of the finish photos.....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for looking and for your comments.
 
John

Hi Folks,
 
Here is the finished product on my Tamiya Zero which was documented in the Works in Progress folder.  I'm sure this will take 2 posts due to the number of photos.
 
Manufacturer:  Tamiya

Extras:  Engine detail PE from Eduard
            Cockpit detail PE from Eduard
            Exhaust Manifolds from Quickboost
            Seatbelts from HGW

Paints:  Almost all Tamiya per Instructions
             -Exceptions:  Alclad for Exhaust Manifolds
                                 Vallejo Model Air for some silver bits

Decals:  Tamiya (kit supplied)

Weathering:  Flory "Grime"

I've said more than a few words about this kit in the build log which you are welcome to peruse if you don't mind a couple of rants!!!  It really IS a superior kit, though not without a few problems here and there.

Here are the finish photos, I hope you enjoy them!

  

  

  

  

    

  

  
 
......Photos continued in Post #2....
 

.....And the last of the finish photos.....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for looking and for your comments.
 
John

.....And the last of the finish photos.....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for looking and for your comments.
 
John

Hi Folks,
 
Here is the finished product on my Tamiya Zero which was documented in the Works in Progress folder.  I'm sure this will take 2 posts due to the number of photos.
 
Manufacturer:  Tamiya

Extras:  Engine detail PE from Eduard
            Cockpit detail PE from Eduard
            Exhaust Manifolds from Quickboost
            Seatbelts from HGW

Paints:  Almost all Tamiya per Instructions
             -Exceptions:  Alclad for Exhaust Manifolds
                                 Vallejo Model Air for some silver bits

Decals:  Tamiya (kit supplied)

Weathering:  Flory "Grime"

I've said more than a few words about this kit in the build log which you are welcome to peruse if you don't mind a couple of rants!!!  It really IS a superior kit, though not without a few problems here and there.

Here are the finish photos, I hope you enjoy them!

  

  

  

  

    

  

  
 
......Photos continued in Post #2....
 

.....And the last of the finish photos.....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for looking and for your comments.
 
John

Hi Folks,
 
Here is the finished product on my Tamiya Zero which was documented in the Works in Progress folder.  I'm sure this will take 2 posts due to the number of photos.
 
Manufacturer:  Tamiya

Extras:  Engine detail PE from Eduard
            Cockpit detail PE from Eduard
            Exhaust Manifolds from Quickboost
            Seatbelts from HGW

Paints:  Almost all Tamiya per Instructions
             -Exceptions:  Alclad for Exhaust Manifolds
                                 Vallejo Model Air for some silver bits

Decals:  Tamiya (kit supplied)

Weathering:  Flory "Grime"

I've said more than a few words about this kit in the build log which you are welcome to peruse if you don't mind a couple of rants!!!  It really IS a superior kit, though not without a few problems here and there.

Here are the finish photos, I hope you enjoy them!

  

  

  

  

    

  

  
 
......Photos continued in Post #2....
 

.....And the last of the finish photos.....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for looking and for your comments.
 
John

Hi Folks,
 
Here is the finished product on my Tamiya Zero which was documented in the Works in Progress folder.  I'm sure this will take 2 posts due to the number of photos.
 
Manufacturer:  Tamiya

Extras:  Engine detail PE from Eduard
            Cockpit detail PE from Eduard
            Exhaust Manifolds from Quickboost
            Seatbelts from HGW

Paints:  Almost all Tamiya per Instructions
             -Exceptions:  Alclad for Exhaust Manifolds
                                 Vallejo Model Air for some silver bits

Decals:  Tamiya (kit supplied)

Weathering:  Flory "Grime"

I've said more than a few words about this kit in the build log which you are welcome to peruse if you don't mind a couple of rants!!!  It really IS a superior kit, though not without a few problems here and there.

Here are the finish photos, I hope you enjoy them!

  

  

  

  

    

  

  
 
......Photos continued in Post #2....
 

Thanks, Bill
 
Its getting there and finally in the home stretch.
 
John

OK, I'm long past due for an update on this build.

I had a lot of difficulty with the paint on this build.  I was using AK Interactive IDF Sinai Grey Modern and I didn't have any thinner for it, so first I waited impatiently for my orders of both Ultimate Paint Thinner and AK Interactive Acrylic Thinner to arrive.  Finally they came in and I proceeded to paint the model and it was a complete disaster.

With the AK Interactive paint, I attempted to spray it neat, thinned to various degrees with AK Interactive Thinner, and thinned to various consistencies with Ultimate Paint Thinner.  In every case, my airbrush clogged up almost immediately and it looked like the paint was separating in the paint cup.  I simply could not get it to work.  I'm not blaming AK Interactive because I think I got a bad batch of paint, but I would be very, very interested to hear what anyone else's experience has been with this product.

After much cleanup and frustration, I airbrushed it with Vallejo IDF Sand Grey, and that's the color it's going to be.  I sprayed it neat, and, as usual, I was very happy with the Vallejo Model Air product.

Also, I've finished adding the armored glass to both the turret and hull as well as painting the pioneer tools on the back of the hull.  Perhaps a wasted effort because they will be mostly hidden under the ball and chain armor, but it was good practice in doing a wood finish.  In addition, the machine guns have their final painting complete and are ready for a wash.  I painted them with Alclad gun metal and did a slight polish with Uschi van den Rosten gun metal powder.  It's very easy to use and imparts a nice sheen to the metal parts.

Still to come is lots of detail work before we can spray it with a satin finish prior to the decals, washes, and weathering powder work.  Especially, I need to start over on the mounting of the ball and chain armor.  I just am not happy with how it looks on it's mounting bar and I figure I've already invested a load of time in this tank.... I might as well try to get it right. 

Here are photos of the hull, turret, and machine guns:

  

  

  

So, that's it for now.

This project is going on the back burner for a while.  I'm not putting it on the Shelf of Doom, but I'm going to be concentrating on my Zero build for a while.

I will continue to update as I make progress, and thanks for stopping by.

John
  

Hi Bill,
 
Yeah the ball and chain stuff is mind breaking kind of work.  I'm only managing about a half hour a day before I'm completely done for the day.  But, I figure if I can make constant progress, I'll get it all done.  Working on getting the assemblies mounted to the brackets which will be glued to the turret.  Sure am glad that this part of the build is almost over.
 
Thanks for stopping by, Bill.
 
John

Many thanks for your suggestions, Bill.
 
I've decided to go with the Orange Hobby antenna set; I ordered it last night.
 
Not easy to find because most dealers seem to be out of stock on their stuff.  It looks great though and I think it will really enhance the model.
 
John

Got lots of work done this past week.......
 
This model seems neverending; the more I do, the more I seem to have left to do.
 
So, I just keep at it and I'm sure it will reach a critical mass at some point and "boom", we'll be ready to prime.
 
Most of the stuff has been added to the turret at this point, ammo boxes, grab bars, reinforcing plates, mounts, lights, rocket launchers, etc.  Still to go are the machine guns and the rear basket.  The machine guns are in progress and are, in fact, quite difficult.  The drawings in the instructions are very poor for the plastic parts and so it's a bit of trial and error getting them together.  They will be left off until after the painting and weathering are complete.  Here's the turret as it is today:
 

 
...... and a rear view:
 

 
The rear baskets have been an enormous amount of work involving reducing the racks themselves to almost nothing while adding a lot of PE in place of what is plastic in the kit.  I really like how they are turning out.  I haven't yet added the tarps which cover them or the straps which hold the tarps down.  In addition, I've included the basket in this photo.  The railings on the upper and lower part of the basket were incredibly delicate and had sprue attachment points all over them.... Took a while to get them looking good enough to mount.  PE would have been easier and the obvious choice, but there was none for these parts in the Eduard sets (surprisingly).  Some of you might notice that the floor of the basket is mounted upside down in this photo.  The reinforcing ribs should be on the bottom of the assembly, not the inside of the basket!!  I noticed it shortly after I was done with the photography and have since corrected the problem.  Thank goodness it was PE and I was able to debond and clean it.  If I had used the kit plastic part, I would have been out of luck.
 

 
Finally, the upper and lower hulls are now glued together with minimal gaps.  Notice the grill installed now and the baffle plates behind it (very faint).  They were a major source of trouble.  Many of them "popped" loose during the gluing and clamping process for the hulls and I ended up removing all of them with debonder, cleaning the old CA off them, gluing them back into the opening, and filing the edges so that the grill would fit properly over the opening.  Not a trivial task......
 

 
Still to come on the hull are mounting the rear baskets, the rear photo etch skirts, front skirts, and side skirts and their suspension (to be built from PE).
 
I keep telling my friends that I hope to have this project in primer in "a week", but I've quit planning on that.  I'm just taking it one day at a time, trying the keep the quality high, and letting the project take it's course.
 
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying the build.
 
John

Okay.... time for another update.
 
The lower hull is complete and the upper hull needs only the skirts and air conditioning units to be done.  I've begun gluing them together in preparation for priming and that has revealed just how poor a fit they are.  I'm in the process of clamping a bit, gluing a bit, repeat.  It will take a little time but it will minimize the filling and sanding that I'm going to have to do.  Finished the other work and the "pioneer tools" shown below.  Lots of scraping and filing before the PE can be attached to replace the molded on items.
 

 
Most of the work now is on the turret.  The gun barrel is complete.  I had the option of replacing the other banding on the turret with PE and chose not to do so.  I think that the molded on detail is fine and there is really no value added with the PE.
 

 
Like the hull assembly, the turret is also a poor fit, but I've got it together now.  Still to come are more filling and sanding and lots and lots of additional detail to add.  In the photo below, the PE "D" rings are in place as well as the hatch, but that's about it.  There is so much more to do that the turret is almost a kit in itself.... More after the photo.
 

 
All of the additional turret items are being assembled off the body of the turret itself and will be added just prior to priming.  Includes stuff like 3 machine guns which have amazing detail (23 parts for each, minimum), ammo boxes, vision ports and periscopes, antennae, rocket tubes, and so on, and so on.  The PE work seems endless, but I'm sure it's going to pay huge dividends in the end.  .....and, it's really a lot of fun.  Here are a few examples of the kinds of things that are being built which will be added to the turret. (Apologies for the lint on my black background; the Xacto blade is for scale)
 

 
Thanks for everyone's input on the tracks.  I agree, the Friulmodel tracks are outstanding.  But, I've already spent so much time on this model that I'm going to use the kit tracks this time around in the interests of actually finishing this project.  Next time, I'll build the Friulmodel tracks first, instead of the kit tracks.
 
I'm getting a good amount of build time each day, and things are progressing well.  I'm hoping to be in primer in a week or so and I'll be doing another update by the end of the weekend, I'm sure.
 
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are all enjoying the build.
 
John

Bravo, Kev!!!
 
Such a sweet looking build and such a fitting subject for AIR Modeller.
 
I've been holding off for the ZM kit, but your work on this one may draw me over to the HK version.
 
A really stunning build.......
 
John

Beautiful work, Kev!
 
She really looks the part. Have you thought about writing up a little tutorial on your filtering technique for the rest of us?
 
Sure would be a welcome tool in my workbench!
 
John

I'm stunned, Kev.
 
Such a beautiful, clean build.  Makes my mouth water to build my own, but I'm going to wait a while longer for the ZM version and see what I think.
 
John

Its definitely starting to look like an airplane!
 
Honestly, Peter, I think you may be the most persistent modeler I know. It truly takes a dedicated soul to take a kit like this and turn it into a real eye-turner. Congratulations on some truly beautiful and eye catching work.
 
(The photography ain't half bad either)
 
Best regards,
John

Nice looking work!
 
Loved building my Tamiya A6M2 kit.  Really one of the most pleasurable builds I've done.
 
Good luck and keep 'em coming.
 
John