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It is easy to get sidetracked when researching the A6M2. It will inevitably lead the enthusiastic reader to Canada, which it did in my case. I didn't know that Mitsubishi's competitor Nakajima built Zero's, or that there were subtle (and obvious) ways of knowing the difference. One of those differences, the white surround to the Hinomaru, was one of the major features I wanted to incorporate in this build, since it highlights the dark shade of the grey with which the Zero was painted. Then I discovered the concept of the Houkoku presentation number, and that became number two on the wish list! How does this research end up in Canada you may ask? In 1968 an enterprising Canadian from Manitoba went in search of wreckage on Ballale Island in the Western Solomon Islands, and he hit the Nakajima built Houkoku A6M2 motherload. Three of them! They were chopped up (along with a Val), and carried out of the jungle by local labour, put onto boats and by the most amazing feat of horse trading ended up on Friendship Field in Carman, Manitoba. Their story is pretty complicated, but ends up in a collection of artefacts owned by the Blayd Corporation, also from Carman. A name that kept surfacing around these aircraft and research about them is Ryan Toews - another Canadian. Ryan's tweak list for building both of the Tamiya Zero's is a must read for anyone attempting these kits, and he has been a veritable gold mine of information for this project. You can see his contributions in the build thread, along with all the other information about the construction and painting that I won't rehash here. Since the tails of these aircraft were not attached to the wrecks, it is pure speculation at this stage to assign any identity other than the construction number. The aircraft is pictured soon after delivery to the island, having been assembled and test flown, awaiting the painting of unit identification. A final salute... Sean

Over the last few weeks, our daughter has started to recognise lots of things (she’s 2.5 yrs old). Chief among them is the babbled word “airbopwane” while pointing at my model display shelves. This has me fearing for my built stash’s future while simultaneously smiling inwardly as she shouts. Solution? Give her one to play with. I have a new one in the stash to build, that I intended to replace this with. It lasted approx’ 10 min’s before being reduced to a pile of plastic bits. She’s enjoying herself with it though. I have the perfect excuse to break open the new Tamiya now. I thought this image would give people a smile or a giggle.

Next project will be Tamiyas Phanton F4 J. To be painted up as a F4-J (UK) using yellow hammer decals.The aim is to end up some where here Starting from here

hi Aside from the Phantom project (still slowly going on) I am working another Spitfire. A mk16e the Belgian Air Force used just after the war. They got these in loan from the RAF because the ordered mk14's could not be delivered. These planes where very dirty, most airfields did not have concrete parking places. Camouflage is standard RAF with white lettering. I used the Tamiya 9c as the basis, and ordered extra the sprue FF from the 16e kit to make a 16e high back. You only need the FF sprue to change the wing , the rest is in the 9c box. With several corrections during the build, my own fault, should have done some information gathering before I started and not while building :-) We are ready to start the paint job. Jan The plane I intend to make , have ordered some Maketar masks for it. The Tamiya Spitfire ready for paint. Spitfire parked on PSP with lots of grass coming trough.