21st Century A6M2 to A6M3 conversion

[Sabre F-86]

Long time since my last post on this. You wanted a shot of the mast rack. Here it is, taken after the first assembly test. It worked out perfectly, and my wood mast is now safe and protected.

 

 

 

Anyway, I've been working on other things between, including some armor that I've had sitting around for a while. It came with semi individual track links, IE some straight sections and some individual links. When I first applied them they wouldn't sit right, leaving a huge sag at the front end. That just looked wrong, and I couldn't get it right for the life of me. It sat for about 5 years. So over the holidays, it caught my eye again and I had another go. This one looks like it might just work. I had to crease and bend half of the flat sections and a real tank wouldn't be allowed to have this much play in the track but it works. A bit of mud and repairs and its done. Its a BT-5 soviet tank from 1941. These things were tin cans to be potshot by the invading Germans but they were pretty good light tanks in their day.

 

 

I'm just waiting for the glue to set and then I'll pull the wire out.

 

 

The Zero is back in play, I'm working on the landing gear torque links now, and still refining the wing tip lights n such. I should have some photos in a day or so.

 

Sabre

[thierry laurent]

Hi!

 

You mentioned a 21st century/Doyusha combination as the best solution to get an A6M3...

 

Well... Yes and No!

 

In theory, this is a good idea but in practice this is a nightmare (don't ask me how I know ...) for a simple reason: this is far from obvious but the cross sections of both kits are different!

 

This means that mating the 21st century nose to the Doyusha fuselage asks for a lot of sanding of the 21st century parts to mate them to the slimmer Doyusha fuselage. Fortunately such parts are thick. Nonetheless, heavy sanding is not easily compatible with keeping the correct round cross section!

Moreover, it is also necessary to restore the MG bulges as the 21st century upper section is flatter. You should as well rebuild the wing-fuselage area as both kits do not have the same wing cross-section... Last but not least the front section of the underwing part (radiator area) shall be cut and replaced by the 21st century one BUT this is far from easy...

I initially considered enlarging a little bit the Doyusha fuselage but as the underwing area is made of ONE part, this solution is not really a way to simplify the process!

 

For the same cross-section reason, another noticeable issue is the insertion of the 21st century cockpit parts in the Doyusha fuselage. As the first is fatter than the second, it is necessary to sand as much plastic as possible of the fuselage internal sides and similarly to reduce noticeably the thickness of the cockpit side parts...

 

I used many Tamiya left-over parts from the A6M2 box (finer than their 21st century copy). Indeed, the kit has many A6M5 parts from the prior kit as well as unused parts for a future Nakajima A6M2. This was my source for the underwing bulges covering the A6M3 MG breeches. I also recommend a CMK wheel well set as with a cautious cut of the too shallow wells, it is rather easy to use the resin parts.

 

A comparison between the kits (21st century copy of the Tamiya, the Tamiya and the Doyusha) shows that even if this is not noticeable there are many small dimensional errors on the Doyusha kit...

 

Heavy work is necessary to make this Franken-zero but with many hours of patience, this is possible...

 

Regards.

[Sabre F-86]

Jeebers, I can't believe I started this 8 years ago. Anyway I've dug it out of the box, and it's sitting on my desk now. I've done a bit more filling and redoing the panel  lines, but still have a way to go before I can paint it. At the moment I am trying to figure out why the right wing is a good 1/4 inch higher at the tip than the other one. The tail is leveled and vertical, but even with the wing pressed in solidly to the opening, tis off. 

 

I am going to try redoing this topic over the next few days if I have time. The photos still exist, just a matter of hosting them somewhere.

 

SK

[Anthony in NZ]

Brilliant!  Great to see this back

 

Might inspire me to finish off my Tamiya conversion too.....

[Sabre F-86]

Finally got the wing thing figured out, once the wing is in place, I need to shim the stbd wing  by about 3/64ths. That gets it square enough for government work. I'm currently closing off the cockpit and wheel wells before putting another coat of  primer  on it. Pretty miserable weather up here, and I paint on the balcony so it may be a while. I did some more rescribing, but the original panel lines are a lot wider than what I normal get, so I'm going to try using a busted dental tool and make a wider one. The gusset plates at the ends of the wings, where the strap ties into the wingtip is pretty rough, can't get them to match, so more filler and perhaps some sort of template from thin sheet metal. I messed up one of the oval patches on the stbd side cowling, still trying to redo that as well.

 

[Sabre F-86]

Laid on some filler, and let it set. Finally got warm enough that I could use a rattle can of tamiya white primer on it. Still a lot of little things to fill, but its looking good. I think Im going to shoot a coat of aluminum on it, and then try the sprinkled salt chipping routine when I do the color coats. The markings will be generic, unless I come up with some better photos. One question, does anyone know what color the interior framing of the canopy would be? I have the green cockpit, and the blue primer coating aft of the cockpit bulkhead. I suspect it would be the interior green but would appreciate some confirmation.

[coogrfan]

http://www.j-aircraft.com/faq/A6M.htm#Zero Cockpit Colors

 

Posted By: James F. Lansdale <mailto:LRAJIM@aol.com?subject=Re: Zero Cockpit Colors/Saipan Zero [8-07]>

Date: Wednesday, 9 August 2000, at 9:25 a.m.

 

In Response To: Zero Cockpit Colors (Ryan Toews)

 

Ryan

R. ANDERSON, of the Douglas Aircraft Company at El Segundo, in reporting on the analysis of a Nakajima-built A6M5 model 52 captured at Saipan wrote in February 1945:

"Interior metal surfaces of the cockpit enclosure and windshield are painted a matt black to prevent glare. All parts in the cockpit below the level of the enclosure tracks are finished with a yellow-green primer similar in appearance to the zinc-chromate primer used in American airplanes. The cockpit is the only interior area of the fuselage which has been treated with this type of protective finish. Numerous welded steel sheet and tube assemblies are located in the cockpit. None of these parts are protected by plating but are instead covered with a red-oxide primer and a black finish paint. In many places this paint has been chipped off with the result that the steel parts are badly rusted, locking (in certain assemblies) moving parts together."

Jim Lansdale

[coogrfan]

http://www.j-aircraft.com/faq/A6M_pt4.htm

 

The cockpit deck was black both in front and behind the cockpit as was the interior of the canopy framing.

[Sabre F-86]

Great, Thanks. That makes life a lot easier. I should be able to start rescribing the panel lines in a day or so, still working with wet n dry paper to fill in all the divots in the reformed wing tips and those holes where the screws were put in. I've started to mask the canopy as well but it's taking time. Difficult to do with the trembling  in my hands, but bit by bit its getting done. God love bare metal foil. I have the next two days off, its snowing like crazy so I'll put in a of work, and get started on the wheel covers and what not.

 

[Sabre F-86]

Well, the Hamp is just about at the painting stage. I still have a bit of rescribing to do, but the wings are on, she sits level with the fin vertical, the stabilizers horizontal and both wingtips the same distance off the mat. Did a lot of filling and rescribing, all I have to do is the two upper and lower stringers per side, out at the wingtip. I'll be painting it with a first coat of Alclad, then mottled black as Thunnus did with his BF-109. Shoot a coat of hairspray, then the green and grey, and chip away. 

 

I've been working my way through the shelf of doom, and have half a dozen on the go, pushing to get them completed. Mostly tanks, even finished the Chevy Chevelle I started long time ago. 

[MikeMaben]

Well hey , he's back, chips ahoy 

[LSP_Kevin]

Any chance of reinstating the old photos?

 

 

Kev

[Sabre F-86]

I still have them. I'll see what I can do. Have to take a refresher on FTP and websites. Been ages since I actually did anything with that. 

[LSP_Kevin]

22 minutes ago, Sabre F-86 said:

I still have them. I'll see what I can do. Have to take a refresher on FTP and websites. Been ages since I actually did anything with that. 

 

Just use one of the free photo-hosting sites - Imgur seems to be popular.

 

Kev

[Sabre F-86]

I've replaced as many of the photos as  I can, sadly some of them have vanished. At the moment she's sitting on the shelf again  as I entered the Turning Japanese group build. I'll get back to her once the group build is finished.