Anthony in NZ Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) Hi All Well, Japanese aircraft arent normally something I make models of, although I have to say that they produced some great machines. Whilst waiting for Aires to release some resin sets for the Trumpeter Skyhawk I have been working on my Auster T7 rebuild however.........I decided it was time to crack open my new Tamiya P-51D Mustang as I felt a little maxed out on chemicals and poor (again). I have always been partial to the captured/surrendered Zero the RNZAF aquired at the wars end with the green surrender crosses and white paint etc. I was determined that I already had enough models and a real aeroplane consuming much time and money and didnt need any more kits! My son and I were staying at Dave's (Moeggo here on the forum) house with his lovely family and I happened to see his beautiful 1/48 scale one he built some time ago.......darn, it looked really striking Dave convinced me it would look great in 32nd scale (being the only real scale these days)...thanks mate Well I found myself buying 2 expensive Tamiya Zero's and hoping hugely the 2 fuselage halves would go together! Anyway on to some photo's Here is a selection of the plane in question and how she looks today. Remarkably she survived the melting pot here in NZ and sits proudly in the Auckland War Memorial Museum Oh..........and Daves model that led me to this downward expensive spiral! Cheers Anthony Edited November 3, 2011 by Anthony in NZ Whitey and KiwiZac 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) On to the model... This was intended to be a quick build as I had already spent way too much money to make one aeroplane....Yea right. Next up came the Aires A6M5 cockpit and CMK exterior upgrade set, engine set, flaps, Quickboost exhausts etc etc First up was to essentiially figure out what I needed to use between the 2 kits. Mainly the '5' fuse with the '2' wings. I offered the 2 up and the fit was almost perfect. However the lower nose contours where different the engine instalations were between the Sakae 12 & 21. Hmmm, there was nothing else for it except to use my razor saw and carefully seperate the forward section of the wheel well incorporating the oil cooler housing (turns out this is different also). The cut was made at a mid point panel line between the wells. and carefully the 2 sections were swaped over (my son is building a 'Hybrid' Zero with all of the leftover parts and loving it). However the is joint was very fragile so I then fitted the CMK Zero wheel wells which fitted like a glove. This added strength to this area and saved the risk of it getting knocked off. See below, that if you are careful with your cut no one will ever know. I am not one for working parts, although my son is making his one with all the bells, hinges and whistles. Now that I had the centre section all sured up I thought I might finish this area and glue the Aires cockpit floor part in. Now I knew that the A6M3 Zero had aditional fuel tanks in the wings but not exactly sure where. However thanks to the guys here (as I dont own any books on the Zero) I was able to identify they were in the same wing bay as the '5'. Thanks for your help Aha , the CMK set has those fuel tank bays and so I proceeded to open the appropiate panel up on the port wing underside and fit the bay. The bay then had the appropiate new panel inserted fore and aft with the corrected shape, this was dotted with superglue between the straight and triangle pieces on each one, hence it looks like there is a gap between the 2 being that its clear. Then my thinnest razor saw tidied up the panel line between the 2. This will all look fine once primed. Again the bay fitted in almost perfectly Not sure what colour this should be? Atoke blue? And with the tank dry fitted, this will need a fuel line hose extended to look like it exits the bay from the tank......what colour would this tank and straps be? Cant find any google images Cheers Anthony Edited November 3, 2011 by Anthony in NZ KiwiZac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) I am choosing to open up several panels on this model as the real one was constantly opened up by the Kiwi ground crew and pilots out of curisoty. I will be addind several more CMK open panel bits as well as probably opening up the steps and hand holds too. Anyway the Aires cockpit had the casting blocks removed ready for some trial fitting and head scratching. Look at that detail it is stunning! Radio rack installed empty as this aircraft did not have any fitted Cleaned up the ailerons I am going to use as there are 2 types in the kit Again it was pointed out to me here that the opening for the carb intake was different between the '3' and '5', thanks again it is something I had not noticed I set about assembling and cleaning up the cowl pieces (the lower one is yet to be cleaned up) and reshaping the intake. Sorry I did not take a before and after photo as I was just thinking about how to do it with my knife in my hand and before I knew it it was done! there does not appear to be a dividing rib in the carb intake like the '5' so a little hole will need to be filled. Like I say, I am not familiar with Japanese planes so will be relying on feedback on things I need to change or do. Thanks for taking the time to look in Cheers Anthony Edited November 3, 2011 by Anthony in NZ EmperorKai, KiwiZac and Whitey 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Anthony, nice start mate, and it should make a stunning model when you're done. I'm planning to convert the 21st Century mongrel Zero into a clipped-wing Model 32 at some point, so maybe your build will inspire me to make a start. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 Hi Kev I hope it spurs you on as well. Hey if you need any leftovers of mine then let me know I am happy to sling them over Cheers Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Hey if you need any leftovers of mine then let me know I am happy to sling them over That would be awesome mate! I'll fire off a PM when I get a moment. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 No problem mate. Just off to bed now but will check tomorrow. Let me know of anything specific and I will see what I can gather up Cheers Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywalker Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Excellent work Anthony! I too would like to build a model 22 someday, and will keep your build close by when I do. Good info on the CMK wheel bays, I ALMOST bought them for the Tamiya -52 I am building now, but didn't know how well they would fit and I really wasn't prepared to buy them if they didn't. I will DEFINITELY get some for my next build! Keep up the great work mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) I'll be following this one very closely, hope you find this useful http://rwebs.net/avhistory/history/Zeke32.htm#Cockpit Edited November 3, 2011 by Kagemusha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave J Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 My son and I were staying at Dave's (Moeggo here on the forum) house with his lovely family Glad to have you stay with us! You know the door is open any time! I happened to see his beautiful 1/48 scale one he built some time ago.......darn, it looked really striking Dave convinced me it would look great in 32nd scale (being the only real scale these days)...thanks mate I am glad that I could convince you! This is going to look awesome once its done! Heres a few more photos to get your juices going! KiwiZac and Whitey 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomek Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Very cool project, Anthony! Nice start too. I'll be watching with interest. I just need to ask you that, are you planning at some point come back to your Mossie project? It would be great... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nigelr32 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 What an interesting project!!! I shall watch in awe..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) Hey Tomek Yes mate, good point.......actually it is out on the model desk as well. Funnily enough I got it out last night to have another look in the box. I have a ton of aftermarket for that as well. The main thing for this project was to throw something together quickly for myself. I had been asked to do a couple of commission builds for people (well actually people asked me nicely and I caved in and made them for a very very nominal price as I dont like friends paying but I just wanted to only cover my material costs)and now now they are done and dusted it was time to crack on with something for myself. So much for being a quick build! However I have everything I need to finish it apart from some Mr Color lacquer paint coming from ebay. I am going to start fitting the cockpit sidewalls hopefully today and perhaps open a couple more panels up along the way. Thanks for following along and words of encouragement as well Nigel . Cheers Anthony Edited November 3, 2011 by Anthony in NZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted November 4, 2011 Author Share Posted November 4, 2011 (edited) Ok, got some more done today (can you tell I am on holiday!) I decided to open up the hand holds up near the lower edge of the canopy as well as the foot step (the verticle rectange). I still have to open up a smaller step at the wingroot as well as lower the step below the trailing edge. As you can see I backed the step opening with plastic card. I also opened up the panel for the ground power plug(?) and inserted the CMK panel behind it after I thinned the sidewall to wafer thin to represent the aircraft skin. Now that the step opening had been sorted it was time to look at the Aires cockpit. As is always the way with these sets, uoi have to thin the sidewalls and resin to wafer thin....which I did. Sanded, dry fitted, sanded, dry fitted sanded......... I then glued the top edge only to get a nice accurate join showing the canopy rail. My rear bulkhead from Aires was short shot and had a few bits missing so I decided to use the kit one (I will add a little detail later). It appeared that I needed to shim the top edge of the bulkhead and this was done with superglue and sanded smooth. I am happy with how this is all fitting now So it was glued in and I have filled with superglue again which was sanded down after the photo was taken. The 2 halves closed up to test for fit and I am really happy with it. Since this photo I have just about finished fitting up the starboard sidewall, still sanding and test fitting tonight.... Thanks for stopping by Cheers Anthony Edited November 4, 2011 by Anthony in NZ EmperorKai, KiwiZac and Whitey 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Really nice work Anthony. Those Aires cockpit parts really look the biz. I used some of the CMK set on my Revell Zero rebuild, including that plug/socket thingy - it looks really effective on the finished model. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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