A6M Posted March 13, 2019 Share Posted March 13, 2019 Here is the text of a study I did on the Zero's various pressure bottles. Once I set up an account to post images I 'll follow up with the details. The Zero had several different pressure bottles in the fuselage section immediately behind the cockpit. These included containers for the engine fire extinguisher CO2, oxygen for the pilot, and compressed air for the pneumatic wing cannon charging and firing system. When various drawings of these systems are examined it appears that the location and number of these contains changed over time. The Green Arrow Zero book contains a collection of drawings on page 109 taken from a Zero Maintenance Manual. These drawings indicate the use of two oxygen bottles, one to the port of the opening in Station 5 and the other on the floor of the fuselage. The drawings also show a crank mounted on the rear cockpit deck connecting with a valve fitting on the floor-mounted bottle. Because this crank arrangement may have interfered with the RDF antenna mounting found on the Type 21 it may be possible that this drawing is of the Type 11 Zero. The compressed air bottle is not shown. A series of drawings from the Zero Maintenance Manual published in Koku-Fan in 1974 includes two illustrations of the various pressure bottles. The first of these (p 99) shows an oxygen bottle mounted vertically on the starboard side of the opening in Station 5 and the CO2 bottle similarly situated on the port side of the opening. The compressed air bottle is mounted horizontally on the floor of the fuselage just to the starboard of the centerline. This drawing also appears on page 74 of the Green Arrow Zero book. A second drawing in this same series is not as clear, but it seems to show the position of the oxygen bottle on the port side and the compressed air bottle on the starboard. The CO2 bottle is not shown. The Blayd copy of the Zero Maintenance Manual has been established as being of a later date than the Model Art version. A drawing on page 5.41.04 in this manual also provides for two oxygen bottles but shows them mounted vertically on either side of the opening in Station 5. On page 5.41.03 is a drawing of the CO2 bottle that places it mounted horizontally on the port wall of the fuselage. Significantly, a photo of the rear cockpit section of the Buna early model A6M3 indicated that the arrangement of the two oxygen bottles and the CO2 bottle had not been changed. What then of the compressed air bottle? Both the IWM and NASM A6M5 have a bottle mounted horizontally on the fuselage floor. In his Japanese Cockpits book Mikesh identifies this as the compressed air container for charging the wing cannons. I suspect that this location remained unchanged from earlier models of the Zero. These same aircraft have the horizontally mounted CO2 bottle for the engine fire extinguisher replaced by two upright CO2 bottles used for the wing tank fire extinguisher system. As well, an additional oxygen tank was added beside the oxygen container on the port side of the opening in Station 5. The A6M3 based on the airframe of c/n 3148, currently under construction by Legend Flyers, appears to fall midway into the changes in the locations of the compressed air containers. The reconstructed forward fuselage has two mounting bases for the oxygen bottles on the port side of the opening behind the cockpit. A similar base on the starboard side presumably held a third oxygen bottle. The fuselage also has a horizontal mounting rack for the fire extinguisher compressed CO2 bottle on the side of the port fuselage wall. The firing system compressed air container would have been placed in a horizontal mount on the centre floor of the rear fuselage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Negron Posted March 13, 2019 Share Posted March 13, 2019 Here is the CO2 horizontal bottle bracket I mentioned, thanks to Ryan for re-providing me the pic! I'll post a pic of my bracket soon..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One-Oh-Four Posted March 13, 2019 Author Share Posted March 13, 2019 On 3/12/2019 at 1:29 PM, Rick K said: ........ I'm doing a PH build and the main color content is causing my little brain to freeze. I might do some ratio mathematics, counting over 100 drops will drive me batty. ..... Hey Rick, good to see a post of you here! I have bought "Painting the early Zero-Sen" by Nick Millman (Straggler from the "Aviation Of Japan"-blog). One of the conclusions in there is that RAF Hemp / Camouflage Beige (BS4800) as produced by Xtracolour is a close match. I'm therefore inclined to use Mr. Color 336 RAF Hemp on the shaky premise that that color will be a close match too! Cheers, Erik. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One-Oh-Four Posted March 13, 2019 Author Share Posted March 13, 2019 BTW, Scott and Ryan, thanks for your input on the CO2, O2 and compressed air bottles! Unfortunately I now have to rip the double vertical bracket from the left fuselage wall, since that is a later feature... Which makes me think about the radio bracket on the right side, Tamiya and Eduard provide something that looks like a Hi-Fi amplifier / CD-player... Is that really how the apparatus that lived there looked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Negron Posted March 13, 2019 Share Posted March 13, 2019 (edited) Here is a great drawing of the starboard side of the cockpit showing the radio equipment, and some of the individual components. Edited March 13, 2019 by Scott Negron LSP_Ray 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ade rowlands Posted March 13, 2019 Share Posted March 13, 2019 Great photos. I have the 1/24 Trumpeter kit to tackle at some point. Possibly next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 On 3/12/2019 at 12:49 AM, A6M said: Thierry, what are you basing your Type 22 on? There are a number of small cockpit variations that should be addressed. How much "rivet-counting" do you want to do? Ryan Hi Ryan, Please do. I realized later that my reply was so long you probably missed that aspect. Thanks! Thierry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A6M Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 Hello Gentlemen, My apologies for not replying sooner. My 89 year old father slipped and broke his hip on Tuesday so things have been a little hectic since then. Fortunately, due to the weather today (10 cm of snow and 65 kph wind) I have the afternoon off.to work on my tweak lists. I'll post more material ASAP. Ryan LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggernut Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 20 minutes ago, A6M said: Hello Gentlemen, My apologies for not replying sooner. My 89 year old father slipped and broke his hip on Tuesday so things have been a little hectic since then. Fortunately, due to the weather today (10 cm of snow and 65 kph wind) I have the afternoon off.to work on my tweak lists. I'll post more material ASAP. Ryan Oh dear... I hope he's comfortable and in good spirits. I know what a huge issue breaking a hip can be for elderly folks. Best wishes for speedy recovery and home ASAP. Looking forward to your revised/updated tweaks list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Negron Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 same here brother:(! Thierry, I have what you are looking for and will post tonight (most courtesy of our Ryan)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Negron Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 Here is a nice drawing of A6M3 cockpit frontal view. I can't read Japanese :(, so I don't know the differences. Note the change in rudder pedals, which changed somewhere during the A6M3 production from the earlier version with a (hemp?) wrapped bottom pedal to the all metal version in the Tamiya kit (incorrect for and A6M2 or early A6M3). There are also changes to the small panel beneath the IP (oxygen flow regulator), and the small box with 3-4 pull handles on the bottom right floor. But we need Sensei Ryan for more details, I have pics but can't tell you when they changed. I believe the top is a 32, bottom a 22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Hi Ryan, I am very sorry to read this. For sure, there are other priorities in life than small plastic airplanes. Hi Scott. I also have that Model Art book. I forgot about it as it not dedicated to the Zero. Thanks for the reminder. The upper drawing shows the type 32 whereas the lower is the 52 one. I cross-checked before seeing it was written in the page title! Thanks for the remarks about the changes. I will look again at the rare A6M3 pit pictures I have. Thierry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One-Oh-Four Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 16 hours ago, A6M said: Hello Gentlemen, My apologies for not replying sooner. My 89 year old father slipped and broke his hip on Tuesday so things have been a little hectic since then. Fortunately, due to the weather today (10 cm of snow and 65 kph wind) I have the afternoon off.to work on my tweak lists. I'll post more material ASAP. Ryan Hi Ryan, I hope your father will get well soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One-Oh-Four Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 On 3/13/2019 at 8:01 PM, Scott Negron said: Wow, Scott! Great pics of the radio equipment! The bottom picture is of the alternator located roughly at the left elbow of the pilot? What I meant in my question was this: Parts K6 and 56, respectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One-Oh-Four Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 Well, I decided to start my Work-In-Progress topic. Not too much to report, but I can't keep postponing it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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