Tamiya A6M2 / A6M5 Zero Tweak List?

[thierry laurent]

By the way I forgot mentioning that the Green Arrow Zero book also had a sketch showing the floatation bags configuration (P. 163).

[thierry laurent]

I got today the brand new volume three of the Model Art Imperial japanese Army&Navy Airplanes Illustrated series. To me, it is even better than the two first ones and gives a lot of new material related to the Zero and Claude.

 

Highly recommended.

[LSP_Kevin]

Ryan sent me his updated Tweak List for the Tamiya A6M5 during the week, so I'll try to get it published over the next few days.

 

Kev

[One-Oh-Four]

Great news! Thanks!

[LSP_Kevin]

14 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Ryan sent me his updated Tweak List for the Tamiya A6M5 during the week, so I'll try to get it published over the next few days.

 

Kev

 

And here it is!

 

https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=3332

 

A special thanks to Ryan for taking the time to compile this and send it in.

 

Kev

[Pete Roberts]

looking forward to the tweak list for the A6M2.

 

PR

[dennismcc]

1 hour ago, Pete Roberts said:

looking forward to the tweak list for the A6M2.

 

PR

That would be great as I have one of those kits to build

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[ringleheim]

On 3/10/2019 at 4:57 PM, Scott Negron said:

Here is a link to the Research Article on j-aircraft.com.

 

http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/otherres.htm

 

There are color mixes for all the various colors, including the differences between Mitsubishi and Nakajima Ame-Iro, and the blue-gray fabric dope color.

 

I have an extensive collection of A6M3 fragments in very good condition (all A6M3 were Mitsubishi built). The cockpit color is near mint as it was painted before being riveted over and covered for over 60 tears.  It's almost spot on to FS 34151.  The Ame-Iro is also in excellent condition and matches well other Pearl Harbor artifacts of the same shade.

 

Of note are 5 different shades of Aotake, that they aren't just differences in thickness, but various shades of blue to green.  When I bought them I had an extensive discussion with Ryan about this.  He mentioned sub-contractors making many pre-formed components.  A Nakajima wheel bay he examined demonstrated this, then a final coat which made it seem more uniform.

 

Sorry about the poor lighting, I need to take better pictures, and a real camera:(!

 

Glad to see so many fellow Zero geeks out the:)!

 

Thanks for posting those photos.

 

Tamiya would have you use various metallic blue/green paints to replicate Aotake.

 

As your photos show, the stuff is some sort of rust inhibiting application shot over bare metal.  Color tints were added to it so that you could see where the stuff had been shot and what was still left uncovered, to ease application.  I guess the actual chemical is just clear in its native state.

 

So the effect you end up with is very similar to "candy" paint jobs, where you shoot a transparent color coat over a metal coat of silver or gold.

 

I have found success in mixing my own Aotake hues using Clear Green, Clear Blue, Clear Yellow, and then even further thinning out the pigment with additional drops of regular clear so it is more transparent.  Shoot that over a brilliant silver type color and you have pretty convincing Aotake IMO.

 

You can even have fun and vary your formulas so some parts are more green, some more blue, etc.

 

 

[Scott Negron]

Thanks, yes, you hit it on the head.  Holding the actual stuff, it looks more like it's anodized than painted!  That type of surface finish.

 

I have used that same method for replicating aotake since the first Tamiya aotake came out (XF-13) by letting the silver in it settle and pouring out just the top translucent part.  Then I started using clear blue, clear green and plain clear to make it and spray atop All-Clad.  I've found a base coat of gloss back, followed by chrome or high polished aluminum Al-Clad, then the aotake coat(s) makes the best results.

 

I have green and blue DYE from Chemco that I'm going to try adding a few drops of each to some Future, see how that comes out.  The real trick is getting it thin and smooth enough, with a nice metal underneath.  I'd try Bare Metal Foil but you really can't see much back there and not worth it I think.

 

I'll take and post better pics of my samples.

[Juggernut]

Guys, I may be preaching to the quior  here but if aluminum has been anodized (not to be confused with alodine), it does not need a further coat of paint or preservative as the anodized coating is, in fact, corroded aluminum and acts as a protective layer for the underlying material (usually 0.003 - 0.005 inches deep).

 

The fact that the relics have aotake on them is indicative that the parts have not been anodized but are more likely corroded from years off exposure to sources of humidity.  In Scott's photos I can clearly see corrosion around the rivet holes and other areas.

[One-Oh-Four]

1 hour ago, ringleheim said:

Thanks for posting those photos.

 

Tamiya would have you use various metallic blue/green paints to replicate Aotake.

 

As your photos show, the stuff is some sort of rust inhibiting application shot over bare metal.  Color tints were added to it so that you could see where the stuff had been shot and what was still left uncovered, to ease application.  I guess the actual chemical is just clear in its native state.

 

So the effect you end up with is very similar to "candy" paint jobs, where you shoot a transparent color coat over a metal coat of silver or gold.

 

I have found success in mixing my own Aotake hues using Clear Green, Clear Blue, Clear Yellow, and then even further thinning out the pigment with additional drops of regular clear so it is more transparent.  Shoot that over a brilliant silver type color and you have pretty convincing Aotake IMO.

 

You can even have fun and vary your formulas so some parts are more green, some more blue, etc.

 

 

 

It also seems that unprotected aotake loses (much?) of it’s color over the years. The IWM A6M5 shows only aluminium color aft of the rear cockpit bulkhead and the oil tank etc. on the Merrill Island A6M2 also looks aluminium instead of a translucent blue/green.

[Scott Negron]

No it's absolutely a paint coating, I was just referring to the finish, which is very smooth and looks more like anodized coating that a paint coating.  A very effective corrosion resistant coating.  If I recall, as post war allied report that examined it mentioned it had better corrosion resistance properties than allied zinc chromate.  I will post some better pics, as well as some articles combined from J-aircraft.com posts.

 

New aotake club members:)!?

[A6M]

In the photo below are two inner wheel well doors. The upper door is from a Mitsubishi A6M3 32 (s/n 3285) and thus has been painted with the same olive-gray paint as the rest of the plane's camo scheme.  The lower door is from a Nakajima-built A6M2 and has an aotake finish. Note how there was an initial application of the aotake on the main part of the door. The two outer fittings were then riveted in place and a second layer of aotake was applied (including onto the wood rub plate). This second layer has resulted in a much more opaque covering of the aluminum underneath. Such variations in the depth of the coverage can be found throughout the airframe.

 

[LSP_Ray]

Now those are  some cool examples!