English Zero references?

[TwoHands]

What is the best book on the A6m for modelers?

[thierry laurent]

Difficult question! As far as I know, there are not many "modeller" books written in English about the Zero and this is even worse for other Japanese planes. Here's what is jumping to my mind:

1.The most Modelling-oriented book in English has been published by AJ Press (volume 6).

2. the Aero detail is still an excellent reference for walkaround and plans. 

3. Mushroom published a smaller but comparable book that also had color profiles. 

Out of that short list, you either have books published in English but with historical content (such as Robert Mikesh books) or fantastic books for the modeller BUT published in Japanese such as the Model Art or Green Arrow books. 

 

Hth

 

Thierry 

[dennismcc]

There is a lot of information on the A6M on the Aviation of Japan website which is run by Nick Millman an expert on all things Japanese.

On the same website you can get a PDF on Painting the early Zero Sen, Nick has also published a guide to colour and markings for Combat Colours (Scale Aircraft Modelling).

There is also an MMP book by Artur Juszczak, and as mentioned above the Aero Detail book, which is a great resource but is out of print and can be expensive and hard to find.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[thierry laurent]

By the way, just to clarify, Mushroom is MMP. 

[Kagemusha]

Model Art published two volumes, which are worth considering. 

[richdlc]

A6M Zero In Action - Squadron Signal In Action No.59

Zero: Combat & Development History of Japan’s Legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter - Robert C. Mikesh

Combat Colours No.9 - The Mitsubishi Zero Type 0 Carrier Fighter (A6M) ‘Zeke’ in World War Two - Scale Aircraft Modelling / Guideline Publications

Zero Fighter - Akira Yoshimura

Eagles of Mitsubishi - The Story of the Zero Fighter - Jiro Horikoshi

Mitsubishi A6M Zero: Monografie Lotnicze No.7 - AJ Press

Mitsubishi A6M Zero part 1 - Profile No.12 - Model Art No.847

Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter Part 2 - Profile No.13 - Model Art No.857

Aero Detail No.7 - Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter

Modelmania No.6 - Mitsubishi A6M Zero (revised 2nd ed) - AJ Press

Mitsubishi A6M Zero - Mushroom Yellow Series

Mitsubishi Zero Fighter Technical Manual - Kaigun Kouku Gijutsu

Maru Mechanic 1977 / 3  No.3 - Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero-Sen

Maru Mechanic 1977 / 5  No.4 - Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero Carrier Fighter

A6M2 / A6M5 Zero Fighter - Gakken Publishing

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by richdlc

[thierry laurent]

2 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

 

The Aero Detail books are excellent sources of walk around photos, but NEVER for plans.  Every set of plans in that entire series are uniformly awful.  They're the reason Revell's 1/72 B-17G kit was so horrible.  The plans are "pretty" but are utter fiction.  The F4F plans are some of the worst, and the Zero plans are almost as bad.

It depends on what you want to do with plans. They are quite useful to show versions evolution and differences.