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1/32 A6M5 Zero - Meiji 1944


turbo

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21 minutes ago, Kagemusha said:

Really great start, I need to get myself some of those David Union goodies. 

 

Mine just arrived a few days ago, but I haven't had a chance to use them yet. One thing that struck me about them right away is how beautifully packaged they were.

 

Kev

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17 hours ago, A6M said:

This is looking to be a great build and I would be to add some advice details. That way the differences in modelling the A6M5 can be brought to the fore.

 

Absolutely Ryan, any advice and information greatly appreciated from someone as informed as you as I'm still a noob to Japanese subjects, although I'm finding research on the different Zero variants fascinating! Any A6M5-specific information I'm sure would be very helpful for everybody. Thanks particularly for the pictures of the fire extinguisher control box mounting, I couldn't find a reference for this anywhere so was going to take a bit of a guess. The bungee arrangement might be a bit beyond me but I'll definitely make some mods based on this.

 

17 hours ago, A6M said:

I haven't yet been able to find a photo of 210-105. I'm therefore going to make a plea for 8-13. I have a dozen images of this plane, which is always good for details. As well, the c/n is known (Nakajima c/n 2282) and the pilot is also probably known - OZAKI (尾崎), Mitsuyasu. And it too is lacking the RDF equipment.

 

Hmm, I've been tossing up between these two. On the one hand, the lack of photos of 210-105 would give me artistic license on the finish and weathering but, on the other hand, I do like having a reference to work to with more known history to it...

 

10 hours ago, Alex said:

The augmented radio controller looks great!  I'm looking forward to seeing progress on your hairspray-chipped interior.  I've always just cheated and applied aluminum paint with a sponge to do "chipping" on cockpit surfaces, so perhaps I'll have to try to emulate your method next...

 

Thanks Alex! Hopefully an update on the hairspray chipping tomorrow...

 

3 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Yeah, nice match Turbo  :thumbsup:

 

Thanks Mike, it was a pleasant surprise how easily it fell out!

 

3 hours ago, Kagemusha said:

Really great start, I need to get myself some of those David Union goodies. 

 

2 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

 

Mine just arrived a few days ago, but I haven't had a chance to use them yet. One thing that struck me about them right away is how beautifully packaged they were.

 

Kev

 

I can highly recommend them. Agree Kev, the packaging is very slick. Took my little brain a while to work out how to get it all open!

Edited by turbo
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Kirby, way back on 13 August you asked what is PE part 82 (found on the left side of the interior of the fuselage behind the cockpit). This "box" contains the fittings needed to pressurize the wing cannon pneumatic charging system when the engine was not running, allowing the ground grew to check and maintain the system. Note that the opening for the air pressure filler valve (2) is not included on the Tamiya kit and thus needs to be added. Ryan

 

 226 Air Pressure Fittings

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Ah, mystery solved, thanks Ryan! Good timing too as I have not fitted the part yet so might look at adding the plumbing from the bottom of the box.

 

So, on with the hairspray chipping of high wear areas in the cockpit. I think this adds a little visual interest and realism to the cockpit. I like to keep the chipping quite fine here so I find it important to use a flat aluminium base for a bit of tooth and to control the thickness of the hairspray layer. The hairspray layer was given an hour to dry before application of the top coat. After another hour, parts were chipped with a damp brush.

 

interior-chipping-a-web.jpg

 

The steel parts are yet to be painted black and the fire extinguisher control box fitted on the cockpit bulkhead. I'll also add a little more weathering with oils.

 

The cockpit floor was treated similarly, concentrating on areas that would wear from the pilot climbing in and out of the cockpit. I've also tried to pull off a shading effect for recessed areas of the floor.


interior-chipping-b-web.jpg
 

I'm not 100% happy with some bits of the chipping here so may do some minor touch ups. I've then got a few more weathering steps to do in this area before final assembly of components. I might actually get to build something soon...

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On 10/5/2020 at 5:07 AM, A6M said:

Hello Kirby,

 

This is looking to be a great build and I would be to add some advice details. That way the differences in modelling the A6M5 can be brought to the fore. At this point i have only two comments. The image below shows how the mounting base for the tail hook disengagement handle should be removed (as you have already done) and the lightening holes drilled out so they match on each of the left and right ribs.

 

224 Sidewalls

 

The second image provides details on how the fire extinguisher control box was mounted.  It hangs suspended on bungee cords at both the top and bottom of the box. Incidentally, the radio transmitter/receiver behind the cockpit was mounted in a similar fashion.

 

225 Mit A6M5 sn 4444

 

It also should be mentioned that Nakajima cockpits had all the components made of steel painted gloss black. In many current Zero wrecks this would be any rusted components such as the seat mounts seen in the above photo.

 

I haven't yet been able to find a photo of 210-105. I'm therefore going to make a plea for 8-13. I have a dozen images of this plane, which is always good for details. As well, the c/n is known (Nakajima c/n 2282) and the pilot is also probably known - OZAKI (尾崎), Mitsuyasu. And it too is lacking the RDF equipment.

 

Ryan

 

Hi All, small update. So, after seeing the pictures of the fire extinguisher control box mounting arrangement, I was doomed to having a crack at representing it! I decided to try and fashion the lower mounting frame simply by drilling and carving out the platform on the kit part which had been sawn off from its previous location on the side wall frame. The upper mounting bracket is a spare PE part. The bungee bearers on the side of the box were made from sections of 0.5 mm rod and the bungee cord represented with 0.2 mm copper wire. The kit control box is slightly oversize so I couldn't easily fit the same arrangement on the other side so I just left it off as it won't be easily visible anway - a convenient excuse as doing just this side nearly sent me barmy!

 

fire-extinguisher-b-web.jpg

 

Should make some progress with assembly of the rest of the cockpit parts next time. Thanks for stopping by!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys, work continues on the cockpit sub-assemblies. Parts have slowly been added to the cockpit floor and weathering layers added to the chipping with drybrushing,  oils, and pigments to try and achieve a fairly used look with a bit of accumulated dirt and dust. Some plumbing is still to be added to the hydraulic hand pump but I thought that would be best left until after the main weathering steps so as to not get in the way. I'll probably break things off trying to install it now...

 

cockpit-floor-weathered-web-a.jpg

 

Likewise, sub-assemblies have been added to the cockpit walls and weathered with drybrushing and oil washes. For anyone using the Eduard PE interior set, the throttle assembly was a doozy to put together but probably worth it compared to the kit part if you have the patience. A few details have been taken care of here including drilling out the opening of the cockpit vent, adding the cockpit lamp forward of the empty RDF controller rack, and relocating the controls for the pneumatic cannon charging system (cylinders at right hand end of side control panel) as per Ryan's tweak list for this kit. A small spot of gloss clear has been placed next to the inner cylinder to accept the decal for the relocated pneumatic guage.


cockpit-sides-web.jpg
 

There is still more to be done here including additional of some handles, wiring for the radio control box, and guages for the side control panel but I feel like I'm making some progress now...

 

Cheers, Kirby

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Your interior is looking fantastic. The worn paint effect is very natural and real looking.

 

Did you ever get your Silhouette cutter? I'm definitely getting one but need to save my pennies to get it. I think it's the best thing for modeling since glue.

 

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Thanks Mark and Alex!

 

20 hours ago, AlbertD said:

Your interior is looking fantastic. The worn paint effect is very natural and real looking.

 

Did you ever get your Silhouette cutter? I'm definitely getting one but need to save my pennies to get it. I think it's the best thing for modeling since glue.

 

 

Thanks Albert! No, I haven't pulled the trigger on the Silhouette cutter yet but it's only a matter of time! For this build there are Montex mask sets available for the 2 subjects under consideration and the kit is so nice no major fabrication is required, so I haven't gone for it yet but will likely go for the Cameo 4 once it's more widely available here.

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Thanks John!

 

Work on the interior continues. The Japanese were slow to adopt self-sealing fuel tanks so, beginning with c/n 4275, a fire extinguisher system for the wing fuel tanks was introduced (something I'm sure the pilots were happy to see!). After dealing with relocation of the system control box above, I've installed and plumbed the CO2 cylinders - this required a bit of fiddling and test-fitting so that they will sit properly on their platform once the lower wing section is installed. The regulator on the left cylinder that I broke off earlier was replaced using a small length of styrene rod and the top melted down with a hot knife blade to represent the spigot. Not perfect but worked reasonably well!

 

Some plumbing was also added to the black box containing the air valves according to the reference photos Ryan kindly posted above. Both sets of plumbing still need some additional painting and weathering. Don't worry about the ejector pin marks that are still present, they won't be visible once the cockpit is installed and the fuselage closed up.

 

interior-port-web.jpg

 

Hydraulic reservoir was attached to its position on the starboard side of the fuselage.

 

interior-starboard-web.jpg

 

The brown cylinder on the fuselage floor aft of the cockpit is compressed air for the aircraft's pneumatic systems for charging the machine guns. The hollow cylinder in front of the battery (I still don't know what this is!) was painted aotake made up of a 50% mix of blue and green clear painted over the alumimium base.


interior-rear-web.jpg
 

Progress on the interior detail has been painfully slow and I'm starting to feel a little frustrated with it. Might have to distract myself with another aspect of the build to feel like I'm making some progress...

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Hello Alex,

 

Your aotake painted “hollow cylinder” is a mounting base for a de-icer fluid tank. (C on the illustration below). The pilot would push and pull the pump on the instrument panel (B) to get de-icer fluid to go up to the prop hub where centrifugal force would push the fluid out of the three holes (A) set in the spinner between each of the prop blades.

 

Most Zeros had this system removed, leaving an open hole in place of the pump on the instrument panel. This hole (pictured in Photo B/b on page 26 of the Tamiya instruction booklet) needs to be added to Part A17. The three holes in the spinner are partially engraved in the Tamiya kit, but they too should be drilled out.

 

Ryan

 

227 De-icing System

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16 hours ago, A6M said:

Most Zeros had this system removed, leaving an open hole in place of the pump on the instrument panel. This hole (pictured in Photo B/b on page 26 of the Tamiya instruction booklet) needs to be added to Part A17. The three holes in the spinner are partially engraved in the Tamiya kit, but they too should be drilled out.

 

 Thanks Ryan, very interesting and timely too. I'm just starting work on the IP and have been mulling over cabling for the gunsight. I came across this diagram from an A6M3 where the electrical cable has been routed through the hole vacated by the hand pump. Do you know if this was a common arrangement on an A6M5?

 

 

81-Gunsight-Lamp-Cable-vi.jpg

 

Cheers, Kirby

 

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