Airfix 1:72 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero

[AAC]

Well I thought I'd try my hand at a group build but hadn't intended on entering this one until a lucky accident when I ordered some goodies from one of my favourite shops, BNA Model World. I had ordered an Airfix aircraft stand and BNA had made a mistake with it's stock code and made it the same as the Airfix 1:72 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, so that got packed instead of the stand. I contacted BNA and pointed out that while the A6M2b was nice but hardly interchangeable with the stand. They sent the stand straight away and said I could keep the A6M2b as an apology, that's customer service.


Well that's a little history of how I got to be able to be in this GB now a little history about aircraft type. When it was introduced early in World War II, the Zero was considered the most capable carrier-based fighter in the world, combining excellent maneuverability and very long range. In early combat operations, the Zero gained a legendary reputation as a dogfighter, achieving the outstanding kill ratio of 12 to 1, but by mid-1942 a combination of new tactics and the introduction of better equipment enabled the Allied pilots to engage the Zero on generally equal terms.

By 1943, inherent design weaknesses and the failure to develop more powerful aircraft engines meant that the Zero became less effective against newer enemy fighters, which possessed greater firepower, armor, and speed, and approached the Zero's maneuverability. Although the Mitsubishi A6M was outdated by 1944, design delays and production difficulties of newer Japanese aircraft types meant that it continued to serve in a front line role until the end of the war. (source Wikipedia)

Now a bit about this aircraft, it operated from Tobera Airfield located near Tobera, near Keravat, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The airfield was constructed by the Imperial Japanese during August 1943 and used operationally until neutralized by Allied air bombing from 1944. I was unable to find out anything about what happened to this aircraft or any of it's pilots. Additionally while looking for reference information for the build all the paint schemes for aircraft in this period looked like the one below which was different from what Airfix say it should look like...



As can be seen all the images and schemes I looked at none had the wavy lines from behind the wing to the rear stabilisers. Then just before I went to bed I found these...


...and this...


... there it was just like the Airfix box, it looks like their research was right (I wish I knew where they found it!).

So next time it's on with the build! I hope I can do justice to this kit as well as the other Airfix Zero builders

[AAC]

Ok, now lets have a look at the kit, released in 2011 Kit number A01005 is a part of Airfix's new molds and looking at the sprues they have done a good job

Checking out the front of the box we see our subject in a typical action shot (which is quite cool) with a list of subject variants down the left hand side, one in this case.


On the back is the colour scheme and decal locations for the aircraft.


All the parts of the kit are on 4 sprues, 3 sprues (A, B and C) are for the all the aircraft's parts and are in typical Airfix soft light gray styrene, recessed panel lines are all the go and this kit has plenty as well as excellent detail on all the other parts. The final sprue (D) is the clear canopy.

Sprue A


Sprue B


Sprue C


Sprue D, and as can be seen theres a bit of distortion.


The decals are by cartograf and are excellent, flat, good colour register and minimal carrier film.


Now lets look at the instructions, Airfix's typical A4 fold out leaflet style, on the front we have... wait a minute... that doesn't look right...


...check the box again... nope! that's all that's in the box? Hmm... Ok I can do one of a few things here, use the instructions with the kit I mean how different can they be Contact Airfix support and ask for a copy which wouldn't be a problem but it would take a while or troll the net and see what I can find. Bingo found it The Airfix Tribute Forum - Airfix 1/72 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero (A01005) and it's quite a cool site for all Airfix stuff to boot and well worth a look

So here's my new copy of the kits instructions...

Everything is quite clear and straightforward broken up into 17 steps showing the Humbrol colour painting instructions as the build progresses.





Now I have all the bits it's on with the build, I'll build this as an Out Of the Box (OOB) and see how much I can do with what I have. This is looking like a fun build and I hope everyone will enjoy looking in and as always your comments are welcome

[AAC]

The build has begun... well some initial work anyway The instructions have us start in the cockpit (steps 1 - 4), I decided to drill out the seat as that's what it was like in real life so out with the 0.75mm drill and pin vice. Then a cleanup of the bits then complete step 1, after that I primed the parts for steps 1 - 4 with Mr Surfacer 1200 which is lacquer based and will bond to the styrene and give a good solid base for any other paint (I've painted acrylics straight onto Airfix styrene before only to have it come off with the slightest touch) plus it will fill any small blemishes. The undercoat was followed by Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green which isn't quite the same as Humbrol 226 Interior Green Matt but near enough.

I broke the joystick the moment I cut it off the sprue so I can tell all the fine parts are going to be difficult I also masked some of the parts where they'll join, I'd normally just scrape the paint off the mating areas as I feel the less that's in between the better the bond but I sometimes damage the paint, so I'm trying this to see how it goes.


Primed and painted.


That's all for now, next will some interior detailing and see if I can complete the first 5 steps, thanks for looking in

[AAC]

Hi all just a little update, well I only got to step 3 but most of the interior detailing is complete (at least as far as I'm concerned) I thought I'd give some metallic pencils a go for the weathering and it turned out quite well. Let me know what you think.

Cockpit and side walls



Dry fit so I can see just how much is visible...



...as I suspected, almost nothing

Who said modeling has to be expensive


I got the pencils from the local $2 shop I also got some oil paints from there too!

Thats all for now see you next time, thanks for looking.

[Aliktren]

looks great

[Nige201980]

Cracking start mate.

[Aliktren]

btw really interested to find out how you get on with the pencils, been trying one out today I got from the hobby shop and cant get the hang of it at all...

[AAC]

btw really interested to find out how you get on with the pencils, been trying one out today I got from the hobby shop and cant get the hang of it at all...

Hi Aliktren, to be honest this is the first real use for me too! I got them from the el-cheapo $2... err 1 pound shop and as you can see they set me back less than $5 (you can convert that one ) I did try getting the more expensive hobby pencils but they were far more expensive, primarily because I only wanted silver and they only sold sets (capitalist bastards).

The first time I tried to use it was on a 1:32 spit i build and like you I couldn't get it to look like anything I'd seen or even get it to look good so I put it away. I brought it out again for this build because I didn't want to paint the weathering in the cockpit, I'd stuff that up without a doubt, plus it's pretty small in there and with the canopy on you'll be hard pressed to see much so if it didn't look good it wouldn't matter

Well it worked much better than I expected and all I did was press a little harder when applying the colour and then I used a Tamiya cotton bud (the very small ones) to rub the silver around a bit to smooth it out and spread it around, this took some of the hard edge off when I rubbed it on and it turned out quite well.

After this I was also thinking that it might also work by using a modeling knife to shave some slivers off the tip and rubbing them in with a cotton bud rather than drawing onto the surface, it might work but I haven't tried that yet however looking at the weathering the Zero can have I'll give it a go. So my advise is don't give up on it, it might not work in all situations but it does have a place in your tool box.

[UKguyInUSA]

Nice start mate!

Cheers,

Martin

[AAC]

Hi all just a small update, the fuselage is together now and I've cleaned up some of the parts for the next steps (5-8). You can see I've used the Tamiya Extra Thin to melt the seam a bit so I could get it to run out of the join by squeezing the 2 halves together a few times and when dry I simply sanded it off so there was no visable join.

Before, you can see the dried melted seam where some of the styrene has run out


After sanding/polishing there's no visible seam



It's a very simple thing to do and saves having to do any filling with putty so no shrinkage! Just a tiny bit of re-scribing some sanded detail and on with the build.

Thanks for looking and see you next time.

[Aliktren]

ultra thin is a great filler - saves so much time as well!

[AAC]

Hi all just a quick update, I've put the wings and canopy on the little beastie and sprayed it with Alclad Black Base Coat. I intend to use Alclad Airframe Aluminium next before the colour goes on so I can try to do some weathering/paint chipping. I've used Humbrol Maskol on the canopy, if it works then we should be able to see the detail inside if not my daughter is looking forward to playing with it

Here are a couple of snaps of where I'm at...



Thanks for looking.

[UKguyInUSA]

Good luck with the chipping Alexander, I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out with the maskol! :)c

Cheers

Martin

[AAC]

Update time again! The Alclad coats are finished



Not too bad for my first use of Alclad, maybe it could have been a little thicker but shouldn't matter in the long run it's just there to highlight the chipping. After that was dry I used some Maskall with a piece of plastic scouring pad to apply it so after the main coats of paint are on it the Maskall should just rub off leaving, what I hope, some realistic chipping marks... we shall see



Thanks for looking and as always any/all comments welcome

[Homerlovesbeer]

Great job

[AAC]

Well it's been a long time between updates but that's what happens when you go overseas, come back and loose your mojo I also missed finishing the Rising Sun GB (bugger), but that's life. I did PM the nice board moderator and ask to have my thread moved into the general population so I can finish the little beastie and he was very obliging (thanks Lee)

Well on with the update, I sprayed the colour on top (Tamiya XF-11 J.N. Green) and bottom (Tamiya XF-12 J.N. Grey) which came quite well except for the wavy line between the wing and rear of the fuselage, it's supposed to be a gently undulating line, mines more like a heavily choppy sea but I'm not going back to fix it or I may never finish this.

I also decided to paint the Rising Sun insignia onto the wings and fuselage for 2 reasons, 1) practice, I intend to use these types of masks in the future so I've got to start somewhere, and 2) as this is a heavily weathered finish I thought it would be easier to chip the paint rather than try to chip the decals which I'd probably totally stuff up. In the end I think I made the right decision. So without further a do here's some images.

Humbrol Maskoll removed and the chippine looks reasonably good, I left the wing tip masks on so you can see how it was done. You may have noticed I used American insigna masks, well they had all the bits I wanted (the white boarder on the side insignia) plus they were in stock.



All the bits painted and cleared ready for the decals and final assembly





Well that's it for now, there will be more updates soon, thanks for looking

[AAC]

Well it's time for the penultimate update (I hope!), the deceling is finished and a final wash as well all sealed with a matt coat. Just a little final assembly and it's finally done




Thanks to all those who have been looking in for your paitence. As always any comments welcome.

Alexander

[Homerlovesbeer]

My goodness that's one weathered Zero! Here's the one I finised during your absence, I hope you don't mind me posting it. My first model after my teens and about 24 years LOL

[AAC]

My goodness that's one weathered Zero! Here's the one I finished during your absence, I hope you don't mind me posting it. My first model after my teens and about 24 years LOL

No problem Homerlovesbeer, this is my 3rd since starting up modeling again and it's always good to see how others projects come out compared to your own. You certainly did a good job, looks very nice

Well its done the speed build is over I have to admit it took a bit longer than I'd hoped but I'm pleased with the results however next time I might cut back on the weathering a bit. Any way let me know what you guys think.






Sorry about the poor quality photos I'll do some better ones for the Build gallery (http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=13544).

I wonder what I'll build next