Airfix 1/72 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero

[elscorpio]

Its going to be my first Kit, after 15 years off the models...a nice simple kit, with lot of good reviews and video builds. Look ideal for a "soft" return...

You all now the Kit

I was suprised with the quality of the Airfix Kit, really nice, 15 years ago i had the ideia that airfix was a "low cost" brand...this is one of the best quality for price now. Not a hasengawa, tamyia or eduard, but really nice and affordable...i thing its perfect for test tecniques and quick relaxing builds...


snagit

First the cockpit and sides of the plane, and did a soft wash.


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Question : Do you guys normally use the pilot on your Kit (when is provided) ? i m using it, but not sure if the plane goes better with or without the "little guy".

I really liked the green painting scheme with a lots of wear and tear...so i decided to give it a go. I ´m happy with the result...not great, but its acceptable for me. I gave it a prime, the a coat of Humbrol enamel aluminium, let it dry then 2 coats of acrylic (all done with brush...no airbrush for now), let it dry a bit . After that i took parts of the green, with a thick brush with thinner, and a new (still hard) sponge...

The main problem in my opinion was the Aluminium coat, for some reason it was a bit grainy , so when the green came off, it doesn t look so clean, and flat like a true aluminun plate...maybe it needed another coat before the green.

The under plane is painted grey


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After a few days with some time to work on the kit i had a good advance in the model. I glued the motor and protection, did some aluminium painting in it (chippings) and did some more work with the aluminium paint in the pain, tryingo to show a bit more of metal instead of just a rubbed pain...again not great but i think its acceptable. (Next time i m going to try the cellotape method)

I put the yellow decals on the wings and did some dry brush on top to try and integrate with the full painting. I should have just paint it ( lesson learned ).


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After the Buffalo coat (we don t have Future or Klear in Portugal, this is a similar acrylic wax) , did the rest of decals, and now is drying another coat of acrylic wax. before doing some weathering on panel lines and in general.

Another question :

What do you guys normaly do with the decals, to integrate them with the wear and tear of the plane? Now the plane is showing wear, but the the decals are imaculate...i dont now if i "cut" them trough the panel lines, if i rip them with the knife...or if the weathering shoul be enough to look more real.

Just to say, that this was the work of almost a month...very slow pace...not much time, but lot of patience and enthusiasm!

Still have to do the nightmare : mask canopy, paint it and some dry brush on it.

Critic, suggestions, questions and help are more than welcome !!

[eoinfinnegan]

That's stunning, well done

[elscorpio]

After retouches and weathering in decals...painting and retouches on canopy...washes with oils, filter with brown and some dry pastel in the bottom and by the guns. And final matt varnish, this is the result

The top side , i think is acceptable and i like the effect, but the underside was too dirty...i can t figure why but the wash sticked to the paint...i have to be more carefull ... always learnig...

Going to leave the rest of the photos on "ready to inspection" post:


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