Tamiya A6M2bZero 1/32

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John Rixon

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Well, I've made a start on this amazing kit. Opening the box was an experience, I'd already looked at a few build threads and YT vids, but I was still gobsmacked by the ooze of quality that lay before me!

I'm building this OOB, with the one exception of a resin seat - a CMK one that was £3.95. I've decided not to weather it heavily, just subtle wear and tear, and will be painting it as the aircraft of Tsuguo Matsuyama, from the carrier Hiryu, which leads me to the only real anomaly of this kit, the main colour specified on the paint call-out is clearly a bit askew! Now, call me mr picky, but I reckon anyone who is prepared to shell out upwards of £80 - £130, depending on where you buy it, for a kit, is prepared to mix their own paint. Indeed, it is demanded for the Ayotake surfaces and there were paint mixes called out for my previous build - F4 - but more on this later!

I'm following the instructions to the letter, can't afford to balls this one up...

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So I've painted the insid of the fuselage as per, and then went on to the cockpit, which is a pretty complex project on its own, but perfect fit and a pleasure to build!

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This is now weathered and fitted from underneath to the fuselage, no drama so far!!

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Now onto the tail control surfaces...
 
J

John Rixon

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There is a fret of Photo-etched steel, which is fair bit thicker than our usual brass PE, and a decent diamond file soon makes short work of the nibs left from cutting it. My advice to anyone who is thinking of building this, is to ignore the CA glue option and tack these tiny hinge elements with a tiny drop of canopy glue - once the two surfaces are glued together, the PE higes are locked in anyway, and it avoids getting CA on the moving parts (ask me how I know, grrrrr!!). All is well now, and I wanted the elevator to be deflected anyway ;)
I now have to make a big decision - do I want to go downt the retractable undercarriage route? Common sense says don't go there, BarryW - your thoughts please!!
 

dave

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Looking good John.

Mixing your own paint is fine so long as you remember to make more than you need and keep it in a dropper bottle for those inevitable touch up requirements.
 
J

John Rixon

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Looking good John.

Mixing your own paint is fine so long as you remember to make more than you need and keep it in a dropper bottle for those inevitable touch up requirements.
Oh don't worry, when I mix up the base coat colour for this, I'll make at least 10 ml in a jar. I have a recipe for the "perfect" i.e. closest mix using tamiya paints, this came from Nick Milman, who resides on Britmodeller, and has done extensive research on IJN colours.
 

BarryW

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Hi John. You have made a great start. This kit really goes together so well.

As for the retractable uc. Well it works well in theory but in practice! You will find all sorts of issues about getting it all tucked up and then the potential for a breakage! My advice is to run with it and not fiddle too much with it when done.
 

BarryW

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John. In respect of paints. Take a look at the AK Interactive IJN set. It has the anti glare blue black and a good representation of the Amber Grey camo colour.
 
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John Rixon

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Hi John. You have made a great start. This kit really goes together so well.

As for the retractable uc. Well it works well in theory but in practice! You will find all sorts of issues about getting it all tucked up and then the potential for a breakage! My advice is to run with it and not fiddle too much with it when done.
My gut tells me to glue it in place. I've just not got to that part quite yet, and clearly need to understand how it all goes together, before considering how I'm going to modify it!
 
J

John Rixon

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John. In respect of paints. Take a look at the AK Interactive IJN set. It has the anti glare blue black and a good representation of the Amber Grey camo colour.
I've not yet been able to find colour swatches of this set, even taking into account the vagaries of online colour swatches, I'd like to see if it approaches the detail that I now have, having bought Nick Millman's 35 page guide - which is really well done. I've already made the paint up in a small quantity (5ml) and been fooling around with it on a paint "mule", and would like to stick with Tamiya paints if I can. The only odd one is their clear range, from which I made the Aotake colour from, it has an odd viscosity to it, that requires much thinners to use in an airbrush. I suspect I'd be better off thinning it with yellow cap (cellulose), but it does work, if a bit slow drying!
 
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John Rixon

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John. In respect of paints. Take a look at the AK Interactive IJN set. It has the anti glare blue black and a good representation of the Amber Grey camo colour.
I haven't even decided whether to go for black basing or pre-shading!
 

BarryW

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My gut tells me to glue it in place. I've just not got to that part quite yet, and clearly need to understand how it all goes together, before considering how I'm going to modify it!
It screws in place which provides a very good and fairly strong join. Mine are not glued but when moving the model the legs (of the first one) sometime shift position to give it an odd stance, easily remedied. My secind build does not have that problem because after screwing it in place I applied a drop of glue as well. By the way, though the legs move in and out on the first one, they do not move in enough to give a good wheels up appearance.
 

BarryW

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I've not yet been able to find colour swatches of this set, even taking into account the vagaries of online colour swatches, I'd like to see if it approaches the detail that I now have, having bought Nick Millman's 35 page guide - which is really well done. I've already made the paint up in a small quantity (5ml) and been fooling around with it on a paint "mule", and would like to stick with Tamiya paints if I can. The only odd one is their clear range, from which I made the Aotake colour from, it has an odd viscosity to it, that requires much thinners to use in an airbrush. I suspect I'd be better off thinning it with yellow cap (cellulose), but it does work, if a bit slow drying!
AK seem to have done their research on colours and the overall Amber Grey is somewhat controvercial with different ideas of how it looked. The Vallejo version is not far off the AK one, the difference would be indistinguisable after weathering. The AK representation does seem to get a lot of approval and it does look good to my eye.
A reminder of how mine looks, of course the rendering of the colour on your screen does depend on your screen!!
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J

John Rixon

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Ah, thanks for that Barry, I'll deffo follow that route - I've been watching Bobby Waldron's build of it, and although he does get the undercarriage working, I must confess, I wasn't impress with the look of it closed. Did you settle on the oleos in their sprung position? Most folks say there's not enough weight in the model to settle it to accurate height.
 
J

John Rixon

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AK seem to have done their research on colours and the overall Amber Grey is somewhat controvercial with different ideas of how it looked. The Vallejo version is not far off the AK one, the difference would be indistinguisable after weathering. The AK representation does seem to get a lot of approval and it does look good to my eye.
A reminder of how mine looks, of course the rendering of the colour on your screen does depend on your screen!!
View attachment 290889
Well I'm looking at this on an iPad, which is pretty decent colour wise, and it looks fantastic! If anything, it errs very slightly on the green side of what I've been looking at, but am aware that it could so easily be a colour cast due to lighting. Did you get to look at the link I sent you of the flying Zero on YouTube?
 
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