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Hello Gentlemen, this is my next build on Britmodeller.

FineMolds 1/48th scale Mitsubishi A5M4 "CLAUDE" Imperial Japanese Navy.

The Mitsubishi A5M Japanese Navy Type 96 Carrier-based Fighter was the worlds first monoplane shipboard fighter to enter service and the direct ancestor of the Zero fighter. It was designed by Jiro Horikoshi who is the subject of the The Wind Rises which is an animated historical drama film.

The model comes on three main sprues. Spure A contains the wing sections, B contains the engine & cockpit details with sprue D the fuselage halves. F is the transparency and P contains 2 poly caps , only one of which is required. The decal sheet has 3 colour schemes. No 1, 14th Naval Air Group, China, 1940, No 2, Aircraft carrier Kaga Naval Air Group, Japan, 1939, & No 3 Naval Third Carrier Division, 1942.

There are 68 parts in total (2 of which are not used) 1 transparency & 2 poly caps.

1F311C81-9A3D-49AE-A67B-C06C2D0E63BD_zps

The box art.

D5A6F2EF-E42E-44E0-881F-D70FF80333ED_zps

Construction stages 1 to 9

0C216C6B-906A-4445-B80D-8054F1A9EEC8_zps

Construction stages 10 to 15 & paint chart.

7DABEC72-6410-4295-B6B6-80461F3EB95F_zps

The three colour scheme options.

62A45D2D-1724-47B7-87C2-926FF0468749_zps

Sprue A. The wing & undercarriage parts.

If you look at the surface of the upper wing, you will notice the different shades of plastic. You can see it more with the naked eye. It shows the different panels very well. It will be interesting to see how they look on the finished model after the paint has been applied.

7C74FF3F-001D-4106-9EB3-8CC5336D9FC7_zps

Sprue B, The fuselage, engine & cockpit detail with the decal sheet.

The transparency is in the decal bag along with the poly caps.

I hope to start the kit in the next week or so. I will first remove all the major parts from the sprues and tape them together to get some idea of the fit.

Thanks for looking, Joe.

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I'm in Joe - although it's not my scale or era I'm here for the lessons :)

Thank you Ced, but I don't think you can learn much from me. :)
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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Joe, 

 

Great to see you starting a new  project :)

 

Looking forward to seeing it develop!

 

Cheers 

 

Jaime

 

PS: with the new forum functionalities it's much easier to follow my friends' new projects :)

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On 16 September 2016 at 4:44 AM, jrlx said:

Hi Joe, 

 

Great to see you starting a new  project :)

 

Looking forward to seeing it develop!

 

Cheers 

 

Jaime

 

PS: with the new forum functionalities it's much easier to follow my friends' new projects :)

Hello Jaime, and thank you. :D

 

Hello gentlemen, 

I'm sorry for the long delay in updating this WIP. As you can see, I have taped the main components together to see how the fit is. If this is anything to go by, it's going to be a little gem of a kit.

 

7F35C61C-66D2-4072-AA7F-0D08265CE6E4_zps

The fuselage, wings, horizontal stabilisers, rudder & fixed undercharge taped together.

 

FFBFD3C5-DBAC-4800-92ED-2A7460F3E1CB_zps

The different texture can be seen on the main wing surface.

 

2A58B3FB-39FC-4006-8032-BC31F6535B7A_zps

The wings showing the wing to fuselage joint, which looks very good. The rudder is positionable.

 

53672DF8-5426-43D5-9DE2-80608CF9CCB2_zps

The undersurface, showing the undercarriage & the detail should you wish to lower the flaps.

 

Hopefully, the next post will not be so long in coming.

 

thanks for looking, Joe

 

 

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Hello gentlemen, I've glued a few of the parts together, and removed a majority of the other parts off the sprues.

Some areas still need to be prepared before appling the primer. 

 

76CE41A6-7150-4247-AE55-B22ECFF4AFD2_zps

The main wing, fuselage, horizontal stabilisers, rudder & undercarriage legs.

 

2CDCC9B2-B9AE-4D4E-85E1-9728204603F8_zps

The cockpit. Including side framework, instrument panel, magazines, guns & the seat. The seat has been mounted onto the rear bulkhead. 

 

760CDE60-A128-419A-8DB3-321D92A91EB9_zps

The engine components. 

 

After the everything has been prepared, I will then spray all the parts with a grey primer.

Thank you for looking, Joe

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That looks like being a lovely little kit.

 

I've built a few Finemolds kits over the years,xand while not quite Hasegawa, the detail is generally very good, and they have proved enjoyable build.

 

Look forward to seeing your progress.

 

Karl

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Thank you Jaime, the detail is nice. I've only ever made one FineMoulds kit before, and that was the one I mentioned above to Karl. Cheers, Joe :D

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  • 3 months later...

Hello gentlemen, I'm sorry for such a long hiatus between post. Hopefully, I will have more time now to progress my build a lot quicker. I have already primed several of the parts with Tamiya Fine Grey Primer, but will start with the main wing section first. I gave this a very light polish with fine Micro-Mesh, then I started to apply the different colours to the main wing.

 

679C6B3A-1A5C-4C47-AA8D-493133608224_zps

 

After the colours had been applied to the central wing area section, which, is the floor of the cockpit, I painted the main wing section with Alclad II. This was also given a very light polish with fine Micro-Mesh after it had dried overnight. 

The diffent shades of plastic I noticed before on the main wing, looked the same after painting. 

 

The two areas I will consentrate on next, will be the engine, and the cockpit detail. All being well, I will make a start on the engine section first, which I hope to start and post some photos in the next day or two.

 

Thanks for looking, Joe. 

 

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Lovely finish on that Joe. I just wish that I found Micro-meshing as therapeutic as you do and then I might get close. Ho hum :) 

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4 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

Nice start! I can see one of these kits wending it's way to Martian Towers in the not too distant future!

 

Martian

 

Does look like a lovely kit doesn't it. Those wings remind me of another aircraft...can't quite place it.

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17 hours ago, CedB said:

Lovely finish on that Joe. I just wish that I found Micro-meshing as therapeutic as you do and then I might get close. Ho hum :) 

Thank you Ced, the problem is, I find it so therapeutic, that even with fine mesh, I sometimes find myself rubbing so much, I'm back to the plastic. :doh:

 

14 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

Nice start! I can see one of these kits wending it's way to Martian Towers in the not too distant future!

 

Martian

Thank you Martian, I got this one from HLJ. It's a beautiful little kit.

 

9 hours ago, Doug Rogers said:

 

Does look like a lovely kit doesn't it. Those wings remind me of another aircraft...can't quite place it.

It is Doug. I know what you mean about the wings, but I can't put my finger on it. :hmmm:

 

1 hour ago, Mike said:

Nice start Joe - keep it up :)

Thank you Mike, I'm hoping to have a little more spare time now. :)

 

I've painted the engine parts, and hope to get them assembled over the weekend. 

 

3617B1B7-6F2B-43BA-BBFA-8DF1AE999936_zps

 

I painted the engine cylinders with Mr Metal Color which Ced kindly bought for me at Yeovilton, and very good it is too. Thank you Ced. :D

 

I will give the cylinders a little rub with a cotton bud to highlight the detail. 

 

Thanks for looking, Joe 

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Joe,

 

nice looking build, I've always considered this a good looking plane, so no doubt you'll do it justice with your build. I'm finally coming back in a few weeks, so hopefully I'll see you at the club (assuming my wife will let me complete some of my half finished kits that have been on hold these last 6+ months)

D

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Very nice looking engine bits Joe.

The Mr Metal Color looks good and I'm glad you like it... just wait until you've given it a bit of a rub - I think you'll be pleased with the effect!

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3 hours ago, FIGHTS ON said:

Joe,

 

nice looking build, I've always considered this a good looking plane, so no doubt you'll do it justice with your build. I'm finally coming back in a few weeks, so hopefully I'll see you at the club (assuming my wife will let me complete some of my half finished kits that have been on hold these last 6+ months)

D

Hello FIGHTS ON, great to hear from you. I was hoping you would be at the club tonight. When you are coming up next, PM if you remember please and let me know. I will make the effort to go myself so we can catch up. Joe. 

 

2 hours ago, CedB said:

Very nice looking engine bits Joe.

The Mr Metal Color looks good and I'm glad you like it... just wait until you've given it a bit of a rub - I think you'll be pleased with the effect!

Thank you Ced, it sprays nice straight from the jar. Thanks for putting me onto it, and for buying me it as well. :D

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I polished the engine cylinders with a Tamiya triangular cotton swab. You were right Ced, I'm really pleased with the finish.

I now can assemble the parts. I will use PVA glue to hold the pieces together. I use this glue more and more now on parts that don't have to be bonded together strongly. 

 

2DB310DE-3FEE-4203-ABC1-4EFCBD7CB427_zps

After a quick polish, the detail shows very nicely after painting with the Mr Color. Good shout Ced :)

 

I remember on Ced's Sea Fury build, the subject of removing tops from paint bottles. I had an old bottle of Aeromaster I want to use. The lid had been stuck on for a few years. I decided to use Mole Grips and a rubber glove to give me extra grip. Below is the result. 

 

D32A4118-84F1-4C2A-9EDF-1A8AEC1624F2_zps

 

The good news was, the paint inside was fine. I've since sprayed the cowl, but I must not get carried away polishing it, as I've only got a tiny amount left for any touch ups. 

 

Thanks for looking Joe. 

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Very nice effect on the engine Joe and easy eh? Even I can get close to that (but only close) :)

Bad luck with the jar - 'you've cracked it' is too unkind really but couldn't resist, sorry :wicked:

Watch out for any little bits of glass there...

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