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Hey all getting started on my second build. As the title suggests, it's a 1/72 scale of the slated successor to be of the in/famous Zero, albeit too late for the IJN and in too few numbers to have effect as only 9(?) A7M2's were built. After the short comings of the underpowered Nakajima Homare NK9 driven A7M1 were addressed, with a new engine sourced, that being the Mitsubishi MK93(HA-43), it was pressed into prototype and later testing as late as June 1945. So come forward 75 years and here is little old me painfully cleaning flash and surface details to do the elusive kit some justice... justice Finemolds clearly forgot it's kits needed in the 2000's. Slow start, found the need to rub back everything. Sourced some reference pictures of blueprints, others finished kits and old photos i happened to come by, all with slight degrees of differences between them. Really need to get my hands on a "Maru Mechanic #5" for all the details. I'm saying this as i later found that this prototype had folding wings, shown on some blueprints, and having the correct reference material, it would give me a start at what would be the first kit with modifications for me. More on that later as well as colour scheme... orange sings to me but that also says it's still a prototype and not a fully inducted frame as the green does. Lads your opinions? Back to the kit, it is rather large for a 1/72 but then again compared to a Bf 109, everything is. The consistency if funny on this vintage of kit, all the details are there, but crudely finished where one needs to rub it all back to make it presentable. Case in point... The panel lines aren't the best either, and i might need to take our some locating pins. I got the chisel out to clean out the gallery between the engine bay and cockpit to give it some depth and consistency against the reference material Before After The recessed panelling at the forward end is for the exhaust pipes to exit. They got marked to be chiseled out themselves for more definition as i will be using actual tube or rod to simulate the stacks, the kit simply has flatish sections that doesn't do it justice. More on that next time. Until then, the fuselage ports and other areas will be reenforced with sheet and chiseled out the same to give the depth i feel it needs. Cheers