Search the Community

Mitsubishi A6M Zero Detail Sets 1:32 CMK The Hasegawa A6M Zero has been around a long time, from 1978 in fact and that boxing is still available, as well as a couple of more recent new toolings. The six resin sets reviewed here can be used on any of Hasegawas releases, with a greater or lesser amount of preparatory work required by the modeller, depending on the kit used. While some of the sets are drop in replacement with more finesse than can be achieved with plastic, others will require the modeller to take a knife and sanding stick to the kit parts to fit the resin. All the resin parts will need to be removed from their moulding blocks and cleaned up, but this is a pretty simple task, with any cleaning up required only on surfaces that will not be seen once fitted. 5117 – Flaps. This set includes the moving section of the flap as well as the interior roof of the flap bay. To fit requires the kit flap to be cut away on the lower wing and the upper wing section thinned down until the roof section fits snugly. The moulding blocks are on the leading edges of each section and will not take much to part it off and clean up. The time will be taken up with thinning the roof down I’d imagine. But will look great when all is down and the resin fitted. 5118 – Tail Cone. This set requires the modeller to take a saw or knife to the kit and cut off the tail cone, beneath the rudder. In its place are resin parts for the rear bulkhead, tail wheel assembly, with separate shock absorber and wheel, and new tail cone halves. 5119 – Main Undercarriage Bays. These are almost drop in replacements as once the moulding blocks have been removed, and the upper wing plastic reduced in thickness, they are just glued into position. A little more work than using the plastic parts, but the detail is so much nicer. Do be careful when removing the moulding blocks though as some areas of the bay roof are quite thin already. 5120 – Undercarriage Doors. The main gear doors contained in this set are direct replacements for the kit parts, only much thinner and accurate. They include both outer and inner doors, as well as their respective actuators and clamps, but also require a couple of smaller kit parts to be used as well. 5121 – Wing Fuel Tanks. Now, this set is purely for those who want to go that little bit further with detailing their model and allowing diorama possibilities. The set includes two bays, two fuel tanks with some nice detailing, as well as the wing skin covers. You will first of all need to identify and remove the correct areas of the lower wing, which, looking at the kit isn’t that easy, fit the bays from the inside, fit the tanks and place the covers where you want within the diorama. Q32 277 – Wheels. This set is part of CMK Easy Line of resin replacements, and consists of just the two main wheels with a slight bulge tow show the aircraft has a bit of weight to it. Just remove the moulding blocks from the contact point of the wheel, clean up with a couple of swipes from a sanding stick then glue to the axle of the kit main legs. Job jobbed. Conclusion Care and patience will be needed to achieve a good fit will be the order of the day with some of these sets, whilst the others a more plug and play. A great selection of items from CMK, of course you don’t have to use them all, just whatever you feel comfortable with doing or what you want to achieve, so great for all abilities in one way or another. Review sample courtesy of

Hello, i´m new here and wanted to share with you my most recent Build, the Tamiya 1/72 Zeke (Kit no. 60779 i think). The Kit is a little gem, it almost fell together by itself. Also was building this kit the first time i reriveted something, the only thing this little kit really needed. For paints i used Tamiya plus Vallejo Model Air and Metal Color, applied with a Painbrush. Also for the first time I sanded lightly the paint down bringing those rivets to life. Then some stains with a cotton bud, a light dark grey wash and a little bit of drybrushing. I hope you enjoy the Pictures! P.S.: I´m still figuring out how to properly take pictures with my camera and how to post them, so next time the pictures should be better.

Hi all, I post a few pics of one of my last builds. It is the Tamiya A6M3 model 22 kit in quarter scale. I build it from the box using one of the kit schemes and decals. The paints are the new Tamiya IJN colors that were released with their 1/32 scale Zero kit. The only addition is adding rivets using a riveting wheel. The weathering is done with inks, pigments and Mig Ammo washes. P1050129 Have a good day, I hope you will like it, Christian.

A new Hasegawa 1/32nd mould (The red logo below "2015 New" is "完全新金型" = Completely New Mold ) from the famous Zero fighter late type: Mitsubishi A6M5c Type 52 - ref.ST34 (08884) Release expected in September 2015 Source: http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/hp/2015ajhs/2015ajhs_scale.html V.P.

I want to present my last model build, a Mitsubishi Zero in 1/72 scale from Airfix. It is part of the Pearl Harbor dogfight double set wich also includes a P40B Warhawk. I add the Eduard photoetched set for cockpit and exteriors. The canopy comes in one only piece so i decided to cut it, also the model is complete riveted. It was painted with Model Master Enamel paints, and wathering was with Model Master Acrylic washes and K4 pigments. Decals represent Pilot Lt. Shindo Saburo airplane, part of the 1st Squadron in the IJN carrier "Akagi"’s second wave on Pearl Harbor attack. 7th December 1941. Pictures: The P40B Warhawk post , part of the double set you can see here: Hope you like it.

A6M5c Zero Update sets, Wheels & Masks - For Hasegawa Kit 1:32 Eduard The Hasegawa kit is a good one, however Eduard are along as always offering their update sets for the kit. Here we have 3 sets; Update, flaps and seatbelts. Also Brassin wheels are available Update Set This is one brass fret and one nickel one. The coloured parts on the nickel fret are mainly for the cockpit including the main instrument panel, side panels and controls. Other pars in the set include the rear decking behind the pilot, machine gun parts, rudder pedals, new landing gear doors, canopy handles, ribs for the landing gear wells, and wiring for the engine. Flaps This is one large brass fret which provides flaps for the kit. Unlike some sets where they twist round this one has individual ribs which must be added to the flap well. Seatbelts This small fret provides a full set of coloured seatbelts for the aircraft. These are the new Steel belts from Eduard. They are etched from 0.1mm sheet, which looks like stainless steel because it doesn't rust, these new belts combine the best of both worlds. The resulting etch is thin at around 0.06mm, and the paint that has been applied after etching is included in that thickness. The paint itself seems to be more flexible too, and the designs have added details such as shadows printed near buckles and joints to give an added depth to the design. They appear less susceptible to fatigue and will stand up to repeated movements, and can be posed much more realistically due to the ease of bending of the surface. The paint is also a lot less likely to flake off at a sharp bend, which is a worry for standard PE belts. Wheels The wheels are one area of a kit which really do benefit from resin replacement when they are this good. The wheels are individual units with the hubs as separate parts. The solid tail wheel is also included. Masks Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. Conclusion Whether you use one or all of these sets, they will enhance your Zero model. Recommended. Review samples courtesy of

Hello! So my Lancaster, Gnats and 727 have been on hold while I've been moonlighting on another site doing a couple of group builds... sorry! But here's the first completed build for a while, a Mitsubishi Zero. Kit manufacture: Airfix Scale: 1/72 Type: Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero Extras used: Quickboost resin seat, Eduard mask set. Paints and colours used: Citadel Mithril Silver (prop, undercarriage), Citadel Chainmail and Boltgun Metal (base coat for chipping), Tamiya XF-71 (cockpit), XF-76 (underside), XF-70 (top colour), XF-17 (engine cover, props), XF-85 (wheels), Tamiya X-13 (wheel bay), Tamiya XF-3 (yellow bits), Tamiya XF-2 and XF-7 (roundels), Vallejo Polyurethane Primer, various Vallejo colours for detail. Clear coats were AK Gauzy Shine Enhancer and Tamiya Matt Coat, washes were Flory Grime wash and AK Engine Grease. Streaks added with burnt umber oils and Tamiya weathering set. The kit itself is good. Fit is generally excellent; basically no filleriller with the exception of the wing roots. You might get away without this with a bit of sanding etc. Detail is good. Not brilliant, but not poor either. Panel lines, in my opinion, are acceptable depth. Some areas, like the engine, I thought were really sharply detailed, as is the cockpit although you are unable to pose the canopy open OOB. Rivet detail was added by myself, and I was pleased with my first attempt. Decals are very good, although there aren't many and I masked and painted the roundels myself. Problems with the kit are, as ever with Airfix, soft plastic and large sprue gates which means care must be taken with part removal and cleanup. Overall, very enjoyable. Oh yeah, I beat the heck out of the paintwork, so if you're not a fan of over-weathering, look away now! I did exactly what you're not supposed to do and used imagination and other builds as references as opposed to actual photographic references. Fun it was, though! Comments, tips and feedback as always greatly appreciated. Oh, and apologies for my photography work! g So there we go, thanks for stopping by, Val

my latest finished kit. the 21st century toys A6M5(though the box said A6M2)...it builds as a very early model52 with the collector exhaust rather than the more normal ones with the ejector styled exhaust..only about 200 were made like this. the kit is pretty much out of box except for the seat belts and tail codes that are from the tamiya kit but match an early A6M5 from rabaul. it was a pretty easy build but building large resin models is new to me.

After a 40 year, or thereabouts, gap I have taken to the sticking things together and throwing paint at the result to see if it resembles anything like the instructions says it should. My main issue with this build was with the decals... the silvering effect, especially the red lines on the wings tried my hardest to get the yellow flashes on the wings to wrap around but failed spectacularly resulting in cracks and tears in places. Have thought about a paint touch up but is this wise? If so what colour will match? Any suggestions, advise etc...

Hello Guys, Below are the images of my "Final Reveal" for the two Tamiya 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros (Zekes) that I built side by side, with one finished in the IJN Green Upper and Grey lower and one finished in the all over IJN Grey/Green. This build had a few firsts for me: 1) First time building Japanese Aircraft 2) First time using Johnson's Pledge/Klear Acrylic floor shine to see how I personally feel about it compared to the Model Masters clear coats that I have always used without issue since starting modeling in January 2014. 3) First time attempting heavy chipping using the "Hairspray Technique" on the IJN Green version only. After the images, I will include some notes regarding this build; my opinions of the kit in terms of quality, cost, value for money etc and any points to look out for if you decide to buy and build this kit. I hope you like the following views! Plane #1: 261st Air Group (Tiger Corps), Kagoshima Base, February 1944 Plane #2 Petty Officer 1st Class Saburo Sakai, Tainan Air Group, Denpasar Base, Bali Island, February 1942 And, some photos of both versions side by side for contrast and comparison: These are Tamiya's kit # 61016 that is the 2007 Type 21 version release. This kit was re-tooled in 2008 and updated a couple of times since then with new parts and decals. This kit is available from Scalehobbyist.com for only $10.84, about 7.00 quid in the UK, here is the link to their page: https://www.scalehobbyist.com/catagories/Model_Aircraft/a6m2-type-21-zero/TAM00061016/product.php?s=0&t=0&u=0&micr=148&pg=1&ppp=48&sb=stocknumber&so=a&era=0,6&man=TAM The kit comes with a reasonably detailed cockpit, that has a decal for the instrument panel and a decently detailed radial engine. There are options to have the undercarriage up or down, the canopy closed or open and decals for 5 different markings; I modeled one with the canopy closed and one with the canopy open. The undercarriage is sturdy and nicely detailed, too. A 8 page black and white assembly/instruction booklet is included that is clearly detailed with part numbers, decal numbers and Tamiya paint numbers. The decals are typical Tamiya which I expected to have some breaking issues with, as I have with other Tamiya kits, but fortunately, these decals went down excellently adhering to recessed and raised details nicely. The parts are very crisp and cleanly molded with no ejector pin witness marks on visible areas, no warp, no flash and no aberrations on the clear molded parts. The exterior surfaces of the plane come with recessed panel lines. Scores out of 10: Packaging: The kit comes in a sturdy two part box- lower and lid format, the grey sprues are packaged in one polythene bag and the clear parts are packaged in a separate clear polythene bag that is within the larger bag. The lid has nice artwork on the front and the two longer sides show two of the five different markings available, one in the IJN Green and one in the IJN grey/Green. Score: 9/10 Quality of Molded Product: 10/10 Quality of Molded Details: 9/10 Engineering Fits: I had no issues with this kit, everything went together well and no need for filler anywhere! Score: 10/10 Quality of Decals: - it's a bonus to have enough decals for 5 different markings! Score: 9/10 Quality of Instruction/Assembly Booklet: It would be much better if Tamiya included color pages for the painting and decaling sheets and provide other paint manufacturers conversion colors instead of just their own paints. Score: 8/10 Value For Money: 10/10 Enjoyment Value: 9/10 If you are just coming across this build for the first time, thanks for checking in, but if you'd like to see the build thread for this build, here is the link to it: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234982300-tamiya-148-mitsubishi-a6m2-zero-zeke-x2-build-update-1/ You can also see my "Build Update" videos on my YouTube channel; here are the links for the 3 "Build Update" videos: Build Update #1 Video: https://youtu.be/PBuSMyQB9bY Build Update #2 Video: https://youtu.be/t96YKuENSL8 Build Update #3 Video: https://youtu.be/3Ecg5wrLr0o And, to go with this "Final Reveal" thread, here is the link to my "Final Reveal" video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/bGDtOdc3sVg Thanks to everyone who has followed this build thread both on here and on YouTube, and, for leaving kind and encouraging comments, it's greatly appreciated! Now, what should I build next? Hmmmmmmm..... Have a great weekend! Cheers! Martin

Good day, gentlemen! Continuing to entertain you with my crafts, I bring to your attention the next model. This time it's Zero in a nonstandard state color. According to legend, it was one of captured specimen exported by Americans for study of construction and etc. Stains around the fuselage were formed by partial washout of a large layer of dust and dirt from exploitation. I have already said that I am racing in modeling with myself. The last photo shows Zero, which was made 6 years ago.

Good day, gentlemen. This is my next Zero, but from Tamiya. Kit is very very nice, just wonderful! Very recommended for everyone. I builded it only in one weekend.

I've just finished these Airfix Zeroes using the Tecmod transfers for no.140 flown by Lt. Sumio Nono from the carrier Hiryu and the Airfix Dogfight Double markings for no.102 flown by Lt. Saburo Shindo from the carrier Akagi. First the Hiryu aircraft: Then the Akagi aircraft: I built the kits more-or-less OOB with only a couple of changes, such as replacing the not-terribly-well-moulded pitots with Albion Alloys Aluminium Tube and Nickel-Silver Rod (I think I will use the next size up next time though, as these were so fine as to be almost invisible)... the kits went together very well with no particular issues (well, I had a bit of a hard time matching up the two halves of the auxiliary fuel-tanks but that could have been me in both cases) and were nice easy and quick builds. Edit: forgot to say I used Eduard micro-fabric seat straps too. I painted the interiors in Colourcoats Mitsubishi Interior Green, the exterior in Colourcoats Mitsubishi Grey-Green and the cowlings in Mitsubishi Cowl Blue Black from their Japanese Colours Range. Once decalled they were given a coat of Xtracolor Satin Varnish. I used (mostly) Techmod transfers for the Hiryu Zero and (again mostly) the Airfix kit transfers for the Akagi Zero. I had issues with most of the transfers not really settling down despite the ministrations of three different types of setting solutions; no idea how or why that happened but it was a bit of a downer when the assembly and painting had gone so well and so quickly. Fortunately the most egregious problems are not visible in the pictures but if you do see anything that offends you, please let it pass as it will have annoyed me even more. Long-winded build thread is here. Sorry for the rambling excuse-making and thanks for your attention Cheers, Stew

I was planning that my next build was going to be a Tamiya F4U-1A Corsair for the Corsair STGB but I've just had a period of enforced idleness come to an end and was champing at the bit to find something to occupy myself for the next couple of weeks... so I decanted these from the stash: ... I plan on using these transfers: ...probably the second and third aircraft shown... I've also got a copy of Nick Millman's 'Painting the Early Zero-Sen' .pdf as my go-to colour reference. I'll also be using two of these: ... they are a bit of an extravagance, but the Zero's windows are many, and all have rounded corners; these masks may well pay for themselves in the suffering I am spared by not masking the two canopies 'by hand'. Finally, the kit-supplied pilot figures are awful - a poor copy of the old Airfix crotch-fondler but moulded so badly as to resemble a grey alien trying to pass himself off as The Fonz. I decided not to use them and will decorate the pilots' seats instead with the Eduard Super Fabric seat belts: ... so I'm going to get on with it. Cheers, Stew

The Zero was my first "fine structure" kit by imcth of Tokyo. These are extraordinary kits, with the aircraft structure in photo-etched stainless steel and engine, undercarriage, weapons, etc in cast white metal. They are VERY different, present interesting challenges and build into superb works of art. I wrote a blog of my build on Tumblr. You can see it here: I am now building imtch's P-51 Mustang and blogging the build here: Blog links removed

Hi, This one is a favourite of mine - the Mitsubishi Zero. I love the shape, the colour, the canopy and it was an excellent aeroplane. This is the starter set (to build up my paint stash cheaply) and will be built OOB. Any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated The engine cover panel lines didn't match those on the instructions, so I rescribed: Best wishes Danyel

Hi All Finished this a couple of days ago. Some small modifications: added some wiring to the engine, loop antenna in the cockpit and hydraulic hoses to the undercarriage. Very lightly weathered. Best wishes, Danyel

Hi guys, Seven new sets are available now, plus more to follow! 1:32 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero Fighter for Tamiya kit 60317 1:32 P-51D Mustang for Tamiya kit 60322 1:32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVIe for Tamiya kit 60321 1:32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc for Tamiya kit 60319 1:32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VIII for Tamiya kit 60320 1:32 Junkers Ju-87G Stuka Kanonenvogel for Hasegawa kit ST25 1:32 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt Razorback for Trumpeter kit 02262 Cheers, Alek

Tamiya 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero (Zeke) (x2) "Build Update #1" Hello Guys, This is my latest build that I started a couple of weeks ago, but haven't had the time to jump on here and post my build progress, until now. So, here goes.... I've decided to build two A6M2's at the same time, so that I can model one in the Aircraft carrier based all over Japanese Navy Grey/Green color and one in the ground based Japanese Navy Green upper and the Japanese Navy Grey lower. The Grey/Green version will have little chipping, but the Green version will have heavy chipping. The chipping will be done by using the "hairspray" technique. These will be my 18th and 19th model builds since starting modeling in January 2014, and, they will be my first ever attempts at Japanese WWII aircraft, so, I've been looking forward to doing these. They are also my entries into a group build that I am hosting on YouTube called the "For the Love of Freddy" GB. He's a fellow modeler on YouTube that has surprised many modelers, including myself, with his altruistic nature, by sending them large parcels full of models. He sent me 4 parcels in the last two months containing a total of 43 model kits, mostly 1:48 scale and some 1:32 scale. And, therefore, because of his kindness and generosity to myself and other modelers, I thought that I would start this GB, which I did on May 1st and it will run until August 31st. These two "Zeros" were kits that Freddy sent to me, so, I thought it was a fitting tribute to Freddy by building them. Anyway, that's enough of the introduction, let's get on with the build..... As always, I start my builds by washing the sprues in warm soapy water... Next, I assembled both drop tanks, one for each plane... I then put all the small parts onto cocktail sticks in preparation for painting... All parts were then taken to the spray booth for airbrushing a black base coat onto.... When the black base coat was dry, I then airbrushed Cockpit Interior Green onto the fuselage interiors and onto the cockpit tub parts.... I then made a start on detailing the cockpit tub and added the instrument panel decals, then assembled the separate parts to form the tub.... I then started on the radial engine parts and cowlings, and assembled them when the paint was dry... It was now time to assemble the cockpit tubs into the starboard side fuselage halves and then assemble the portside fuselage halves onto the starboard side... It was now time to assemble the wings and horizontal stabilizers onto both planes... First, I assembled the bottom wing sections to the underside of the fuselage assemblies... Followed by assembling the starboard side upper wing sections, then the portside upper wing sections, taping the wings to set the dihedral and to hold them in place whilst the glue set. I then glued the horizontal stabilizers into position... When the glue had set, I removed the tape and checked both planes to see how they looked so far... Well, that's it for the first update. Next, I will prepare the planes for priming and applying paint. Thanks in advance for taking a look and commenting, much appreciated and in the meantime, if you'd like to watch my "Build Update #1" video on YouTube, here is the link for that: https://youtu.be/PBuSMyQB9bY Cheers, Martin

Turned Japanese Barrel sets 1:32 Master We’ve recently had quite an influx of new barrel sets from Master Models with several in 1:32 scale. These three sets continue in this vein with replacement barrels for 1:32 Mitsubishi Zero kits. No matter how many sets I get to see, it’s still amazing how Master produce them with such finesse and detail, making them a must have to replace what can be rather clunky styrene parts. Only the first set has been designed for a specific kit, the fabulous Tamiya A6M5 Zero and contains not only the machine gun barrels, with separate cooling sleeves, but also the cannon barrels and pitot probe. The other two sets contain only barrels, one for the two Type 97 7.7mm machine guns with the perforated cooling sleeves, and the other containing four Type 99 20mm cannon. All the parts are just drop in parts or, with a quick cut to remove the styrene parts followed by drilling out an appropriately sized hole for the barrels to be glued into and can be really be used with any 1:32 Zero, making sure you’ve done some research to identify which weapons were used on which mark. [AM-32-006] 1:32 A6M5 Zero for the Tamiya kit [AM-32-007] 1:32 Type 99 20mm cannon [AM-32-008] 1:32 Type 97 7.7mm Machine gun Conclusion As with the other sets recently reviewed these three continue to impress with the way they have been manufactured with so much fine detail. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of Piotr at

Hi everyone! Finally I did a photoshoot of my latest build - mother of all Zero's. Kit is - as you can guess - great and well detailed. Comes along nicely and quite easy. I've done some more work on cockpit as well, but in the end decided not to have it open.. I had some problems with the canopy. I didn't want to spend couple quids on masks and have been fighting with it for couple hours. At the end there were some mistakes unfortunately There are the pictures: Thanks. Bart.

Hi mates, This started out as an Out-of-the Box build to take a break and not get too carried away. But then I found myself adding very small diameter solder to represent tubing and lines in the cockpit, etc. So much for the OOB idea! This is, of course, the nice new Airfix kit of the A6M2b in the one true scale. Best $7.50 I ever spent! A prerequisite to building any Japanese aircraft model is to spend several hours studying the wealth of information on the web and trying to figure out what colour it should be painted! What a Pandora's Box that is! Yikes! I found what I needed on Nick Millman's blog. I can highly recommend picking up a copy of his "Painting The Early Zero" guide. This model will use the Airfix decals, but the paint scheme will need to be changed slightly. The aircraft represented by the transfers was actually used in training, so the undersides will be yellow-orange, not gray as Airfix states. That should make for an interesting combination with the IJN Dark Green on the top. But first, here's the obligatory shot of the carton: The cockpit is quite well detailed for 1:72 scale, as I'm sure you've read in the reviews. The rear bulkhead has a couple of ejector pin marks that need to be filled and the Euro buck gives you an idea of how small this thing is: The seat has the lightening holes moulded in, but I think they'll look better if they are drilled out. I used Gunze H303 FS34102 for the cockpit green as applied to Mitsubishi-built Zeroes. I added some small wire and solder to represent some piping in the cockpit, and I think it looks busy enough. The kit decals for the instrument panel are quite convincing. I used some 30-year old True Details "generic" Japanese seat harnesses and rudder pedals. Airfix provides a nice way for you to model the Zero with the wingtips folded, Just cut the outer sections away along a panel line, and replace with separate wingtips that have a hinge moulded in. I think that will add some interest, so off with the wingtips! I decided not to do any detailing on the engine, so I assembled it and gave it a quick paint job and wash. The moulding is nice, and there's quite a bit of detail considering it's only three pieces: Once the fuselage was assembled, I sprayed the undersides white, in preparation for the yellow-orange colour. My first thought was to use Gunze H24 Orange-Yellow, so I quickly applied a coat or two. But you know what? It's too orange. I went back to Nick's blog, and found some samples of the C1 through C4 colour chips and a nice photo of a canvas section from a trainer. You can view these at http://britmodeller....showtopic=66239 So now I needed to mix a colour that batter matched that sample. I used 50% Gunze H24 Orange-Yellow and 50% H34 Gunze Cream Yellow. I like this a lot better! To my eye, this is a good match for C2. Straight Gunze H24 is more like C1. I then used Gunze H59 Dark IJN Green on the top side. The number of "scallops" on the yellow-green demarcation line matches a photo of the actual plane, and not the Airfix box art. The cowling is black-blue, which I mixed from Model Master Black and Model Master Bright Blue. After I took the following picture, I decided to extend the black-blue from the cowling over the guns and to the instrument panel. I can't tell if the real plane was like that, but I've seen quite a few pictures of trainers that were. On the bottom, I then applied a lighter version of the yellow-orange on the panels to create some post-shading. Not so easy to see in the photo, but it's easy to see with your eye. I figure I'll give the panel lines a wash too. Next, I wanted to do the same on the top as well. So I sprayed lighter shades of the dark green and the blue-black. Next I'll have to do some clean-up on the wing folds, and spray that area aotake. Rather than use one of the pre-mixed versions of this "colour" (which tend to look like metallic custom car colours) I'll create the aotake by applying a base of Alclad aluminum and overspray with very light mists of Gunze Clear Blue and Gunze Clear Green. I've never done that before, so I guess I should experiment first! That's it for now. This is really a sweet little kit, and it's a far cry from the original Airfix Zero I built about forty years ago. Cheers, Bill

Hi, Let me share with one of my recent Japanese model, still made more than five years ago. This is rather late variant of fameous "Zero" (Type-0) fighter - A6M5 Model 52 c (or "Hei"), which was equipped with mixed gun/cannon set in wings. Model is made mostly OOB from Hasegawa kit, only decals are from drawer. This machine served in 203rd Kokutai, Rengo Kantai in Omura, Kyushu in summer 1945. Comments welcomed Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Some kits to be announced by Tamiya at their fair 21147 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Fighter Type 52-Kou 653rd Flying Corps 166 Battle Squadrons Completed 21148 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Fighter Type 52-Kou 343rd Flying Corps (1944 Guam) Completed 24337 1/24 Gazoo TRD 86 2013 35342 1/35 U.S. Ambulance 6X6 M792 Gama Goat 60788 1/72 F-16CJ w/Full Equipment 21144 1/24 La Ferrari (Red) (finished product) 39404 1/35 utility pole set (Italeri) 39418 1/35 monitoring stations (Italeri) 89787 1/48 Rejiane Re2002 (airframe parts are made ​​by Italeri, Inc.) 32583 1/48 German Army 38 (t) Light Tank E/F No Tomcat announced but that may happen nearer the time of the fair. Edit : More announcements added. Robert

Hi Has anyone tried spraying Zero paints 2K Clear over Tamiya TS Spray and if so what kind of results did you get. I have recently started using the 2K clear from zero with their own paint and the results are excellent but I would like to try it over Tamiya TS spray cans (decanted and airbrushed) as I have tons of cans of the stuff. Many Thanks, Jay.