A6M2 Rivet lines

[Doom3r]

Hi guys,

 

I am trying to add some detailing to the Zero I am building however I seem not able to find a drawing of the zero that would have the rivet lines. Any suggestion on where to find such drawings would be really appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Plasto]

This might help...

 

https://aviationshoppe.com/a6m-zero-gen-p-315.html

 

have fun...

[MDriskill]

If you are willing to buy a hard copy of something in Japanese, there are many choices.

 

My personal favorite is the classic “Maru Mechanic” series of books, which contain incredibly accurate and detailed drawings and a host of other information. These will also be found in later reprints under the “Mechanic of World Aircraft” and “Mechanism of World Aircraft” titles. The Zero issue is particularly good and the whole series can be found pretty cheaply online these days.

 

The Koku Fan “Famous Aircraft of the World” (aka FAOW) series has done several issues on the Zero including a fat special edition. Gakken and other publishers have likewise covered the A6M very thoroughly.

 

 

[Doom3r]

Anything in English?

[MDriskill]

In my experience, Japanese drawings look exactly the same as English ones.

Edited December 14, 2018 by MDriskill

[Doom3r]

Well, if buy the book then I would like to read it

[MDriskill]

6 hours ago, Doom3r said:

Well, if buy the book then I would like to read it

Unfortunately if one has a general interest in WW2 Japanese aircraft, learning to live without English is kind of a fact of life!

 

Being easily the best-known of all Japanese aircraft, there are good histories of the Zero in English though. Plenty of info online; my favorite of economical printed ones is, “Zero - Combat & Development History of Japan’s Legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter,” written by Robert Mikesh and published by Motorbooks International. 

 

The king of all-round Japanese WW2 aircraft references in English is “Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War,” by Francillon. Fine background information on many topics, and nice capsule histories and stats for all significant Japanese combat types, including of course the A6M.  I think of it as the catalyst that holds all those foreign books on my shelf together.

 

 

 

 

[tempestfan]

Not sure if it has rivet lines on the drawings, but the Aero Detail is bilingual. I also bought a Koku Fan having a Zero modelling special (again, not sure re rivets) at my first IAT, must have been a 1987 or 8 book.

 I have now hunted down three Gakken books on the Zero, but none of them includes a full set of drawings, in contrast to their Raiden one. 

I would never have learnt about that Gakkens without bookfinder which seems to be the only search engine able to digest Japanese. 

@MDriskill, could you share your means to obtain Marus cheaply? HLJ still has some of the recent reprints, but Abe doesn’t turn up many and usually rather expensive.

[MDriskill]

Have I mentioned that I am old, forgetful, own too many books, and occasionally embarrass myself in public? 😳

 

The Aero Detail title on the A6M has superb drawings with rivet lines in 1/72 and 1/48, and is fully bilingual as you mention. It’s sitting on my shelf and I totally forgot about it...definitely a better one-stop modeling reference than the things I mentioned earlier.

 

Ebay and Amazon are decent source of the old Maru Mechanics. Search under “maru mechanic,” “mechanic of world aircraft,” “mechanism of world aircraft,” etc. I’ve seen some of the original paperback MM’s for less than $15 from time to time, though more popular subjects tend to be harder to find and pricier of course.