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Industria Mechanica Zero


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Here's my first GB entry on Britmodeller. It's made by Industria Mechanica out of the US.

 

 

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There's not a whole lot of parts to the resin kit which is one of its appeals. 

 

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First thing I've done is started by painting the cockpit pieces in XF-71 and the engine in silver. 

 

IMG_20191107_140036-L.jpg

 

More to come I guess 

 

Carl

 

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On 11/8/2019 at 11:55 AM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hello Carl and welcome aboard with quite an impressive looking kit. Looking forward to seeing how this builds up.
 

Dennis 

Thanks for the welcome Dennis. So far it's been fairly impressive if a bit small. 

On 11/8/2019 at 3:59 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

I didn't know that this existed. I like their products.

They certainly have some great and varied subjects. I would love to get more at some point. 

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I made a bit more progress today. I started on one of the arms. I'm using brass wire to pin the various finger joints together for hopefully a stronger joint. 

 

IMG_20191109_132500-L.jpg

 

Ont thing I like is they've keyed the finger joints so they only go in one spot and not mix them up.  

Here's the hand completed. 

 

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From there, I started on the rest of the arm up to the shoulder.

 

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Last bit for tonight was the IP. I punched out some spare instruments I had in the stash and glued them in place. 

 

IMG_20191109_223858-L.jpg

 

Carl

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3 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I actually like the idea of this. A Mech based on a Zero, im used to modern aircraft being used for mechs but never ww2 stuff. 

It is unique in that regard. It would have been neat to have had additional aircraft converted this way but they only did the Zero as far as I can tell

 

Speaking of WWII aircraft being updated, here's what the P-51 and Spitfire might have looked like as part of the Space Battleship Yamato universe.

 

SF51Ps-L.jpg

 

Carl

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I put this kit in my mental stash a while ago, it looks badass! My money went instead to the Knight and Rook mechs from Industria Mechanika, as someone was selling them together for a good price on eBay. Looking forward to seeing your build-up!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks guys! Progress has been slower than I expected due to a couple issues. I had planned to use some chipping fluid on the fuselage and arms to weather the model a bit. Unfortunately the chipping fluid ate through my base coat of Mission Models Aluminum. So I had to strip it back and start over. 

 

The other problem is I'm more tired than I thought I'd be due to an operation I had at the end of Oct. So I don't have as much energy as I thought I would . Or at least have recovered. 

 

Anyways, I'm still plugging away, just much slower. 

 

After stripping off the first try at a base coat, I applied Tamiya lacquer Silver instead and then the chipping fluid. Then I used Nakajima green for the top coat. And it came out factory fresh as the chipping fluid wouldn't... chip. 

 

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So I'm just leaving it like this and switching plans rather than strip and start over. 

 

I sprayed some thinned clear smoke to give the panel lines some definition and weathering. Not my usual approach so I'll see how I like it as I get closer to assembly.

 

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The kit didn't include any gun barrels so I grabbed a pair of Master MG FF brass barrels I had laying around. Yes they're not correct but they fit the look so I'm fine with them.

 

IMG_20191124_141528-L.jpg

 

And that's where I am at the moment. Next up are the legs and landing gear.

 

Carl

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18 minutes ago, FG2Si said:

The other problem is I'm more tired than I thought I'd be due to an operation I had at the end of Oct. So I don't have as much energy as I thought I would . Or at least have recovered. 

 

Anyways, I'm still plugging away, just much slower. 

No worries we still have 8 weeks to go. I think you will make it with time to spare. Sorry to hear the chipping fluid didn't want to co-operate. 

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This looks interesting. Do you have any micromesh? Used selectively it will remove paint on edges and corners nicely to simulate wear of varying degrees.

It's only three or four weeks after your Op, even minor seeming ones can take their toll. Take care and have a nap. I'm slowed down by Flu at the moment.

We are but fragile things, no matter how fit we think we are!

Pete

 

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7 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

This looks interesting. Do you have any micromesh? Used selectively it will remove paint on edges and corners nicely to simulate wear of varying degrees.

It's only three or four weeks after your Op, even minor seeming ones can take their toll. Take care and have a nap. I'm slowed down by Flu at the moment.

We are but fragile things, no matter how fit we think we are!

Pete

 

Thanks for the reminder. I forgot about using that. I'll give the Micromesh a try and see how that turns out. I generally don't weather my models too heavily. The only one I really did was a Tamiya Birdcage Corsair I did a couple years ago.  I had quite the learning curve on that one so I'm not completely surprised this time out. 

 

IMG_20161231_182750-L.jpg

 

As for the operation, it was a triple bypass four weeks ago tomorrow. I had a mild(is there such a thing?) heart attack while dropping off my boys at school. Thankfully I got the help I needed right away and our friends and neighbours have been great in helping us out. I just get the long, occasionally dull job of recovering. We certainly are more fragile than we sometimes take for granted. 

 

Carl

 

 

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11 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

No worries we still have 8 weeks to go. I think you will make it with time to spare. Sorry to hear the chipping fluid didn't want to co-operate. 

I think I should be ok for the deadline. Thanks for the reassurances. 

 

Carl

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7 minutes ago, FG2Si said:

As for the operation, it was a triple bypass four weeks ago tomorrow

Oh is that all? Feels like you've been in a car crash & hit the wheel? Yep, Mine was four pipes eight years ago. Recovery really takes a couple of months at least.

It will be a while before you can even sleep on your front. There is life the other side though. Smile every morning, you're still here.

Yes, I take four different pills every day, but at work nowadays I deliver barrels of beer and heavy cases of drinks the hard way. Enjoy.

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Thanks Pete! Part of it was the docs set me up thinking I'd be up and about in no time. They kept saying I'm young and in good shape, blah, blah blah. The biggest operation I'd had prior to this was a few stitches as a kid. My dad had the operation but was 8 years my senior when he did. 

 

I'm currently on 6 pills at the moment. The docs figure that'll drop to 3 in a few months. Definitely can't sleep on my front which is how I usually sleep so that's been a pain. I pulled a muscle under my ribs cage which didn't help things. Laughing is unbelievably painful and even breathing occasionally. Just have to tough it out there. 

 

Like you said, smile every day and I'm glad to be here for my wife and  boys still. 

 

Carl

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A small update but I'm definitely making progress. 

 

With my initial chipping attempt having failed, I tried my old standby which is a Silver Prismacolor pencil. I started on the hands for the mecha first. The one on the right side is done. Hopefully it shows up in the pic.

 

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I then did the inner side of the hands. This I did a bit more of figuring that it'll be picking up stuff so the inside should be a bit more worn.

 

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I'm happy with the way it looks so I'll proceed with the other hand. 

 

Next up I assembled both leg units.  These need to have the hips/pivots added.

 

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Lastly is possibly the biggest hurdle. The prop didn't fare too well in my attempt to remove it from its pour block. There was already a small divot in one blade and I didn't help matters.

 

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I'm going to see if there's anything suitable in my spares collection. 

 

Carl

 

 

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8 minutes ago, FG2Si said:

The prop didn't fare too well in my attempt to remove it from its pour block. There was already a small divot in one blade and I didn't help matters.

 

IMG_20191127_125951-L.jpg

I wonder if you can find a replacement for the Tamiya 1/32 Zero ? Slightly larger but not enough to really notice. And if you really wanted to you could trim the blades down ? 

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So I compared the prop to my 1)32 ones and it's considerably smaller, closer to 1/48. 

 

I usually don't build 1/48 aircraft Soni didn't have anything usable. I stopped by the LHS and picked up a 1/48 Tamiya Hamp so hopefully that'll work. 

 

In the meantime, I attached the legs to the hip section. 

 

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I then added the pistons. The kit includes vinyl tubing for hydraulic lines but I had some thin spring tubing that I used instead. 

 

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Next up I assembled the arms. Again, I replaced the vinyl tubing with spring tubing instead. 

 

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Finally I attached the fuselage/upper body, arms and lower body together. 

 

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All that's left is to paint and install the canopy. 

 

And the prop.

 

 

Carl

Edited by FG2Si
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/2/2019 at 1:30 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Impressive... I cant say just how kool this looks to me. Im guessing you’ve decided against adding any extra markings. Or will they be last ? 

Thanks! I'm still undecided on any markings. The kit didn't come with any and the only Japanese markings I have are for a 1/32 F-104J.

On 12/2/2019 at 2:50 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

It's looking good. Markings? I think I'd be tempted by small dark orange roundels on that large panel above the fingers.

Thanks Pete! The kit box has hinomarus on that part of the arm but I'm not sure about the way it looks. So I'm still undecided. 

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I finally took the plunge and masked off the canopy. It's cast in clear resin and the framing is a bit heavy with some rounded corners. 

 

IMG_20191209_092315-L.jpg

 

I sprayed a base of cockpit interior green.

 

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I then decided to sand off the remaining stubs from the prop spinner and just paint it silver. 

 

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I figured it's sci-fi so I can get away with it. 

 

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This was the first time I used AK's Extreme Metal and it seems to have worked nicely. 

 

Then, back to the canopy I put on the top coat of Nakajima green.

 

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Finally I added yhese last couple of parts and the build itself is now done. 

 

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I'm still debating the addition of markings. But I'm leaning towards leaving it as is.

 

Carl

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