luftmodels Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 These are all the "ingredients" we need to build the engine of A6M2 (not including firewall and cowling with flaps, which I don't consider to be part of the engine anyways). 14 wire harnesses in total (2 rows of seven cylinders) and 3 connections per wire gives us 42 CONTACT POINTS! This is insanely time-consuming and precise work, tbh. Let see how it will work out... Every ingredient was "seasoned" and ready to be a part of one meal. LET THE FUN BEGIN! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tzulscha Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 On 27/09/2020 at 22:24, luftmodels said: Got pics? What's so special in "aluminium plate metallizer"? Never heard of it. I guess because MM is not that popular nowadays. I would be very pleased if you can find it. The Mitsubishi version is exactly what I'm working on. Sorry to take so long. No pics, it was when the kit was first released and I wasn't in the habit of taking photos back then. The testors metalizer paints were just the smoothest aluminium colour I could get at the time. These days I use Tamiya 'Silver Leaf' as my aluminium. Still haven't found the Aotake article either I'm afraid. Who knows where in my disorganized collection of references it has gotten off to. If I find it , I'll post it! Doesn't look like you're gonna need it though. This thing is looking very sharp! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 3 hours ago, Tzulscha said: Sorry to take so long. No pics, it was when the kit was first released and I wasn't in the habit of taking photos back then. The testors metalizer paints were just the smoothest aluminium colour I could get at the time. These days I use Tamiya 'Silver Leaf' as my aluminium. Still haven't found the Aotake article either I'm afraid. Who knows where in my disorganized collection of references it has gotten off to. If I find it , I'll post it! Doesn't look like you're gonna need it though. This thing is looking very sharp! It's ok, no worries. We all have "real" lives outside of our hobbies. 😉 No hard feelings about pics, I totally understand it. I'm quite surprised you found Tamiya silver leaf as a smooth paint. While I didn't try this particular, I tried many other Tamiya silver-aluminum metallic paints and they were horrendous. I would suggest you to try Mr Color "Silver". The smoothest and easiest metallic silver/aluminum to apply, imo. I got that hint from youtube modeller Danek. He is my hero! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 It has been some time since I made my last record here. The reason is this engine. I didn't want to give away any snippets so I took my time to properly build it. It wasn't easy at all. You are looking at 132 parts put together. I can’t even guess how many hours I put in. Just insane. The ignition wires were the hardest work. Just like I mentioned before, it takes 42 gluing spots to attach these wires. What a nightmare! 🤪 I can not describe how many times I had to re-glue the same wires over and over while trying to attach another one. Extremely fiddly and fragile construction. Just to add insult to injury, I had to do extensive research on proper color usage because I do not trust the manual, too many obvious mistakes. As usual, I went for a "freshly built but gently used" look, so there is no crazy weathering, just engine grime where appropriate and a bit of typical engine oil/fluid mess. Putting it all together was extremely difficult due to numerous fragile PE parts, therefore extensive care and patience were used. Overall I'm extremely happy with the outcome. Certainly, I had exceeded my own expectations. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 3 hours ago, luftmodels said: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 That is insanely good. You must be so happy with that. Still though those Little teal accents really float my boat. Beautiful. Johnny 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolay Polyakov Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 On 04/10/2020 at 02:43, luftmodels said: I would suggest you to try Mr Color "Silver". That’s true. I used it on my F-102A build and get a really nice and shiny finish. Excellent progress so far, @luftmodels! 👍 An engine looks amazing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 20 hours ago, The Spadgent said: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 That is insanely good. You must be so happy with that. Still though those Little teal accents really float my boat. Beautiful. Johnny Haha.. I like the way you said "Little teal accents", sounds very cute 😆 But thank you so much! I do like this color too, not sure why Nakajima omitted them in engine department and went with all black. 21 hours ago, Nikolay Polyakov said: That’s true. I used it on my F-102A build and get a really nice and shiny finish. Excellent progress so far, @luftmodels! 👍 An engine looks amazing. Thank you, Nikolay! 😉 Making baby steps here. ____________________________________________________ A few more looks with the rear "guts" exposed 🙃 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 I spent a lot of time trying to find good pictures of plumbing/wiring behind the firewall to no avail. 😐 Looks incomplete but there is nothing else I could do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarkmodels Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 8 hours ago, luftmodels said: Haha.. I like the way you said "Little teal accents", sounds very cute 😆 But thank you so much! I do like this color too, not sure why Nakajima omitted them in engine department and went with all black. Thank you, Nikolay! 😉 Making baby steps here. ____________________________________________________ A few more looks with the rear "guts" exposed 🙃 Absolutely fantastic work so far. I have the same kit and I can only wish to do as a good job as you have done. Beautiful stuff mate! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Superb engine. I shouldn’t worry too much about the lack of wiring/plumbing behind the firewall, I don’t imagine there will be much to see when it’s attached to the fuselage anyway. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 13 hours ago, JrivasK said: Absolutely fantastic work so far. I have the same kit and I can only wish to do as a good job as you have done. Beautiful stuff mate! Thank you so much for kind words! I'm sure you can do it! Just take your time and decide whether you want it to be as much as accurate (as skills allow) or "just another model". 🙂 I do enjoy never ending research and improvement of the actual kit as far as my novice abilities let me. Being honest with you, I'm very dreadful of painting part because this is "make it or brake it" stage. 😟 11 hours ago, Biggles87 said: Superb engine. I shouldn’t worry too much about the lack of wiring/plumbing behind the firewall, I don’t imagine there will be much to see when it’s attached to the fuselage anyway. John Thank you, John. You are absolutely right. It will be complete covered. 😄 But some modelers prefer to fix ejector pin marks inside of the closed shell (never to be seen again) just because they know they are inside ... 🙃 That's not me but I prefer to get it done right as much as realistically possible. If you know what I mean. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarkmodels Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, luftmodels said: Thank you so much for kind words! I'm sure you can do it! Just take your time and decide whether you want it to be as much as accurate (as skills allow) or "just another model". 🙂 I do enjoy never ending research and improvement of the actual kit as far as my novice abilities let me. Being honest with you, I'm very dreadful of painting part because this is "make it or brake it" stage. 😟 I meant every word, your work is amazing!. I always find difficult to find a balanced between detailing, researching, painting and weathering. When a project is starting to take too long sometimes I start to loose interest. I don't know if is anxiety to see progress or what? but If I manage to go through those phases I'm always gratified with great result. One example of this was my 1/700 Bismarck built. It seemed to never finished with all those tiny little details and day after day it was like there was no progress, but at the end I was so proud I did all that hard work. And to me, I love the painting and weathering stages! let's say is the most artistic aspect of this hobby...😁 Keep doing your amazing work and I'm looking forward to see more of it! cheers mate, Jorge PS. Your photos are also incredible good! what is your photographic equipment? Edited October 14, 2020 by JrivasK adding a question 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Mason Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 If the prop is anything to go by then this will be a stunner. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Wow. Amazing work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 16, 2020 Author Share Posted October 16, 2020 On 10/14/2020 at 4:22 PM, JrivasK said: I meant every word, your work is amazing!. I always find difficult to find a balanced between detailing, researching, painting and weathering. When a project is starting to take too long sometimes I start to loose interest. I don't know if is anxiety to see progress or what? but If I manage to go through those phases I'm always gratified with great result. One example of this was my 1/700 Bismarck built. It seemed to never finished with all those tiny little details and day after day it was like there was no progress, but at the end I was so proud I did all that hard work. And to me, I love the painting and weathering stages! let's say is the most artistic aspect of this hobby...😁 Keep doing your amazing work and I'm looking forward to see more of it! cheers mate, Jorge PS. Your photos are also incredible good! what is your photographic equipment? Hello Jorge, Thank you for kind words! 😊 I looked up your Bismarck and was blown away how detailed it is! This is incredibly stunning and fascinating to see it that full of "going on" on a deck. Your time was well invested! 👏🏻 I can totally agree with you about loosing interest on a long project, it happens to me from time to time (I guess our human nature of "want it now") but then I manage to go through these phases and with a fresh set of strength I continue on the project and just move on. "It seemed to never finished with all those tiny little details and day after day it was like there was no progress" - I can relate 200% and this is how I feel daily pretty much 😅 Yes, painting and weathering are the most artistic part of the whole thing and this is the face of the model we are going to look at for years (hopefully). I think I have this little struggle right now due to no experience. Hopefully by the end of the Zero I will gain more airbrushing,weathering confidence. 🙏🏻 I'm pleased to know that you like my pics. 😉 I use Canon EOS R with 24-70mm lens along with 35mm macro lens for some shots. The key here is light. I use 2 lights (Nanlite Forza 60 LED Monolight) for desired coverage. But your Bismark has great pictures too. I think you nailed pictures 100%. Definitely shot on a real camera. 👍🏻 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 16, 2020 Author Share Posted October 16, 2020 On 10/14/2020 at 6:04 PM, Paul Mason said: If the prop is anything to go by then this will be a stunner. Thank you, Paul! 😉 The prop had tested my patience every time I sat to work (and rework, and rework, and rework, and....) on it. I really hope that the rest of the model will be easy on me. 😅 13 hours ago, Roberto said: Wow. Amazing work! Thank you, Roberto! 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 This cowling was painted according to the scheme of Zero model 21: blue-black outer shell (for anti-reflective purposes) and aotake green for internals (as far as sources told me). I didn't varnish outside yet. No outside weathering has been performed because this is a quite new aircraft and very well maintained. Inside weathering includes oil streaks on the bottom cowling (gravity and blowing wind) and general engine grime/dust. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Gregory Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Fascinating to watch this all take shape, I look forward to the next update!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 Hello guys! 👋🏻 The front end is officially complete. I'm quite happy with the result. The prop decals are HGW wet transfers which were applied without gloss coat, straight on alclad finish w/o varnishing over it as well. Keep it "metallicy" real! 💪🏻 Finally, it starts to look like a zero we all know about! P.S. If you interested in how I painted the prop, please check my post #2. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted November 13, 2020 Author Share Posted November 13, 2020 Made some important corrections here: antennae and raised rivets. Some quite omissions on behalf of Tamiya. Both were time-consuming to fix. The rivets are Archer decals made of resin. The antennae is PE with my fix - thinly cut Tamiya tape (less than 1mm) to represent fabric and applied by hand. Everything was sprayed with "cowling black" by Mr Color. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 Wow. Really good progress! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted November 14, 2020 Author Share Posted November 14, 2020 6 hours ago, Roberto said: Wow. Really good progress! Thank you! I only wish it could have been a bit faster. Feel like a snail. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 Excelent work so far!! John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 Lovely 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luftmodels Posted November 15, 2020 Author Share Posted November 15, 2020 7 hours ago, zaxos345 said: Excelent work so far!! John Thank you, John. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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