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A6M5 questions


Peter Roberts

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I am building a model of the A6M5a flown by Sadaaki Akamatsu and am a bit stumped by the following:

 

Aerial mast - was this natural wood or painted?

 

Tail hook - was this removed? if so, was the aperture covered by a panel or left open?

 

Tail wheel - would this aircraft have had a canvas cover here?

 

Lower wing hinomarus - would this have a white surround?

 

I would be grateful for some guidance with these points,

 

Thank you

 

Pete

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Great reference that @Rolls-Royce mentions above. Just note that the prop spinner is silver (not white as it may appear). The canvas was a standard feature, so I would keep it (supported by A6M5 photos). On most photos of land-based A6M5 it looks like the hook itself (at the very end of the bearer) was removed. The hook aperture's length is nearly fully covered by what seems to be the hook bearer (with or w/o hook attached).

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9 hours ago, Rolls-Royce said:

Nick Millman's blog had a review of a Rising Decals 1/72 sheet featuring his markings. It may give you some of what you're looking for:

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2012/07/rising-decals-zero-pt-ii-in-172nd-scale.html

Thank you - unfortunately just a mention that it is on the sheet.

 

8 hours ago, Toryu said:

Great reference that @Rolls-Royce mentions above. Just note that the prop spinner is silver (not white as it may appear). The canvas was a standard feature, so I would keep it (supported by A6M5 photos). On most photos of land-based A6M5 it looks like the hook itself (at the very end of the bearer) was removed. The hook aperture's length is nearly fully covered by what seems to be the hook bearer (with or w/o hook attached).

Thank you - didn't find any info/pics re: canvas so very helpful. Interesting re: tail hook. I was thinking they may have removed the entire unit to save on weight, but maybe not.

 

2 hours ago, Seawinder said:

I can't recall seeing white surrounds on lower Hinomarus in general. I'd go with painted mast.

Thank you - struggled to find good photos of lower wings and while I take artwork with a grain of salt these days, I did find profiles that planted a seed of doubt regards the hinomarus. Will go with a painted mast - your comment triggered a vague memory of reading that this was painted above the canopy, and natural wood between the rear deck and canopy.

 

Thank you for the replies gentlemen - much appreciated.

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Ok, now I am stumped. One shouldn't look too closely at a subject should one?!

 

I have the Hasegawa A6M5 kit that my son kindly brought back from a trip to Japan, and I thought I would build it as Akamatsu's plane. Except now I find that this aircraft, '126, is variously noted as an 'a' and a 'c' version of the Type 52, both different to the basic Type 52 in the kit. My afternoon of research has found that there doesn't seem to be any identifying numbers to help determine which version this was (?) Does anyone have any idea which Type 52 this aircraft was? If an 'a' I believe I need to remove the lower wing bulges and move the spent shell chutes, and if a 'c', I believe I need to add an extra gun to each wing. 

 

I have looked at other schemes but these too are a bit vague, usually just stating A6M5. Very frustrating.

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Hi Peter,

 

The A6M5a had one 20 mm cannon in each wing (no bulge because of the later belt-fed variant) and two 7.7 mm machine guns in front of the cockpit, the A6M5c had one 20 mm and one 13 mm machine gun in each wing, and one 13 mm in the starboard front.  There were also differences in the head armoured glass.

 

Like the Rising Decal drawing, several publications depict A6M5a versions (not -5c) for the Yokosuka Kokutai, e.g. ED 127, ED 160. Though not 100% reliable I guess this may be correct. There is a picture in FAOW 56 with a Yokosuka A6M5 line-up and they are described as A6M5a.

 

I investigated a bit further. The picture below from Model Art 'Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Airplanes Illustrated Book 1' shows the hook issue. The text says: "On land the landing hook was removed. In principle, a cover was attached but there are examples of flying in this state" (i.e. without the aperture covered).

Book 3 of the series shows the antenna mast - though made of wood - painted with camouflage green.

 

Hope this helps, Michael

 

50354526793_351b1de48f_b.jpg

 

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Hi Michael - thank you very much. That is wonderful information and gratefully received.

 

I did fear an 'a' was the likely version. The kit is the initial version with the bulges and chute in different position, so I either modify or look for another scheme (Maybe Suzuki at Truk) I have assembled the model not realising the difference.

 

Appreciate the guidance, clarification and trouble you have gone too.

 

 

Edited by Peter Roberts
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