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Mitsubishi A6M5/5A Zero Tamiya 1/48


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As I said in my Seiran build thread I "accidently" ended up with a ero kit just to get some figures. 

 Since I am waiting for materials anyway I figured I would do a quick build. 

I plan to do this one in flight so gear up and canopy closed but it will wear the rather battered late war paint job seen in almost every single picture of these aircraft. 

All the reviews rave about this kit as being on of the best of any aircraft ever so it should be a pretty straight forward event.

 

In case anybody doesn't know what a new(ish) Tamiya kit looks like it is indeed beautiful even on the sprues.

 

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It is however also one of the few where there is no gear up optional parts so I am going to have to do some alterations to close it all up.

 

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OK fast progress. The reviews that said this is the best Tamiya aircraft kit made were not kidding! The engineering and detail without having a massive number of small parts is truly amazing. A perfect stress free out of the box project. Even if you are not into Japanese WW2 aircraft this is worth picking up. Sort of sad I am going to close it all up and hide everything with a pilot. May pick up another to leave open.

 

So enough with the sales pitch.

Cockpit all done and ready to button up in one evening. Don't think I have ever done that before.

 

Main assemblies

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Base colour

 

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Detail painting and small parts added

 

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Black tinted acrylic floor finish for depth 

 

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Testors Dullcoat to bring it back down. Gauges dotted with  Testors clear parts cement for gloss.

 

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Perfect fit.

 

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Almost all will be invisible in a closed canopy and with a pilot but I will know it is there (and it makes pretty pictures) but it is only about 4 hours of work from start to finish so no time wasted.

 

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Almost ready to paint and since it will be an in flight display I had to do up the pilot. 

He isn't exactly in a great position to be flying (maybe he had an itch and had to let go of the stick mid bank) but he will do once the canopy is on.

 

Base coat

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Detail paint

 

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Gloss seal/accent coat 

 

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Flat coat to blend (no his nose is not a weird colour in real life)

 

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At the office

 

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Edited by Tcoat
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All masked up and ready for first paint.

 

This is my first time using premarked masks and even though I had to cut then out all I can say is what a time saver. Looks like pre cuts are in my sights for future builds.

 

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Although I always knew the Zero was a small aircraft I didn't truly realize just how small until I started this build.

 

The whole thing pretty much fits within the wing area of a Voodoo!

 

 

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Hi Tcoat !

Enjoying your Zero build, cockpit looked great, it's a shame you won't see much of it !

Looking forward to seeing the paint , I'm tempted to buy one of these myself...

Martin 

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I have enjoyed it so much I have ordered another to do wheels down. The funny part is that I have never even considered building one and only ordered it for the figures!

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And here is the beauty of the late war Japanese aircraft. You can beat the crap outta the paint like no other operational equipment (well maybe some Soviet stuff). 

 

Silly putty masking for a softer line.

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Exactly what I was after. Over top of some really nice smelling hairspray. 

 

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Put it on now take it off.

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Now time to seal it al up and start decals and weathering.

 

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Not many pictures of underneath but from what i can see the grey paint stood up much better than the dark green. The condition these were operated in would have left some scars though.

 

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Now time for markings and some dirtying up!

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Marking all on over a heavy coat of tinted floor polish.



The effect will be greatly subdued once the flat coat goes on. 

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The green is not almost black like the gloss coat and picture make it look. 

 

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