1/72 Matchbox A6M2 Zero - Blast from the past!

[Madmaks]

In 1982 this was my first kit as a kid. Did a crappy job building it back then. I didn't have paints then but it was in the characteristic 2 color Matchbox mold so didn't think about it too much as a kid but played with it a lot. This kit started it all for me.

 

For whatever reason the Matchbox Zero rarely comes up on eBay in the US but a few yrs back I managed to get 2 at a reasonable price. I had started building one immediately and then abandoned it as I got busy with other stuff. This week as I was waiting for things to dry on my Spitfire builds I restarted this as a quick side build and here it is from 1982 the Matchbox A6M2. This was completely a 100% straight out of the box build. The 40 yr old decals held up really well. 

 

Note: the Kit first came out in 1972 so the decals might be 50 yrs old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15 by Madmaks

[Harry_the_Spider]

Excellent. Matchbox kits got me started. My first was a Hurricane. My second was another Hurricane.

 

45p from the corner shop. My spending money was 20p per week, so getting the extra 5p was problematic.

[Rob G]

That's rather spiffing, innit. Yet another Matchbox kit that I'd like to revisit, but like the Hurricane they're only available for stupid money these days. I keep looking...

[Madmaks]

7 hours ago, Harry_the_Spider said:

Excellent. Matchbox kits got me started. My first was a Hurricane. My second was another Hurricane.

 

45p from the corner shop. My spending money was 20p per week, so getting the extra 5p was problematic.

 

6 hours ago, Rob G said:

That's rather spiffing, innit. Yet another Matchbox kit that I'd like to revisit, but like the Hurricane they're only available for stupid money these days. I keep looking...

The Hurricane is another great old Matchbox kit. Here are some of my WW2 Matchbox builds. The night fighter Hurricane is Matchbox while the SEAC is the old Heller kit that was also reboxed by Airfix.

 

 

[Graham Boak]

The Heller kit was far superior to the Matchbox although neither had enough room in the cowling for a Merlin.  At least the canopy was high enough on the Heller.

[RJP]

I seem to recall a wing chord difference.  Was the Heller too broad, the Matchbox too narrow?

 

I suppose I will now have to dig into the stash and see what survives. . .

[Pantherhawk27263]

I have been a long time fan of Matchbox kits and love seeing a modeler build them with as beautifully as they deserve. Excellent job, it looks fantastic!!!

[georgeusa]

Great job on an older kit that still makes up into a nice model given some time and effort.  You have obviously spent the time and effort on this as it looks really good.  Thanks for sharing.

[Madmaks]

6 minutes ago, Pantherhawk27263 said:

I have been a long time fan of Matchbox kits and love seeing a modeler build them with as beautifully as they deserve. Excellent job, it looks fantastic!!!

Thank you 🙏

3 minutes ago, georgeusa said:

Great job on an older kit that still makes up into a nice model given some time and effort.  You have obviously spent the time and effort on this as it looks really good.  Thanks for sharing.

Thank you 🙏

[Hopesdaddy]

Great looking build of the primitive matchbox kit, it is occasionally nice to build a simple, not overly complex kit and the old matchbox kits often become a fun alternative.

[Madmaks]

1 hour ago, Hopesdaddy said:

Great looking build of the primitive matchbox kit, it is occasionally nice to build a simple, not overly complex kit and the old matchbox kits often become a fun alternative.

Great to get the mojo back 👍

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Oh, this is so nice to see! You have done justice to this little beauty, and it creates a kind of pleasant closure for me at a personal level.

 

I built one of these in 1977--my first Matchbox kit ever--and I had no idea that the brown and green parts, which you could see through the tiny acetate "window," represented not two, but one aircraft.  After overcoming that initial disappointment, I built and attempted to paint it with Pactra white paint.  My dad, who also built models, and who knew Japanese aircraft were painted IJN grey, not white, stayed mum and let me attempt this thing.  Of course, it was the first time I ever painted a model, and the results were not good. I gave up and binned it.  I've improved since, really!

[Madmaks]

6 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Oh, this is so nice to see! You have done justice to this little beauty, and it creates a kind of pleasant closure for me at a personal level.

 

I built one of these in 1977--my first Matchbox kit ever--and I had no idea that the brown and green parts, which you could see through the tiny acetate "window," represented not two, but one aircraft.  After overcoming that initial disappointment, I built and attempted to paint it with Pactra white paint.  My dad, who also built models, and who knew Japanese aircraft were painted IJN grey, not white, stayed mum and let me attempt this thing.  Of course, it was the first time I ever painted a model, and the results were not good. I gave up and binned it.  I've improved since, really!

 

We have that in common - starting out with the same model though a few yrs apart 😊 I have a large stash of Matchbox models for whenever I need to revive my modeling mojo. There is immense pleasure in revisiting one's childhood but this time with skills, tools and supplies we didn't have then. 

[Dave Klaatu]

Nice build, like the paint!

[PatG]

Really nice but did the A6M2 have protruding canon in the wings as I thought they were not visible?

 

Just a minor point on what is otherwise an excellent build of a rather 'vintage' kit, so well done.

 

Pat.

[Rob G]

8 hours ago, PatG said:

Really nice but did the A6M2 have protruding canon in the wings as I thought they were not visible?

 

Just a minor point on what is otherwise an excellent build of a rather 'vintage' kit, so well done.

 

Pat.

 

The Matchbox Zero is apparently somewhat of a bitza, neither fish nor fowl. I can't recall specifics, but I believe that there's details from quite few Zero subtypes in the mix. It's bad enough that none of its worth correcting, just build it and have fun.

 

(It shares its mongrel heritage with a few other Matchbox kits, the F4-U Corsair coming to mind in particular.)  Regardless, they're still fun to build! 

[PatG]

The one detail Matchbox got bang on was the canopy framing which should have square corners, which it does, where as the far more recent Airfix offering has them rounded/curved!

 

 

Pat.

[Madmaks]

12 hours ago, PatG said:

The one detail Matchbox got bang on was the canopy framing which should have square corners, which it does, where as the far more recent Airfix offering has them rounded/curved!

 

 

Pat.

Learnt something today thx Pat 👍

 

[Hairy Stickler]

Lovely little Zero! It's great to see how they can turn out with bit of TLC and knowhow. 

 

Like many of the contributors to this thread, I cut my modelling teeth on Matchbox.  We had a small sweet/toy shop in the village that I grew up in and they stocked a lot of these kits (as well as Action Man).  I do remember building the Corsair, the Indian radial engined Tempest and a bigger Bucaneer (which I think was one of a more expensive range of three colour kits). Also made a number of the armour kits (the Hanomag,  Comet and T34 spring to mind). The owners of the shop were an older couple and he was a great advocate of the armour models (and probably retired on the amount of pocket money that I handed over).

 

Thanks very much for sharing 

 

Best regards 

 

Peter 

 

 

[Madmaks]

On 3/21/2023 at 3:10 AM, Hairy Stickler said:

Lovely little Zero! It's great to see how they can turn out with bit of TLC and knowhow. 

 

Like many of the contributors to this thread, I cut my modelling teeth on Matchbox.  We had a small sweet/toy shop in the village that I grew up in and they stocked a lot of these kits (as well as Action Man).  I do remember building the Corsair, the Indian radial engined Tempest and a bigger Bucaneer (which I think was one of a more expensive range of three colour kits). Also made a number of the armour kits (the Hanomag,  Comet and T34 spring to mind). The owners of the shop were an older couple and he was a great advocate of the armour models (and probably retired on the amount of pocket money that I handed over).

 

Thanks very much for sharing 

 

Best regards 

 

Peter 

 

 

Thank you for sharing those memories. Matchbox was pretty much the thing growing up but just looking at Eduard kits now as an example, it's very satisfying to build something as simple as a matchbox to look something like the original.