Best Mitsubishi A6M2 kit in 48th?

[Col.]

Been thinking of adding a Mitsubishi A6M2 to the collection for a while now and would like it in the light grey scheme but the only kit of any type in my LMS is the Tamiya A6M5 at £40 and that's a bit too much for me. Had a quick search around here and on the 'net but only getting myself confused so thought I'd ask you all what you'd recommend.

[dragonlanceHR]

A6M5 is a somewhat different bird from A6M2.

Tamiya has an older but quite nice A6M2 kit, accurate in outline, somewhat sparse cockpit and raised panel lines on the fuselage. Also an A6M2-N Rufe and A6M3 and A6M5.

http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?searc..._instock_only=N

A real gem at 10USD. Go for it.

The new 1/48 A6M5 and A6M3 Tamiya superkits are awesome but slightly overpriced except in HK shops. They do feature a correct curved floor, a feature not found in older kits and various "cockpit correction&detailing sets". Excuse my favorite Reisen rant.

Hasegawa has a more complete line of Reisen kits, slightly less detailed than new Tamiya's, if you can get them cheap go for them, they build nicely.

Edit:

Ooops. Read the title.

In short, best 1/48 A6M2 - Hasegawa, affordable A6M2 - Tamiya old mould.

Vedran

Edited August 7, 2011 by dragonlanceHR

[pigsty]

The Hasegawa A6M2 can still be found at sensible prices if you search. I've seen one at either £5 or £10 (it was May, I can't remember back that far) and Collectakit still has a fair stock of old single-engined Japanese aircraft in 1/48.

[Col.]

Thanks for taking the time to help me here Vedran, afraid I know nothing about the A6M series other than I like the look of the machine and it seems to suit the light grey (Navy?) scheme, a look at the various detailing kits shows plenty available for the Hasegawa kit but little or nothing for the Tamiya example so perhaps that's testimony to the quality of the latter and explains it higher price.

Reason I asked about the -2 was it's the only one I've seen in the grey scheme but perhaps that carried over to other variants?

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

The old Tamiya kit, is as has been said, pretty good for its time, and still assembles well too. The cockpit isnt too bad if you leave the canopy closed too.

I imagine that now tamiya have a -3 new tool in their range, a -2 wont be too far behind, but price wise I can imagine it being a bit hefty.

Jonners

PS RLM 02 gray is deemed a reasonable match for the "grey" colour - though im sure that statement will open a can of worms!

[Col.]

The Hasegawa A6M2 can still be found at sensible prices if you search. I've seen one at either £5 or £10 (it was May, I can't remember back that far) and Collectakit still has a fair stock of old single-engined Japanese aircraft in 1/48.

Thanks Sean, I've seen the Hasegawa kit for between £20 & £25 new whereas the Tamiya kit retails at the £38 to £40 mark in the UK, Hong Kong and China seems a cheeper option via Ebay but not so sure that's a 'safe' option. Will have a look at Collectakit and Kingkit to see what's on the go there.

The old Tamiya kit, is as has been said, pretty good for its time, and still assembles well too. The cockpit isnt too bad if you leave the canopy closed too.

I imagine that now tamiya have a -3 new tool in their range, a -2 wont be too far behind, but price wise I can imagine it being a bit hefty.

Jonners

PS RLM 02 gray is deemed a reasonable match for the "grey" colour - though im sure that statement will open a can of worms!

Only thing that puts me off the older Tamiya kit is the raised panel lines but if truth be told I'm just being picky there if the outline shapes and other details are good.

From what I've read about the IJN Grey there were a couple shades and it depended on some factor such as what carrier the aircraft were embarked on or factory they were built in. As you say there is likely a huge and heated debate on certain sites about best match for it but something close will do for me.

Edited August 7, 2011 by Col.

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Only thing that puts me off the older Tamiya kit is the raised panel lines but if truth be told I'm just being picky there if the outline shapes and other details are good.

From what I've read about the IJN Grey there were a couple shades and it depended on some factor such as what carrier the aircraft were embarked on or factory they were built in. As you say there is likely a huge and heated debate on certain sites about best match for it but something close will do for me.

When I built my Tamiya model - I trawled through the pages of duscussion over "Ame Iro" and then decided that as no one really seems to know for sure, and there are, as you say, apparently different versions of it anyway; the consensus was that a warm grey/green would do, and RLM02 came up as acceptable enough. So voila - model built. And it looks OK too.

cheers

Jonners

[MDriskill]

I very much agree with what's been posted so far. The Hasegawa kit is the best 1/48 A6M2 currently on the market, but the older Tamiya kit is quite good as well and can be found pretty cheap to boot.

The odds that Tamiya will do an improved 1/48 A6M2 are pretty good, I would say. As noted they have already done fantastic quarter-inch A6M3 and A6M5 kits, plus it's worth noting that the A6M2 was the first subject in their recently revived range of world-beating 1/32 kits.

Speaking off the top of my head here (as opposed to actually consulting references), but the later A6M3 model 32 (short wing tips) and model 22 (long wing tips) also appeared in the all-grey scheme, as did the A6M2-N "Rufe" floatplane fighter, but the green-over-gray standard prevailed by the time the A6M5 was built.

[Test Graham]

I'm not sure if you're interested, but the light grey scheme is a bit misleading. This is the colour of an aircraft that has spent a long time under the Pacific sun, but when fresh the colour was more of a yellow-ish concrete. Striking enough for contemporary observers to report "Yellow" aircraft, the colour is sometimes called "mustard" although this seems excessive!

For a fuller discussion, see

http://www.straggleresearch.com/

or even

http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php

But in the latter case be prepared to be drowned in detail, much of it not entirely relevant or even misleading.

[dahut]

I had the Tamiya A6M2 for some time in the stash. It was an older kit, but very suitable, being of adequate detail.

The interior was not of hair fine quality, but you know the old story - "You cant see much in there, anyway."

The exterior was nicely rendered with recessed detail.

The markings in the kit were very extensive and included several of the grey-green variants you are keen on.

The Tamiya has been a stalwart in the market for many years and is not expensive. It can probably be found for about $10-$12 USD, which I reckon is 7-8 GBP these days.

I sold mine on ebay for a little over $10.

[Hypnobear]

If youre looking for a cheap-ish 1/48 Zero, then Fujimi also does one - Ive got one of these in the stash and it looks good to me

Looks just like this one...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200601872031

It depends how detailled youre planning to make it I suppose

Edited August 7, 2011 by Hypnobear

[Col.]

Thanks for all the replies gang, interesting facts on both the subject and it's kits coming through there, part of me is tempted to wait and see if Tamiya do indeed kit -2 in the near future but now there is also the possibility of using a later mark in the same scheme. Not heard of the Fujimi kit until now but will try to find a review on that one. The colour info will no doubt become helpful as it's a subject that facinates me for some reason once I start to investigate it. I'm sure it'll be a more accurate representation than the last A6M I built as a kid using the Matchbox kit and some Airfix matt white.

Perhaps it's as well I'm skint at the moment otherwise instant gratification would kick in and I'd have a £40 -3 kit in the stash by Monday that needed more spent an aftermarket decal sheet.

[pigsty]

I went to White Ensign for my Ame-iro, described as Nakajima Amber-Grey, and got something strikingly sandy yellow. It's been described as "caramel" so this may not be very far off. I'll have to see what a bit of weathering does.

[Fernando]

The new 1/48 A6M5 and A6M3 Tamiya superkits are awesome but slightly overpriced except in HK shops. They do feature a correct curved floor, a feature not found in older kits and various "cockpit correction&detailing sets". Excuse my favorite Reisen rant.

Vedran

Hi, Vedran,

Cockpit floor is not the top of the wing? You mean the airfoil curvature or the bottom of the fuselage curvature "a la Spitfire"?

Fernando

[dragonlanceHR]

Hi, Vedran,

Cockpit floor is not the top of the wing? You mean the airfoil curvature or the bottom of the fuselage curvature "a la Spitfire"?

Fernando

Hi Fernando.

The former. Cockpit floor is curved front to back only in new Tamiya kits and IIRC one long OOP resin aftermarket set.

All other kits have straight floors.

Also, new Tamiya is the only kit with realistic hanging seat representation and has the various bottles seen through the rear bulkhead.

Vedran

[Col.]

In the best traditions of every day being a school day I've discovered the light grey is called Ame-iro (cheers Sean) and the cockpit floor is also the wing upper surface (cheers Vedran).

The more I hear about the new-mould Tamiya kits the more I'm inclined towards them regardless of the higher pricetag.

[dragonlanceHR]

Col.,

I'll put it this way: if you're planing to build only one A6M kit ever, treat yourself to the best

[Test Graham]

Ame-iro: you're dipping your toe into deep water there. Take a look at straggler's blog and look at the range of colour samples he has there. As dragonlanceHR says, if you are only going to do one, go for the best, that holds for research too.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Graham Boak

[Col.]

That's a very good point gents While I've no objections to a bit of scratchbuilding and detail work it would be nice to do a simple build where everything is accurate and I don't get bogged down in ages of research that sucks the energy out of the acctual building process. Rest assured I'll take a read through the blog you suggest Graham and thanks again for posting the link.

[dragonlanceHR]

I just had to post this link found on ARC.

Read the card next to the kit. Hilarious.

http://svsm.org/gallery/santarosa2011-aircraft/IMG_7377

[gingerbob]

Love it- I've saved that for the next time someone asks how good the Hobbycraft Corsairs are! (I'm not a Hobbycraft hater as a whole, but that is one kit that I try to steer people away from- why take it on when you have a much better alternative?)

bob