1/32 Tamiya A6M5c Zero

by Serdar Aytemiz

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I received this kit from HLJ when it first came out. I do not need to go over the details of this kit as everyone knows the beauty. It took me a long time to complete this kit as I had to go to my mandatory military obligation while building it. The kits building was relatively painless. Not much puttying as everything fits well. My main problem was painting (more on this later.)

I started the construction from the cockpit. The cockpit in itself is a kit. My kit decals for the cockpit we all black so I couldn't use them. But then Tamiya's wonderful manuals came to my help. They actually printed the exact sized dials in the manual... So I cut them out glued them on the backside of the dial glasses using Clearfix. Once this was done I lengthened the lever on the right hand side according to the pictures in the manual. Added the hydraulic lines and electrical wiring under the seat. Throttle cables were added. the seat tensioner behind the seat was added.

Here is the view of the cockpit without the seat and the rear bulkhead.

 

More Cockpit photos

After the Cockpit was done I left the kit alone for 9 months. When I came back to it again I finished the pilot figure whom I named "Hasanagi" Once the pilot was finished, ı started working on his Plane again. Next came the engine, I put the electrical wires except that it is what comes out of the box. The third pictures shows my first paint job and weathering. That was removed as I accidentally used semi gloss black instead of blue black...

Engine Photos

The nightmare started with the paint job. I first painted the kit using Tamiya acrylics but the IJN colors turned out not the way I wanted. And weathering was terrible, after staring at the kit for 2 weeks with disgust, I decided to take the paint off and redo the paint job. This time I covered the kit with Testors buffing aluminum and buffed to a shiny surface, then cover the rest with Aeromaster acrylics which looked better on the kit (Has more used look) . Of course I dropped the kit once while painting but the kit turned out stronger than the real thing ;) After my first attempt on weathering I pretty much screwed up the paint job "again". After staring at the kit... another 3 weeks... I repainted it again the same way.

Old paint job (right) New Paint job (left)

My initial idea was to have light weathering, but while I was fixing an over spray that had happened on the third paint job, The mask pulled half the paint under neat it.... Looking at the perfectly ruined 3rd paint job, I was looking for a jackhammer to aid me in finishing the kit..

Thank god, Özkan Türker and Ufuk Aydıner was around for the rescue. After a long debate that it can be "saved" without a 4th paint job, Özkan attacked the kit with sand paper, Ufuk with his airbrush while I pulled more paint from the kit... The result is what you see here... The underside looks clean but Actually it has as much paint removed as the top but the gray and the aluminum blends so well you cant notice it.

Once we relaxed, I sprayed the red suns... I didn't paint the white under side since the paint is so worn out I saw no need for it. The decals were applied using Microsol and set. The window masks supplied with the kit are a bonus saves you alot of time masking.

Click on images below to see larger images

Paints Used:

Aeromaster: Mitsubishi Grey, Green, cowl Black/Blue, Aotake, IJN interior green

Pactra: IJN Insignia Red

Testors: Aluminum Buffing metalizer

Tamiya: Gloss (X22), Some sort of mixture I used for the browns...

Special Thanks to Özkan Türker for his encouragement , help and guidance for the paint job, Ufuk Aydıner for the photos.

Happy Modelling to all...

Serdar 

 

Photos and text © by  Serdar Aytemiz & Modelciler.org