Tamiya 1/32 Mitsubishi Zero A6M2b by Tony Adams

As soon as I saw reviews of Tamiya’s 1/32 Mitsubishi Zero A6M2b in June 2006 I had to get it. By all accounts it was the finest WWII kit ever produced. I managed to buy it on Ebay from Hong Kong for £49 including postage and I even avoided import duties, so I made a massive savings on the UK RRP of £80 – happy days!

On opening the box I wasn’t disappointed. Inside was (deep breath)- 14 sprues, including one with a sitting and standing pilot figure, cowling bag, spring bag, arm bag, screw bag, photo etched fret, partly metal landing gear struts, rubber brake lines, tube of grease and a tiny Phillips screwdriver. The moulding is gorgeous, the fine recessed rivets being done very lightly, the skin and panel detail are a work of art.

Some of the wonders found in the box

Looking through the comprehensive instruction sheet it was clear that this was going to be a major undertaking. It was all a little daunting. The model has folding undercarriage and the potential of being mounted on a stand. Using the pilot figure would give me the option of displaying the plane in flying configuration while maintaining the ability to display it on the ground with the under carriage extended. The only problem was painting the pilot figure, a skill I have yet to master. As I was just about to make a start my house was hit by lightening! This forced me to relocate to my girlfriend’s house, modelling was on hold for a while.

In between liaison with the insurance company and the builder my mind kept being drawn back to the Zero, I desperately wanted to get going. After some negotiation I started painting the pilot on my girlfriend’s kitchen table. This didn’t go as well as I hoped; I couldn’t get it life-like to my satisfaction. After several attempts I gave up and decided to go with an empty “office”. Now I had started I had to continue.

Unusually the fuselage halves go together before the interior. You have to paint the insides and add some small detailed items first. The inside of the rear fuselage is painted “Aotake” (a metallic blue), and the forepart, Tamiya “cockpit green”. The instructions state that “Aotake” is made from a mix of Tamiya X13 and X25 which I duly applied. This seemed very dark, but I carried on regardless closing the fuselage halves and cleaning up the seams. I later read in a magazine that a better mix for “Aotake” can be achieved by first spraying with Alclad Aluminium, then applying a mix of Tamiya clear green and clear blue, and lightly spraying this over the aluminium, I used this technique for the rest of the build which gave excellent results apart from prompting a minor disaster as I will revel later.

Next I tackled the engine assembly. I purchased an Eduard photo etch set to add detail to this area including ignition leads and engine push rods. This was very fiddly the whole assembly took well over a month but once complete and a light oil wash added it made the engine look very realistic. The exhaust pipes were first painted brown and then given a good coating with MIG rust pigment which was sealed with a light sprayed coat of Klear.

At this point my 5 month visit to my girlfriend ended and I moved back into my now repaired home. The Zero languished in its box for the best part of a year whilst I undertook several less demanding projects. Just before Christmas after moving once again I was ready to resurrect the project.

The cockpit was next to be assembled. Originally I was going to get some photo etch for this but on examination of the fine detail I decided that it wasn’t really necessary. Once painted and weathered with generous amounts of oil stain from a Tamiya weathering kit the assem bly looked very impressive. The gauges look very realistic good. A decal that is printed back to front is put on under the clear gauge part; this then is installed in holes from under the panel. There is a huge amount of detail that it no longer visible on the completed model so you will have to look at the photos to appreciate it. The seat belts where cut from a printed paper sheet which when married to the supplied photo etch buckles they looked very good. The machine guns were painted semi gloss black and then dry brushed with gunmetal. With the cockpit complete it is installed from underneath the fuselage…onward to the wings including the complex movable undercarriage assembly.

The main difficultly was with the undercarriage doors who’s hinges where created via some formed metal which is designed to pivot on several axis in order to clear the undercarriage bay as the gear moves. It took a lot of swearing to get this right. The small inner doors where held in place by the wheel wells but they didn’t seem to sit right. Eventually I got everything assembled, I was about to cement the wing top surface when I dropped it! Although it was only a small impact, the wheel wells had come away, principally because I has painted them first with Alcad and then applied the glue over the top – which under stress just pulled off the Alcad-  idiot! More swearing as I cleaned everything up and re-glued, but I couldn’t get the inner doors back where they should be. In the end I gave up and decided they would have to be manually inserted after the undercarriage was raised or lowered.

The top wing surfaces where applied which involved trapping the metal hinges for the ailerons ( another four handed job). Finally the wings where attached to the fuselage and once the moveable elevators and rudder was added the assembly was largely complete now was time to start painting.

Main undercarriage, inside the wing (showing the spring loaded undercarriage legs), Cockpit installed

The kit came with a mask sheet for the transparent parts. Firstly the clear parts were dipped in Klear and left to dry while I spent the rest of the evening, sharp scalpel in hand cutting out the masks. The masks were duly applied and  sprayed with a coat of cockpit green to represent the inside frame colour. I debated whether to attach the canopy pieces to the airframe before painting, but the fit was so good I decided it was safer to paint them and attach them later.

There was little need for filler on the airframe, just a couple of licks of Mr Surfacer 1000 along the main joints. Once this was rubbed down, a couple of coats of Alcad grey primer was applied. It was the first time I had used this and found that it had a tendency to clog my

All primed up	Manic pre-shading	Cockpit masked and frames painted

airbrush, so it had to be applied quite slowly with frequent stoppages for cleaning. When dry, the primer was lightly rubbed down with micromesh. Then I pre-shaded the panel lines with well thinned Tamiya black, which took an age and threatened my sanity.

It was now time to apply the main colour of Tamiya X-76 (IJN Grey Green), which was specially released for this kit and matches the AS29 spray can which Tamiya recommends. The paint was sprayed with a number of very light coats, slowly building up the coverage while maintaining the shadow of underlying black. The engine cowling was sprayed gloss black and the propeller Alcad aluminium. The whole airframe was given a couple of coats of Klear to provide a gloss base for the decals, which for a change went on without too many problems despite their thickness which necessitated the use of considerable amounts of Micro Sol to soften. The aircraft I had decided to model was used during the Pearl Harbour raid and represents a machine off of the Carrier Akagi.

The decals where then sealed with another coat of Klear. I decided to give Promodeller’s black wash a go for the first time (available from promodeller.com or Hannants).

Top Coat	Prop Added	Decals added

This is simply brush painted into all the panel and rivet lines, left for 10 minutes and then wiped off with a piece of kitchen roll. This process went without a hitch and it certainly brought out all the fine detail on the surface of the model. Finally the kit was given a coat of matt varnish before the final assembly steps.

Adding the wash	After the wash had been cleaned up	Wheels that move!

I built the landing gear struts carefully, with it’s shock springs and working oleo scissors. Very impressive. The gear legs have a shiny steel shaft with plastic moulded around it, representing the pistons, and look great. Two tiny screws are provided (along with a Phillips screwdriver) to attach the legs. The tail wheel assembly is glued on and the engine assembly attached. The removable cowling snaps around it, allowing viewing of my photo etched engine.  The vent panels behind the cowl can be left off to show the oil/fuel tanks and rear of the engine. This model has folding wingtips, which are implemented by a second set of tips replacing the extended ones

The wingtip lights where painted over with Tamiya clear green and red. A metal pitot tube is provided, as well as a wire for the antenna which has since proved to be a problem as I managed to break the antenna mast when I caught the wire (normally the wire would have broken). Now I am left with a very wonky looking antenna mast!

The landing gear retracts, though. To retract, push legs gently in, till they hit the inner gear doors, fold over doors while pushing in. They fold up quite nicely. The little outer doors are folded over carefully, and the tail wheel pushed in. Ready for flight! To land, remove the covers on the wing leading edge, gaining access to the arm, and use a supplied tool to start the legs out. Carefully open inner doors while doing this, then grab the legs and pull them out. Another tool extends the tail wheel.

All in all I was delighted with the end result. The whole project took 2 years to gestate which was probably good as I was able to apply techniques I had learnt on less challenging models.

To top it all, the model won January’s Test Trout which is the first prize I have won since I came 3^rd in an egg an spoon race when I was 7!        Happy Days