Tamiya A6M2bZero 1/32

[BarryW]

My gut tells me to glue it in place. I've just not got to that part quite yet, and clearly need to understand how it all goes together, before considering how I'm going to modify it!

It screws in place which provides a very good and fairly strong join. Mine are not glued but when moving the model the legs (of the first one) sometime shift position to give it an odd stance, easily remedied. My secind build does not have that problem because after screwing it in place I applied a drop of glue as well. By the way, though the legs move in and out on the first one, they do not move in enough to give a good wheels up appearance.

[BarryW]

I've not yet been able to find colour swatches of this set, even taking into account the vagaries of online colour swatches, I'd like to see if it approaches the detail that I now have, having bought Nick Millman's 35 page guide - which is really well done. I've already made the paint up in a small quantity (5ml) and been fooling around with it on a paint "mule", and would like to stick with Tamiya paints if I can. The only odd one is their clear range, from which I made the Aotake colour from, it has an odd viscosity to it, that requires much thinners to use in an airbrush. I suspect I'd be better off thinning it with yellow cap (cellulose), but it does work, if a bit slow drying!

AK seem to have done their research on colours and the overall Amber Grey is somewhat controvercial with different ideas of how it looked. The Vallejo version is not far off the AK one, the difference would be indistinguisable after weathering. The AK representation does seem to get a lot of approval and it does look good to my eye.
A reminder of how mine looks, of course the rendering of the colour on your screen does depend on your screen!!
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[Guest]

Ah, thanks for that Barry, I'll deffo follow that route - I've been watching Bobby Waldron's build of it, and although he does get the undercarriage working, I must confess, I wasn't impress with the look of it closed. Did you settle on the oleos in their sprung position? Most folks say there's not enough weight in the model to settle it to accurate height.

[Guest]

AK seem to have done their research on colours and the overall Amber Grey is somewhat controvercial with different ideas of how it looked. The Vallejo version is not far off the AK one, the difference would be indistinguisable after weathering. The AK representation does seem to get a lot of approval and it does look good to my eye.
A reminder of how mine looks, of course the rendering of the colour on your screen does depend on your screen!!
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Well I'm looking at this on an iPad, which is pretty decent colour wise, and it looks fantastic! If anything, it errs very slightly on the green side of what I've been looking at, but am aware that it could so easily be a colour cast due to lighting. Did you get to look at the link I sent you of the flying Zero on YouTube?

[Guest]

That really does look a well engineered kit. Looking forward to seeing the finished item.

[Guest]

That really does look a well engineered kit. Looking forward to seeing the finished item.

It is Alan, really well done. I just hope I can do it justice! I keep looking through Barry's build thread, which sets the bar rather high!

[BarryW]

John - the oleos were positioned compressed somewhat on the second build. It does improve the 'stance' of the model.

I did get a look John, a great bit of video, thank you.

[Guest]

Sorting out all the Aotake pieces before I ru out of the green I mixed for the job! There is, as ever, much debate over the actual colour - Nick Millman sent me some images of 3 extant samples, all from the era, and guess what, quite a difference in them all!! I am, however, happy that the colour I have is as good as I'll get without a time-machine, but I feel I want to weather the surface a bit, as it looks almost blingy!
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I've decided to have it all retractable for the build, as it will allow me to close the doors when I come to paint the wings, which will save me some troublesome masking!! Once all is painted, am hoping to glue the wheels down, just to be sure!
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So far, so good!
I'm loving this scale so much, although there are still some tiny parts, most of it suits my eyesight and sausage fingers to a tee. There is a lot of problem solving involved, mostly in the "what to paint before I glue it together" areas, but the kit is a real pleasure so far...

[flyjoe180]

This is looking very nice indeed John. I think your Aotake green looks pretty convincing. Look forward to seeing more.

I find this is a rather useful reference for Japanese aircraft:

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/

Re Aotake: http://www.aviationofjapan.com/search?q=Aotake+&m=1

[BarryW]

Aotake is always a tricky one.

In the Vallejo sets they have two versions, one in the IJN set and one in the IJA set. Both being clear colours to be painted over a silver/aluminium metaliser. One being more of a green and the other more of a blue.

I used the one in the IJN set for my second Zero build. You can see the colour quite clearly in the shot below:
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It has of course been weathered but it is very close to what you have mixed.

Gunze have a very good metallic blue in their range which I used on my first Zero build. I dont have such a clear shot of that one but you can just make it out in the photo below on the undercarrage.
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I think that you have done a brilliant job with your mix, better than the Gunze colour. I think you can be very pleased with that result.

I will be interested to see how MRP address this tricky issue when they release their promised IJN/IJA colours in the near future.

[Guest]

Aotake is always a tricky one.

In the Vallejo sets they have two versions, one in the IJN set and one in the IJA set. Both being clear colours to be painted over a silver/aluminium metaliser. One being more of a green and the other more of a blue.

I used the one in the IJN set for my second Zero build. You can see the colour quite clearly in the shot below:
[ATTACH]291090[/ATTACH]
It has of course been weathered but it is very close to what you have mixed.

Gunze have a very good metallic blue in their range which I used on my first Zero build. I dont have such a clear shot of that one but you can just make it out in the photo below on the undercarrage.
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I think that you have done a brilliant job with your mix, better than the Gunze colour. I think you can be very pleased with that result.

I will be interested to see how MRP address this tricky issue when they release their promised IJN/IJA colours in the near future.

Thanks Barry, I'd recently bought those Tamiya transparent colours, and have been playing around with them - they're not the easiest to get a grip on, as they are unusually viscous, but, for mixing, they behave like inks, so a green/blue mix was pretty straightforward. On reflection, when I do my next IJN 'plane, I may mix a gnat's knacker of dark grey to my silver, simply to tone down the overall finish. Did you weather your Aotake surfaces? This would kill them off a little bit!

[Guest]

Thanks Barry, I'd recently bought those Tamiya transparent colours, and have been playing around with them - they're not the easiest to get a grip on, as they are unusually viscous, but, for mixing, they behave like inks, so a green/blue mix was pretty straightforward. On reflection, when I do my next IJN 'plane, I may mix a gnat's knacker of dark grey to my silver, simply to tone down the overall finish. Did you weather your Aotake surfaces? This would kill them off a little bit!

...as for the MRP paint, if their other metallics , especially that burnt iron are anything to go by, they should nail it, particularly as they are so thin.

[BarryW]

...as for the MRP paint, if their other metallics , especially that burnt iron are anything to go by, they should nail it, particularly as they are so thin.

I did indeed do a wash (brown) which knocked back the colour a little and also some metallic dry brushing to show some wear through the paint.

[PhilJ]

Looks good so far John, love those retractable doors. Looking forward to seeing some more.

[Guest]

Right! Had the (clearly common) wing fairing issues - hacking away at styrene that Tamiya clearly thought was in the right place, to get a flush joint.
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Its not much, but enough to create a clear shadow, so It has to go!
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That's better!
Now, the bit I've been looking forward to, even if only the front is going to be visible...
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The engine is beautifully detailed, and is a project in it's own right.
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I'll be using my newly acquired Uschi metal powders and a bit of AK interactive's engine wash to finish it off, and will try to photograph the finished article properly before hiding it away under the cowling!
So far, this has been a real pleasure to work on, enough of a challenge to keep me honest, but so well made as to not niggle me;-)