I wanna do a plane

nsclcctl, it scares you when someone says they wanna do a plane? What ever do you mean? ...... Oh, I think I understand!!

Thanks for the great link Pixilater!

The movies are not a very accurate resource. The CG Zekes in "Pearl Harbor" are A6M5s, and NA T-6s stood in for Zekes in "Tora Tora Tora." Here's the most comprehensive site on the net for IJA/IJN aircraft :

http://j-aircraft.com/index.htm

Hope this helps.

scares me though when someone says they wanna do a plane.

Anyway, start simple, 1:48 will give you great detail and in my opinion, plenty of offerings. To reduce the furstration, I would go Tamiya first time out. Good instructions, durable plastic and good fits.

Awesome!! Thanks for the nice feed back folks! Very helpful. I know exactly what I want now. I thought the A6M5 was used at Pearl Harbour, but it was the A6M2. That was almost a grave error!!
Hey, just thinking, are the Pearl Harbour movies, old and new, good references? Not that I would willfully spend anymore money seeing that crappy Ben Affleck flick, but it's in colour and therefore, as a modeller, against my will.

Thanks heaps everyone, Wade

dans1120, you are right the p-40's were b's but they were upgrading to the c's according to status reports there were 12 c's and 87 b's active on the islands as of dec 7 1941. all were at wheeler.

joe

By the way, the P-40s that fought at Pearl were P-40Bs

I only know of two injection-molded P-40s in 1:48 scale, the Monogram kit and the Hobbycraft kit. I suggest that you look those up in google or at www.aircraftresourcecenter.com under the gallery

I have to suggest Tamiya's 1:48 A6M2

It's a nice big, detailed kit, five paint schemes (including a Pearl attacker), and it costs about $13, making it one of the cheapest Tamiya kits I've ever run across.

I'm more of a navy fan, so I haven't built a P-40 since I was little (actually my first kit I built on my own was the old 1:32 P-40, almost put me out of the hobby!) so I don't know just what to suggest there.

Anyway, here are the versions of the Zero...

the A6M1 Model 11 was the prototype

the A6M2 Model 21 was the type of Zero that was used in the attack on Pearl

the A6M2-N was a floatplane version of the A6M2 Model 21 built by Nakajima, codenamed "Rufe"

the A6M3 Model 22 was a clipped-wing version of the A6M2 with a better engine

the A6M5 Model 52 was the most heavily produced version of the Zero having larger wings than the A6M2 and the engine of the A6M3

the A6M6 Model 53c was an upengined version of the A6M5 with an extra machine gun

the A6M7 Model 63 was a fighter-bomber variant

hi wacky
hobbycraft do a p-40 with pearl harbour attack markings; i'm doing it for the group build.
there kits are usually pretty cheap, although detail is not the best. i have outlined some of the problems you may encounter, and tips that might help in the group build if you take a look at the thread.
hope you can join us
regards,
nick

shrikes, you are right on. Tamiya are the best, (at least for my money) and if you are getting started, it would be way better for you to concentrate on clean building techniques, rather than fixing gaps in the plastic, and things like that. Having said that, if you can't find the model you like from them, well maybe you would want to look elsewhere, but overall the japanese are pretty good.

Good luck!

Hmmm... Tamiya A/C are a little pricey but you do get what you pay for. Their selection is rather limited, though. I like Academy stuff, because it's much cheaper and the kit itself is usually pretty good.

Aas for scale, i would suggest 1/72. there's so much variety to it that you can choose whatever you want! Of course, this comes at the cost of detal. 1/144 is alright, but interior will be horrible! (your pilot's seat will essentially look like an "L" shaped peice of plastic). If you want to do this scale, maybe you should stick to the bombers like that lib you saw.

Yep, P-40s and P-36s flew during the attack. Check this site out: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/I/AAF-I-6.html
And here is an excerpt from that site:
"In spite of handicaps, four P-40's and two P-36's took off from Wheeler Field thirty-five minutes after the initial attack, and from 0830 until 0930 Army pursuit planes flew a total of twenty-five sorties."
P-40s should be easier to find... actually i've been meaning to do one for years...
As for the P-36 kits, try this site (they have box art of 4 companies that make them):
http://www.wwii1939-1941.com/planes/curtiss.html
The first kit seems to be done in the markings of planes during the pearl harbor attack.

Academy's 1/144 Catalina is a beautiful little kit, not too big, not too difficult. If you like the Me-163 Komet, you could start with this 1/72 Academy kit. Very simple, ridiculously cheap, fairly easy schemes and such a great looking plane!

Good luck.