Thanks for the reminder in the current Zero thread that I didn't see the end of this one.  Now I have and happy for it too.  Nice.

lawdog114

mustang1989

 It was actually Kirk Douglas that was the Nimitz Commanding Officer but hey, I get your point. Good times!!

Right...thats who I mean't.....  I haven't seen that movie in at least 10 years.  I see that its now on Netflix so guess what I'm gonna watch now.  I have a Hasegawa VF-84 Tomcat and a Model 21 zero in the stash.  Maybe I could do a "Final Countdown" build?.  I just have to figure out which carrier those zeros came from. 

Perhaps my next build?

Joe    

Thanks Lee.  Your comments are appreciated.......and your very welcome.

Joe

Goodness, Joe....man, that's just lovely.  Lots of excellent hints and tips in your thread.

Thank you, mate.

I have to admit...I'm SO impressed with Scale Modelers.....I don't think I've EVER met one who wasn't willing to tell you all about his (or her) most effective and favorite techniques for improving builds.  

Excellent work.

Thank you for sharing so much of your lovely work with us, man.

mustang1989

 It was actually Kirk Douglas that was the Nimitz Commanding Officer but hey, I get your point. Good times!!

Right...thats who I mean't.....  I haven't seen that movie in at least 10 years.  I see that its now on Netflix so guess what I'm gonna watch now.  I have a Hasegawa VF-84 Tomcat and a Model 21 zero in the stash.  Maybe I could do a "Final Countdown" build?.  I just have to figure out which carrier those zeros came from. 

Perhaps my next build?

Joe    

I think the chipped look can be taken a little too far. Most of the aircraft early in the war got a great deal of TLC and then late in the war they were being shot down so fast they really didn't have that much of a chance to get beat up and worn. Plus the mount of an ace like this would I think get more attention.

And lol, I loved that movie as a kid too, haven't seen it in years.

lawdog114

Thanks guys.  I agree, I like the lines of the zero too.  I still fondly recall being over my buddy's house in the early 80's watching the Final Countdown on HBO with Roy Schieder saying "splash the zeros".   I remember going to K-mart shortly thereafter and getting the Monogram kit.  I glued that turkey together and hand pained it white........I was probably 10 years old.........GOOD TIMES.  

Thanks guys.  I agree, I like the lines of the zero too.  I still fondly recall being over my buddy's house in the early 80's watching the Final Countdown on HBO with Roy Schieder saying "splash the zeros".   I remember going to K-mart shortly thereafter and getting the Monogram kit.  I glued that turkey together and hand pained it white........I was probably 10 years old.........GOOD TIMES.  

Thanks Reasoned.  I didn't use a reference.  I don't particularly care for the peeled look either.  It got a little fading on the w ings and chipping on the wing roots.  I find this color particularly hard to weather.  

Joe

Sweet build Joe, got to love those Zeros.  I noticed your weathering is more subdued on this plane compared to the typical Jap subject (I like seeing it less worn), was that from reference?  

Joe, another gorgeous model- kudos sir!!!

Joe.  I hope you don't stop turning these out for a long while to come.  I do enjoy each of your WIPs.  Glad to hear your thoughts on this Tamiya kit OOB.  Those are the kind of things I also appreciate hearing about in a WIP also.  Every time I see a Zero I can't help think how damn beautiful they were.  I want to build one of each. =P lol

Your's is no exception Joe.  Great job here.

These builds of yours just keep getting better and better Joe! From start to finish its a real winner.

I think she's beautiful Joe.  You did another great job!! 

Gary

I finally got this turkey off my bench.  To recap, It's the new tooled Tamiya A6M5 Model 52 in the markings of 5 kill ace Lt. Commander Minoru Suzuki's from Truk Atoll.  I'm thinking its from sometime in '44.  Truthfully, I don't know too much about the late war Japanese pilots as there doesn't seem to be too much information about them.  I think most of the decorated  pilots were dead by the time the Model 52 was prevalent. 

The kit is mostly out of the box.  I thought it was a great kit, heck,the landing gear legs didn't even need glue.  I still think the Jug series is the cream of Tamiya's crop.  Perhaps because the 52 is not exactly my favorite Zero (I'm much more partial to the early models).  I did rig the engine, gear legs and then I drilled out the guns.  I lost the aileron balances (no surprise) and had to scratch build new ones out of sprue.  The paint is Tamiya.  I'm not a huge fan of the Mitsubishi Dark Green because its hard to weather convincingly, at least for me.  As you can see I couldn't even get a panel line wash to show up that well.   I should have faded out the paint much more.  Oh well.   I do have their A6M3 Type 32 in the stash which I intend to build eventually which I will bleach out.  Maybe eventually Tamiya will expand and give us a Type 21 as well.   

Thanks for looking, comments are welcome..

Joe

Thanks guys.  Derek, no bother at all, that's why I do work in progress threads and in my opinion, what this forum is for.  Reference the streaking, I discovered this technique accidentally when painting exhaust streaks on the top of the wing of a P-61 and the proverbial light bulb went off..  I've been using it ever since.  I  don't see why it wouldn't work on jets but the technique does work better on darker colors, like greens and dark grays.  Jets tend to be very light gray.  Just make sure you add alot of white.  On an F-15, I would streak the top of the fuselage too.  Yes, I do streak the wing from front to back.  I get in real close and go fairly fast with the airbrush (make sure yours has a lid).  

Joe  

Thank you very much for the clarification. I think the streaking looks great used with some pre/post shading, and that would be something I would like to try on jets. However, with jets typically being drastically different in shape, I have some questions. Imagine an F-15, where the wings sit flush with the top of the fuselage, and the fuselage is relatively flat and wing-like all around. Would you add the streaking to the fuselage as well? Because on yours, it seems you have emphasized it on the wings in particular, and not so much on the fuselage. Also, do you carry the streaks all the way across the wing from leading edge to trailing edge uninterrupted, or do you stagger several shorter streaks? Sorry for bothering you with so many questions, but I really like the effect the streaking has and am very interested in learning how to do it.

Look at that purdy gloss finish! Decals always bring the build to life! Lookin' good.

Thanks Guys.  Derek, another modeler dubbed the term "three layer effect" (his name escapes me) which is like I said, essentially start by spraying the color straight from the bottle.  You lighten it and go back and spray the center panels until it looks like a quilt.  Then you go back with the original color heavily diluted and blend it all in...hence the name "three color".  Others have gotten good results with it but I generally prefer the streaking, which is meant to simulate condensation streaks.  This is just like you said, the scheme color lightened and sprayed across the airflow.  I get in close and go real quick-like.  It does take some practice. 

Brief update, I got the zero decaled last night.  I used Berna Decals with Micro Sol and had no issues whatsoever.   

Shouldn't be long now...

Joe

Absolutely magnificent work Joe. You have definitely displayed your masterful skill at each and every step. Certainly looking forward to seeing fantastic finished product. As always, Thank You for taking the time to explain and share your excellent techniques.

Absolutely stunning work so far (no different then your other builds I suppose), and I have a question about your paint job. What technique do you use for the streaking effect? I would guess just spraying the same thin paint you used for post shading? Also if anyone could very briefly explain what the "three layer effect" is, I would be very interested because it obviously works great

Another great Zero coming together.  =]  I'm happy to see all these painted features.  Whenever I can I like to do it this way as opposed to using decals.  I don't think there's any doubt it works better.  Glad to see you back on the bench. =]

Joe, that's looking very nice!  Great work as usual!

Steve

Hey wow never thought to paint on the wing walk areas- great results, I'm going to have to try this myself sometime. The pre and post-shading turned out fantastic!

Thanks wing nut.  Hello all, I finally got some bench time in.  Yee hah!.  I sat down the other night for a 4 hour session....Oh how theraputic.  I started by preshading the panel lines with XF-1 Flat Black.  I added the fuselage band and taped it off.  I then added the wing tip ID stripes with XF-3 Flat Yellow cut with a touch of XF-7 Flat Red to brighten it up and then taped these off.  I had issues with the wing walk decals on my Model 21 zero, so this time I opted to paint these in.  I sprayed the general area XF-7 Flat Red then added thin strips of Tamiya tape in the correct pattern on the surface thusly (I used this technique on a P-61 years ago too)...

I then used XF-12 JN Grey which I had on-hand and sprayed the bottom.  It looks a little greenish to me, but I'll live with it.  Perhaps I should have gotten XF-77 "IJN" grey....oh well  I then doctored it up as usual with streaking and postshading.  I'm still happy with it. 

The upper surface got XF-11 JN Green.  I then attempted the "three layer effect" technique by adding a touch of XF-57 Buff and spraying the center panels.  I then went back with straight XF-11 which was highly diluted to.......well...blend it.  It turned out like this.

I added a touch more Buff then streaked the upper surface slightly,  I suppose I combined both techniques and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It certainly breaks up the boring green.  The control surfaces were lightened as well to leave the impression of the fabric covering.  The cowl is XF-1 Flat Black cut with a touch of XF-8 Flat Blue to replicate Mitsubishi Cowl color.  After a post shade to weather it up, here it is with all the taping removed. 

I then gave it a few coats of Alclad Gloss.  My compressor is on its last legs and won't hold sustained pressure anymore, so this was more of a chore than normal.  I hope to replace it soon. 

Here is why I rig my radials.  It just adds a touch more realism...

I hope to start decaling soon. 

Joe

Fine work as usual Joe.  Looking forward to the paint

Thanks Gamera.  I rigged my Type 21 and surprisingly quite a bit could be seen.  The only ones I never rig are FW190's because nothing can be seen behind those fan blades.  

I got the canopies masked (a three hour affair....ugh) and I'm ready for paint.  I should get to it in a few days.

Joe

Great job there Joe, shame most of the engine will be hidden by the cowling!

Thanks John.  Those are some of the pics I used as a reference, particularly the first one.  Hey, there's my P-47 Pratt and Whitney towards the bottom!  Should I be honored it made a Google search engine?  LOL....

Joe

Joe, this is a pretty good search string for the Sakae 21:

Sakae 21

https://www.google.com/search?q=motor+sakae+21&client=firefox-a&hs=Jq0&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&imgil=Ouh1zUJe4QTtfM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcSSSf8VLkGCwxL4ecUONWJ_d1V8WINDaKxK6skw_uAsYYM0-Ln-VQ%253B1280%253B960%253BgcCaX7zzuAMebM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.enginehistory.org%25252FJapanese%25252Fnasm_research.shtml&source=iu&usg=__l4c47ESpYno7OGrtejpDel36w6Q%3D&sa=X&ei=Ejp8U9LqKcH8oATWjYC4Bg&ved=0CDgQ9QEwAQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=TNVY0zci9y7VCM%253A%3BP94e2u-caN-nRM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.enginehistory.org%252FJapanese%252FMawhinney%252FHomare%25252021%252FIMG_1702.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.enginehistory.org%252FJapanese%252Fnasm_research_4.shtml%3B960%3B1280