tamiya 1/32 A6M

Photoetched requires one thing, patience. One nice thing id that your doing 1/32 and not 1/72. THe size of the parts helps out alot. Tools you need. A good set of jewerlers files, a set of photoetched snippers. Slow setting super glue, Kicker to lock the part in place once it's where you want it to go. and tweezers. Take your time, study the part. Think how it's going to come off the tree. What burrs you'll have to clean up. Also i wash my pjotoetched tree in thinner to remove and release agents or other weird stuff that could cause you problems. A little bit of glue goes a long way. I use an old soda bottle lid, drop a drop or two of glue in there, and use a toothpick to apply it. After the part is wher you want it i use a small bruch to apply the kicker. This i let flow down onto the part, being carefull not to get superglue on the brush. And work in subassemblies. I find i can only do aboutan hour or really fine detail workat a time before i have to work on something easier. And finally, if it's apain and causing you problems with a really tiny part. Just leave it off. I know this is sacralige but remember this is suppossed to be fun first. If you have any questions just e-mail. me. Have a good time Happy Bill

The photo-etch parts in this kit are'nt complicated, maybe a bit fiddly. If you follow crossracer's tips, you should have no problem. Just take your time and follow the instructions.

HTH,
Mark

One recommendation I have for photo-etch parts is to use 5 minute epoxy, it really works well. As it is drying, if some has squeezed out where you don't want it, you can pick it off with a toothpick or razor knife. It takes about four or five minutes for it to reach that stage, which gives you plenty of time to reposition the part - something that is important with very small parts. The downside is that it takes longer to squeeze the glue out of the container and then mix it together, but for me it is worth it!

I built this kit last fall - and it is a jewel. There are good "lock-in" cavities molded into the plastic to positively hold the photo etched parts so you can get the glue where you want it. Some tricky business attaching the flaps and ailerons with these parts, but patience, a stealy hand, good tweezers, and good lighting will help you most.
I tend to use epoxy for adhering photo-etched parts - the comments above are right on with my experience.

But... there are also a lot of tiny plastic parts in this kit - many of which will be hidden once the cowls are in place. It does give you a lot of choice for display purposes. And... the stand is a nice touch - it actually screws onto the bottom of the aircraft, so it is really stable. The one problem I had (and never really solved it), is that when I assembled the (huge) radial engine, somehow, I got it a few degrees out of alignment in the mounts. I didn't even notice this at the time, but later, when I attached the cowl vents, I realized there was an error. The notches in the cowl vents did not line up with the exhaust pipes. I chose the open vents, but, it's still a pretty visible error. The engine has tabs which should guarantee proper alignment - but, as I said, I got something out of line. Just be careful with the engine assmebly.
There are also a lot of fiddly little bits around the landing gear - Tamiya provides a little crank, with which you raise and lower the gear. First, though, you have to remove a little section from the leading edge of each wing. As the gear is raised, you have to compress the suspension to get it to fit into the wheel well. The good news is that this gives you choice for displaying your model - all cleaned up in full flight, or flaps down, gear down, vents open for slow flight or landed. I made my choice (flaps down, gear down, on the stand) and left it that way. Don't mistake this for one of the old Monogram toy-like kits with all the moving parts. These are delicate and take no abuse. Once I set my "options" where I wanted them, I left them alone and haven't touched them since.