Awesome work Joe!! Another great piece of work. What wash do you use again in the pit?

Great work so far. I like that office.

pzl66

 What wash do you use again in the pit?

Thanks! I've been using a pre-mixed wash called "The Detailer" and really haven't looked back.  I found it at my LHS for like 4 bones which comes in small white bottle.  It also comes in different colors.  I use black which seems to be more of a dark grey.  Its water soluable too.  I buy a bottle everytime I'm there just in case they stop making it.  If you can't find it, heres the website:

http://thedetailer.net/

Good Luck,

Joe

Great work on the pit and engine I think Hobby Lobby carries that wash. I may just pick up a bottle to compare against my homemade brew.

lawdog114

Hello, I'm taking a little break from the group builds at which time I had decided to start a subject I've always wanted in my collection. One of the Zeroes flown by Japanese ace Saburo Sakai, the "Sky Samurai" of the Tainan Air Group.  Not only was he a skilled pilot, having once flew 640 miles to his base half blind with a bullet in his brain, but he seemed like a genuinely guy as well. 

But it is not true about the bullet in the brain.  He took a glancing slug to the head, which severely lacerated his scalp and cost the sight in one of his eyes due to the glass from his goggles being shattered and driven into his eyes...the flight back was indeed a great feat of airmanship, however...Early Japanese Zero pilots were almost superhuman in their ability to navigate over water for extremely long distances, which was required because of the incredible endurance of the Zero...

That is some beautiful work Joe.

Fantasitc work on the pit and such.  Should turn into a nice build. Looking forward to seeing it all finished up.

Manstein's revenge

lawdog114

Hello, I'm taking a little break from the group builds at which time I had decided to start a subject I've always wanted in my collection. One of the Zeroes flown by Japanese ace Saburo Sakai, the "Sky Samurai" of the Tainan Air Group.  Not only was he a skilled pilot, having once flew 640 miles to his base half blind with a bullet in his brain, but he seemed like a genuinely guy as well. 

But it is not true about the bullet in the brain.  He took a glancing slug to the head, which severely lacerated his scalp and cost the sight in one of his eyes due to the glass from his goggles being shattered and driven into his eyes...the flight back was indeed a great feat of airmanship, however...Early Japanese Zero pilots were almost superhuman in their ability to navigate over water for extremely long distances, which was required because of the incredible endurance of the Zero...

Thanks for the compliments all.  Manstein, thanks for clarifying Sakai's injuries, however, understand my intent was to provide some brief examples of why I was inspired to build Sakai's bird.  The following passage from Wikipedia is where I drew some of my inspiration, which I found extremely impressive or as stated "superhuman".  Of course Wiki has been known to be wrong from time to time and I'm by no means an expert in Japanese naval aviation.  It appears that Wiki's references were fairly good.  Perhaps I should have stated the bullet passed through his brain.

Although in agony from his injuries (he had a serious head wound^[14] from a bullet that had passed through his skull and the right side of his brain, leaving the entire left side of his body paralyzed, and was left blind in one eye,^[15]) Sakai managed to fly his damaged Zero in a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,040 km; 640 mi) back to his base on Rabaul, using familiar volcanic peaks as guides. When he attempted to land at the airfield he nearly crashed into a line of parked Zeros but, after circling four times, and with the fuel gauge reading empty, he put his Zero down on the runway on his second attempt. After landing, he insisted on making his mission report to his superior officer before collapsing. His squadron mate Hiroyoshi Nishizawa drove him, as quickly but as gently as possible, to the surgeon. Sakai was evacuated to Japan on 12 August, where he endured a long surgery without anesthesia. The surgery repaired some of the damage to his head, but was unable to restore full vision to his right eye. Nishizawa visited Sakai while he was recuperating in the Yokosuka hospital in Japan.

Anyways, I still have to post shade the cockpit then its time to put her together.  E-bay had decals for Sakai's bird offered by a company named "Berna" .  I've never heard of this company but I'm going to give them a try.  Does anyone have any experience with these decals?   They offer some enticing subjects and I've been eyeing a KI-43 sheet as well. 

Joe

Wikepedia has it wrong.  I actually have a pic of the flying helmet, goggles and scarf he wore that day and it is clear (just from the pics) that the bulllet never entered his skull...if it had, he'd most likely have died...Indeed, he doesn't even claim in his own bio that the bullet entered his skull...

"I stand corrected Wyatt, you're an Oak"....

Joe: Great work there on the cockpit and the engine is just WOW!

Hmmmm, looked up Berna Decals and they have some really nice stuff there, please let us know how it goes if you pick them up.

Joe, have you read Sakai's book Samurai? It's a very interesting read. I think you'd enjoy it.

http://www.amazon.com/Samurai-Saburo-Sakai/dp/0743412834/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341967452&sr=8-1&keywords=martin+caiden+samurai

Looking forward to watching your Zeke come together.

Sakai's gear...my sources tell me he was wounded on 7 August 1942 by .a 30 cal tracer bullet fired from the rear gunner of a SBD:

An extremely rare pic of Sakai just as he dismounted after his epic flight:

dmk

Joe, have you read Sakai's book Samurai? It's a very interesting read. I think you'd enjoy it.

Cool pics Manstein!.  The pic of Sakai dismounted is actually used on Wikipedia, but your example is higher quality.  Dave, no I havent read the book.  Unfortunately I have little time for reading right now (family, long hours at the job...yadda yadda).  I havent even read "Munster-Before and After", about the Munster Raid in Germany on 10-10-43.  My grandfather, a ball turret gunner in the 390th BG, was shot down on this mission and apparently his B-17 is mentioned somewhere in the book.   Hopefully someday.  Anyways, back to the Zero.  I postshaded the 'pit a bit more and added 5 minute epoxy to the gauges to simulate glass.  I love this technique but you have to work fast say........5 minutes.  I glued in the cockpit starboard side in but when I attempted to glue the port sidewall and fuselage together around it, to my surprise, it was not fitting right.  It turned out the starboard side was badly warped, which completely convoluted the fit of the cockpit.  (theres probably a reason this kit was 10 bones at a model show vendor's table).  Oh well, I was able to muscle it into position with some Tenax and finger pressure, but lets hope there arent adverse affects later.  Heres some more pics..

Joe

Nice looking engine.

Joe,

Great cockpit, as usual.  Ditto the engine.  Can't wait to see it finished.

Mark

Hello, I thought I would post a little update in my progress.  I got the airframe put together and I did have fit issues due to warpage.  It was enough to where I had to walk away from it for a few days.  This thing has been fighting me the whole way thus far.  Not only was the starboard fuselage warped, but so was the port upperwing.  It was nicely bowed and I had a heck of a time getting enough Tenax on it to make it stay flat .  Unfortunately the warpage affected the fit of the wings to the fuselage and the whole thing need quite a bit of fiddling, especially at the wingroots and where the lower wing meets the fuselage.  In the latter area, I ended up sanding the out of it then rescribing the panel lines.  For some unknown reason, a groove was left at the port wingroot which I had to sand out.  I think I have it squared away now.  I suppose every now and then a kit just fights you for whatever reason.  Oh well, I'm almost ready for paint...

Im sure it will turn out great, I have seen your skill in two of my GB! The Emporer demands high quality, nothing less from a samurai! Lol.

Looks to me like you've whipped it into shape ... it's looking real good to me.

She is coming along very nice!

Hello...heres a little update.  I got her painted and clearcoated.  Now I'm just waiting for the Berna decals to arrive which should be anyday now.  Sometimes E-bay can be slow.  For paint, I went with Tamiya XF-76 Grey Green which is supposed to be the last word in "Ame-Hiro" (key word supposed).  I sprayed it on and it looks pretty good to my eye, I then added some white and did my normal streakng on the wings and changed the hue of the control surfaces by altering the ratio.  On a side note, the guy at my LHS talked me in to trying Tamiya "Lacquer Thinner" with Tamiya paints in lieu of my normal 91 Iso Alcohol.  He said I would be so happy with the results I would return specifically to thank him.  Well...it did spray nice and smooth, dried quick and it seemed to have more "bite".  It also left a slight sheen which is something I'm not used to with Tamiya XF paints.  The down side is that it smells like Tamiya's Extra thin cement and costs 9 bones a bottle.   Anyways, I mixed flat black and flat blue and came up with my own version of Mitsubishi cowl color.  I also made a custom mix of clear blue and green over aluminum for the Aotake coating in the wheel wells.  I may redo this since this isn't exactly the look I was going for.  I wanted it to be more translucent.   

I'm attempting to get away from Future on my clear coats for reasons I've explained elsewhere and I have been experimenting.  While at the LHS on the same trip outlined above, I saw that Alclad had a clear gloss coat available.  I decided to get it.  I must say, so far I'm pleased and it has dried to a rock hard smooth finish in a matter of a few hours.  The down side is that it smells like lighter fluid and costs 9 bones (18 bones out the window...just like that.  I figure I'll use these sparingly for decaling and stick with Testors Gloss for other stuff, such as barriers between washes.   Heres where I'm at so far

よく成された仕事. (yoku nasa reta shigoto)

This looks like it will be a good one.

Gary

Looks pretty darn near perfect to me!

www.acesofww2.com/.../sakai

www.warbirdforum.com/sakai.htm

www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/.../stevens.html

Certainly an inspirational guy.

Awesome paint work!

Joe,

The XF-76 looks great.  Very nice shade.  Your Aotake looks great, too.  Can't wait to see it complete.

Ord

Hello all, the Berna decals finally showed up and I got the zero decaled.  These are fantastic and only needed a soak in Micro Sol to snuggle right down.  Highly recommended!  The only gripe I had was the lack of the red wing walk box decals.  They supplied everything else, why not these?  I was forced to use the kit decals for these and they laughed at Micro Sol.  I then tried the stronger Mr. Mark Setting solution which completely melted the decal into a pile of goo.  I was forced to substitute an old set from a Tamiya Zero I had on hand....in hindsight, I should have just painted these on like I did on my P-61 .  Reference the Hinomarus markings (meatballs), are they supposed to be this bright of a red?  I'm gonna have to find a way to tone them down.  I decided I'm going to paint in the blue fuselage and tail stripe in lieu of the decals.  I'm thinking Tamiya flat blue with a bit of white would be suffice.  

Joe

Keep up the work man, looks great!!