Gamera

HAHAHAHAH, I haven't cleaned my bench since well, I don't even remember anymore!!!

Some archeologist could do some sort of dig separating out different strata to see what I was working on at different points of time!  

You are funny!  You made me laugh!   

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I am very disappointed that I did not have a chance to work some more on clearing my workbench.     I had to take care of some personal business.  Hopefully I will be able to spend some time on it tomorrow evening.

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I did manage to get some work done on clearing off my workbench tonight.  But I spent most of the evening working on a flyer for my IPMS chapter.  I will be stopping by the local hobby shops this weekend to see if they will allow me to put them up in the plastic model area.

Ken

Ken, good luck, hopefully you get some good new members.

Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday!   

I got some more work done on clearing my workbench.  Just so amazing how much such a small area can hold!

I will be going to visit the hobby shops tomorrow morning.  Hopefully they will be receptive to the idea of putting up the flyer.

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I stopped by the hobby shops this morning just as planned.  The store manager was not working today at Hobby Lobby.  But the person who was in charge said she would leave the flyer for the manager who would be there on Monday.  She also said she did not see a problem with putting it up.

The second one, a locally owned shop, was very receptive about putting it up.  It is now posted on the front door.

I then spent the afternoon clearing off my computer desk which is right next to my workbench.  Now that it is done, I will start on the top of my workbench next.  It doubles as my paint booth so it has a "top".

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I finally finished clearing off my workbench and am ready to start my build.  Here is a shot of the contents of the box:

 Clear parts:

 First package of sprues:

 Second package:

 Decals:

 Color sheet of the two configurations you can build from this kit:

I am torn on which configuration to build.  The top one is the configuration for Lt. Cdr. Shigeru Itaya, Akagi Aircraft Carrier FG, Hawaii, Dec. 8, 1941.  The bottom one is the configuration for the 261st Air Group, Kagoshima Base, Feb. 1944.  It is more colorful than the overall grey one.  So it may be the one I choose.

 And finally the instruction sheet:

 Next step, wash everything!

Ken

Looks good Ken, Tamiya always does such a great job. I have to lean somewhat to the second scheme too. In the first one those aircraft were kept in pretty close to immaculate condition so you can't even weather it very much, good option if you want to do a clean pretty aircraft though.

Doing a clean aircraft is one of the reasons why I chose the first one for mine  

Good points there Cliff and Silentbob.  I will have to think some more about this.

I looked up the colors of paint I need and found that I do not have them.  This will be my first Japanese plane (since I was a kid!) and all of my paint are USAF colors.  So I ordered them this morning.  They should be here by Thursday.

On a side note, Hobby Lobby said no to putting up that flyer.  A big disappointment.  I think it would have benefited them as much as us.

Ken

Bummer about Hobby Lobby, Ken....wonder why?? Getting out the word would definitely get product moving out of their stores AND build up some fellowship and friendships amongst all those solitary model builders out there!

I don't have the decals for the 1st scheme in 1/72nd scale, but I may improvise some to get a Pearl Harbor Zero........decisions, decisions.......it would be a good lesson for me in building a 'clean' build, coming from an armor and 'ground pounder' background!

TAD

Hey guys good luck there! If I may point out though it may seem a little strange but every Japanese company had a slightly different paint colour for the same thing- aka Nakajima navy underside grey is a little different from the Mitsubishi navy underside grey.

I wouldn't worry too much about it but if you're a stickler for detail you can find out if your Zero was one of the original Mitsubishi birds or produced under license by Nakajima - the paint will be slightly different. For one thing Mitsubishi interior cockpit green looks very similar to US interior green to me, Nakajima is much greyer and looks a lot like RAF interior green.

The interior of the plane and in some cases the wheel wells were left plain aluminum and then sprayed with a translucent varnish called aotake, it started as a bluish and over time aged to more greenish. Being translucent you can see the aluminum though it giving it the metallic blue-green look.  

Gamera

Hey guys good luck there! If I may point out though it may seem a little strange but every Japanese company had a slightly different paint colour for the same thing- aka Nakajima navy underside grey is a little different from the Mitsubishi navy underside grey.

I wouldn't worry too much about it but if you're a stickler for detail you can find out if your Zero was one of the original Mitsubishi birds or produced under license by Nakajima - the paint will be slightly different. For one thing Mitsubishi interior cockpit green looks very similar to US interior green to me, Nakajima is much greyer and looks a lot like RAF interior green.

The interior of the plane and in some cases the wheel wells were left plain aluminum and then sprayed with a translucent varnish called aotake, it started as a bluish and over time aged to more greenish. Being translucent you can see the aluminum though it giving it the metallic blue-green look.  

Thank you for the information Cliff!  That really surprises me that the Japanese did not have a closely regulated "standard".  Especially since they seemed to be so rigid about other things.

Ken

Thanks for the info, Gamera!  I should have known it wouldn't be that easy!! LOL!!!

TAD

Lol, I'll try to help out any way I can.

Ken: Yeah, always surprised me - there is the whole stereotype about how methodical and careful the Japanese are, well they weren't here!  

Well my paint should arrive today, so I will be getting underway this evening.

Ken

Hi Everyone!

The paint showed up today so I wasted no time.  I painted the cockpit tonight (cockpit green).

You may have noticed that this sprue tree is on the small side.  Since all the parts were close together in the corner section of the complete sprue tree, I cut this section out so I didn't have to mess with masking it off.

The airbrush was clogged and I didn't know it before I started.  I ran a cup of the acrylic thinner through it first before I started so I thought it was good to go.  But as soon as I put the paint in, it clogged.  I took the cup off and ran lacquer thinner through it.  Put the cup back on and clogged again.  I kept fighting with it and started to get some paint to flow.  So I started spraying the parts when it broke loose.  Thought I was going to have some sags or runs but it looks okay.

Ken 

Everything looks good to me Ken. I know what you mean though, sometimes I want to throw the #$@%@# airbrush against the wall- I swear sometimes the whole point to an airbrush is make sure it takes three hours to do something I could do with a brush in ten minutes.

Gamera

Everything looks good to me Ken. I know what you mean though, sometimes I want to throw the #$@%@# airbrush against the wall- I swear sometimes the whole point to an airbrush is make sure it takes three hours to do something I could do with a brush in ten minutes.

You crack me up Cliff!  That was funny!   

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I spent a good part of this evening harvesting hot peppers out of my garden.  It is supposed to freeze tomorrow night.

I did manage to paint the "boxes" on top of the front instrument panel semi gloss black.  And I found a video that has a good view of the inside of a Zero to use for references.

Well with tomorrow being Halloween it will leave very little time to reach the workbench.  Talk to you all later!

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I started painting the details inside the cockpit today.  I thought I found some accurate photos to use for a reference online.  Then I started finding photographs that disagreed with each other.  So very frustrating.

So my question is this.  Does anyone have recommendations for a reference book to use on the Mitsubishi A6M Zero?

Ken

Ken: I have Robert Jackson's 'Mitsubishi Zero' in Airlife's Combat Legend line- lots of good information on the various Zero versions but not much on the interior though.

Robert Mikesh's 'Japanese Aircraft Interiors 1940-45' is probably the best book for that sort of stuff but it's pretty expensive- I wouldn't have bought it except for my interest in the subject.

Gamera

Ken: I have Robert Jackson's 'Mitsubishi Zero' in Airlife's Combat Legend line- lots of good information on the various Zero versions but not much on the interior though.

Robert Mikesh's 'Japanese Aircraft Interiors 1940-45' is probably the best book for that sort of stuff but it's pretty expensive- I wouldn't have bought it except for my interest in the subject.

Hi Cliff,

Yes, that book is more than I want to spend.  The cheapest I found it for was $150.00 on Amazon.  I did order instead "In the Cockpit 2:  Inside History-Making Aircraft of World War II" by the National Air and Space Museum.  It has pretty good reviews.  It should arrive by Wednesday so I will let everyone know my review of it then.

Ken

Ken: Sounds cool! I assume you already did a web search?

Guess I'm lucky I picked up Mikesh's book years ago for about forty bucks or so. Maybe I should sell the darn thing! Gee friggin whiz- $175 to $1460 for a copy in very good condition!?! Mine is almost like brand new!

Gamera

Ken: Sounds cool! I assume you already did a web search?

Guess I'm lucky I picked up Mikesh's book years ago for about forty bucks or so. Maybe I should sell the darn thing! Gee friggin whiz- $175 to $1460 for a copy in very good condition!?! Mine is almost like brand new!

Hi Cliff,

If you are asking if I did a web search for the interior of the Zero, the answer is yes.  That is where I ran into the problem of finding conflicting colors.  That is always the problem when you find "restored" aircraft pictures.  They are not always true to original.  Especially when it comes to the cockpit since this is rarely seen by the general public.

Ken

I have the "in the cockpit 2" book, execellent reference.

waikong

I have the "in the cockpit 2" book, execellent reference.

Thanks Waikong.  I could not find a list of the aircraft it had.  Is the Zero included?

Ken

Yes, the A6M5 is in there, 1 page full color looking from seat to front. There are no pictures of the side or the seat itself.  I can also recommend the Osprey book "modelling the Mistubushi A6m", besides having great model builds, there are four color pages of a walk around (but strangely only1 semi-cockpit picture), and a page of color chips with an explanation of where they got the colors from. But becareful, trying to find 'accurate' ww2 Japanese aircraft colors is to start down that rabbit hole. :)  Good luck and let me know if I can help.

Gamera

Ken: Sounds cool! I assume you already did a web search?

Guess I'm lucky I picked up Mikesh's book years ago for about forty bucks or so. Maybe I should sell the darn thing! Gee friggin whiz- $175 to $1460 for a copy in very good condition!?! Mine is almost like brand new!

So Cliff, you are currently sitting on a gold mine!  Should you sell it and make a bunch of money, or keep it being the "treasure" that you wisely bought at a good price?

Ken

waikong

Yes, the A6M5 is in there, 1 page full color looking from seat to front. There are no pictures of the side or the seat itself.  I can also recommend the Osprey book "modelling the Mistubushi A6m", besides having great model builds, there are four color pages of a walk around (but strangely only1 semi-cockpit picture), and a page of color chips with an explanation of where they got the colors from. But becareful, trying to find 'accurate' ww2 Japanese aircraft colors is to start down that rabbit hole. :)  Good luck and let me know if I can help.

Hi Waikong,

From the description that I read about the book, the pictures are very crisp and clear.  But that is disappointing that it only has the front instrument panel.  I particularly need the side panels.

I did act on your recommendation for the Osprey "Modelling the Mitsubishi A6M Zero" by Brian Criner.  (Modeling is misspelled by the way).

I also ordered "Mitsubishi A6M Zero" by Artur Juszczak, "Zero:  Combat and Development History of Japan's Legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter" by Robert Mikesh, Squadron/Signal "A6M Zero in Action" by Shigeru Nohara, and the first "In the Cockpit:  Inside 50 History-Making Aircraft" by Dana Bell.

Hopefully I will find what I need with this combination.

Ken