Has Tamiya ever retooled or released a new tool of their A6m2 Zero in 1/48?

Again, looking at Scalemates timeline, their 1/48 was first introduced in 1973:

https://www.scalemates.com/products/product.php?id=120375

I have in the stash their most recent 1/72, it's a real gem.

regards,

Jack

Gentleman,

As far as I know, Tamiya released only two of the new tooled zeros, so far.  One can see by the parts breakdown, that there others planned.  The two are a A6M5, Model 52, and an A6M3a, Model 32 (?).

I would LOVE to see an A6M2 Model 11 or 22 myself....or a "Hamp".  

But I have to say also, even the older kits from the 1970's are still pretty good, and with a little detail work here and there, can be built into quite a fine looking model.

The kits from the 70's should run about $15-$18, while the newer kits are closer to the $45 range.

The 1:72 kit is freaking awesome by the way, and I can only hope they make her in 1:48 scale.  

Just my 2 cents!!

Freddie, (Fjs3)

Dragster build Doug :) nicely done in this old zero tool !

Just a quick update. The kit is moving along very nicely. It is certainly a nice fitting kit with little effort needed to make things work nicely. I have finally finished detailing the engine. I used an old photo of an engine being worked on that showed the ignition harness well and what surprised me was that the wiring kind of twisted up to each cylinder rather than just went straight up like the US birds do. So, I wired it that way and it looks kinda funny but it matches my photo so that's how it's gonna look. 

I have painted the cowling "cowling color" from Mr Color paints and I also painted the under glass area of the cockpit with the same color. There appears to be some evidence that the "flat black" paint used may actually have been the same color as the cowling, and that actually makes sense. So, they match. The plane itself is very nearly ready for a coat of primer to check for flaws. If all goes well I will then paint the red insignia's and then the overall paint scheme, the ever allusive Zero color. Anyway, enjoy the pics and see you guys later on. 

Brandon: Everything looks good to me. I've wired a P-47 but have yet to do a Japanese engine, I'll have to keep that in mind. Looking forward to seeing what she looks like with paint.

Here my paint came in earlier this week and I've been making decent progress, think it's mostly not being able to get out and do stuff that I've been getting more modeling done.

Painted and pre-shaded with the green JGSDF paint:

I then masked her off with Silly Putty in preparation for the brown camo colour:

Looks to me like she got hosed by Kumonga!

Great job Brandon, Like Gamera I too am looking forward to the paint job.

Gamera like always your painting is superb.

I have a question on painting a plane. It is not for this build but I know I can get a great answer her also. I need to know if there is any other way to paint aluminum with out using AlcladII? I will have to wait awhile if not just to order it. May be next month. That is not a problem but was just wondering.

Doug

Doug: Thanks!

There are a couple of ways, some people swear by Floquil Old Silver, not sure if it's still in production though. There there is Testor's Metallizer finish. And of course you can cover the plane with aluminum foil. Alclad seems to be the simplest and easiest to  apply to me though.

Floquil is OOP now. Testors discontinued that paint line. They have resurrected some railroad colors in their acrylics, but their quality remains to be seen. Let alone the colors compared to the originals...

Thanks guys. I think I will wait until I can get the Alclad.

Doug

DISASTER !!!!!!!!!!!

Just finishing up the masking of the rear canopy and SNAP ! it broke in two.  

I'm gonna have to cut the rear portion off of the closed canopy piece in the kit now and use it. I'm going to try and transfer all the pre-cut pieces over to the new piece and try not to break this one. I can't believe how brittle this glass is on this kit.  

OUCH! I did that once with the canopy of an Academy F-15- never finished the thing. I wish I had a spare one to offer but nope- maybe you can find a replacement one online?

Thanks, just ordered a vacu-formed one and a masking set. It'll look better anyway.

Can I get in on this GB, I have a tamiya g4m1 betty I'm planning on starting in a week or so

Hey Gamera,

  Put me down for a Hasegawa Zero,  not sure which one yet it's 1/48  put I'll the details after I get home to look at the book.

John

Sure, welcome guys!!!

Tates: Is that the 1/48th kit?

John: Good to have you back!

Alright, another "lady" to the group.  Got "Val", and a couple of "Bettys", now if someone joins in with the new "Kate".  That one looks to be an interesting kit.

Lol, I have a 'Grace' and a 'Jill' somewhere in my stash...

"The new kate..."  can you elaborate on that Hammer??

Can't remember if it is Tamiya or Hasegawa, Hasegawa I think.  Keep seeing an ad for it on the sidebar here on the forum under the sign in.

Hasegawa does a few "Kates", which BTW, are VERY nice.  I wonder if it's a re-pop of an earlier release or did they retool it? Now I'll have to google all over the place to find out!  LOL!!

yeah it is, the "malaya" version, not the "surrender" one

Ok, got you down!

ok, since we have a whole year, I'm in with the Tamiya Komatsu G40 bulldozer, something different than airplanes.  Maybe I'll add a fuel truck too.

Thanks Waikong, I'll put you down right away. And cool choice, I've seen that kit around but still haven't picked one up yet.

Put down the brown/tan camo last week but had to wait for today to get some good lighting, added the tools and small details too. Put the shine on today and hopefully will get to the decals tomorrow.

Perfect till now Cliff :)

Nice.  Busy last week and fought supposedly self adhesive PE yesterday til I had to walk away.  Got to get some accelerator for the CA as well I guess.  Got about half of the PE in.

Well I found myself waiting for my canopy and decided I needed to take a fine tooth comb over the bird and make sure she was indeed ready for paint. Alas, I can't leave things well enough alone so I decided to give this kit the Nav light treatment that I gave my P-47.

I began by cutting out the existing "molded" lamps to make room for clear sprues. I then drilled out a small hole in the corner where I applied red and green paint in just a drop, not too much for this affect. Then I take clear sprue cut long and shaped at a 90 deg to fit snuggly in to the corner and I CA the pieces in. Once this is hard and not going anywhere I can take my time and sand and file them to fit the contour of the wings. Once you are done, bingo, clear nav light lenses but colored when you look at them from any angle except from the top or bottom. It really make the kit look so much better.

Some careful masking before painting and when you are done, they look like real lights. As soon as the canopy comes she will be ready to shoot some primer on. Later.

Thanks guys!

Goldhammer: I know what you mean, I hate PE, and superglue drives me crazy (is that why they call it crazy glue!?!). I tend to knock off two pieces for everyone that I glue on. Looking forward to seeing how things turn out.

Brandon: Lookin' great! I think you or someone else wrote up a how-to on this before and I intended to try it myself but forgot. Next aircraft I'll have to give it a go- it does look much better than painting them on.

Nice work on light of zero Brandon :)

Rollout/resume for the rufe: Last weekend done the first layer of light grey/green on it and the kate.