Thanks Gamera, I think detailing cockpits is starting to be a sickness. :) GAF - oh, a figure, I've desperately been trying to improve my figure painting, can't wait to see yours.

Gary: That looks great! You've made an excellent recovery there. And the figure looks good. The colour of the suit looks fine. If you want it lighter you can always just add highlights, if you want it darker you can add shadows to the recesses. 

Greysnake: Love the camo, she's turning out great! 

Weird about the wheels though, I've never had an issue with poor quality plastic in a Tamiya kit. In a few old Warsaw Pact kits but never anything Japanese esp Tamiya. 

Waikong> Thanks!  You'll probably not learn much about figure painting from me.  I'm of the old "wargaming" school of figure painting where you slap on the base colors and call them done!  Still, I'm trying to give the pilot figure a bit more attention.  Here's where he stands now with the base colors on.  Still needs a lot of detail work.

Gamera> The A6M5a is finished, except for the aerial wire which is being glued into position.  I just have to wait for one end to dry before gluing the other end, which can take hours.  Should be ready tomorrow unless I screw it up (as I already have done once).

Greysnake> You've done some great work on the 61 so far.  The cracks shouldn't be a problem, though it is strange for that to happen.

Gary

Gary: The pilot looks fine to me. Looking forward to the finished result!

Strike up the Gunkan March! I am happy to report that the A6M5a Type 52 is finished!  That heavy rushing of air you hear is me sighing in relief!

After the aerial wire (which is nylon thread) dried overnight, I cut the end at the pole.  I had jammed a toothpick between the canopy and the pole to force it back a little while the glue dried.  When I removed the toothpick the pole moved forward a little and kept the aerial wire taut.  Success!  I might want to add some insulators on the wire, but I won't press my luck today.

Gamera, I'll post up finished photos later when the pilot figure is complete so I can include both.

Thanks for looking!

Gary

Greysnake>  Thank you!  Considering all the disassembling, it turned out better than I expected.

I'll call the A6M5a Zero done.  The kit went together without many problems, but I created a few just to make sure I was still modeling! 

The pilot figure is from the Hasegawa A6M2b kit.

Nothing special to report.  I painted the upper with Rust-O-Leum "Hunters Green" that, once you knock the shine off, is a fair representation of IJN green.  YMMV.  The bottom color was Testors "Flat Light Aircraft Gray" with a wash of "Sage".  I did repaint the rear canopy deck as black, but used "Gunmetal Grey".  You can hardly see it under all those canopies!  I did manage to cobble together enough decals to finish her, in addition to using painted clear decal paper to frame the canopy.  Chipping is just silver paint, and weathering was a Model Master black wash.

You will note the wheel-wells and gear doors were NOT done in aotake, as the latest research seems to indicate Mitsubishi aircraft had these painted in the bottom color.  This is a choice, and anyone who paints theirs in aotake (especially later war) will not be laughed at!

The pilot was done in Tamiya XF-72 Brown JGSDF.  The life vest is khaki, and the ribbons are sage.  The skin tone is Testors "Flat Tan".  Japanese pilots are not very colorful!  I tried detailing the face, but it's just so-so.  A black wash was applied, and then using a white prismacolor pencil highlighted the raised areas a bit.  The goggles were edged in silver and Future was applied to the lenses.

I still need to finalize the figure as I seem to have misplaced my bag of terrain grass.  I also need to add some insulators on the Zero's aerial wire, but that's not a big concern.

Anyway, here's the final images for you to study and snicker at.

And that's it for the Japanese!  Thanks to Gamera for running this GB!

Tenno Heika Banzai!

Gary

PS> Gamera, I'll leave it up to you on what photo you wish to place on the front page.

Gary: That turned out spectacular!!!

Love your pilot but I liked the photo without him a little better so I used it. But overall great job!

Sorry guys my schedule is going to be little off for the next few weeks. One of the guys at work just had a hernia operation and I'm working to cover for him.

Gary, that zero came out looking great!  That pilot looks really angry :)

So I made progress, got most of it closed up, started putting the clear parts on

And this disaster strikes, while trying to put on the front 'lense' which is concave in shape, it popped off never to be found again.  I tried to use some testor clear glue to fill it in, but I guess it was too thick, as the innards dried white and cloudy.  Now I'm not sure what to do, got some bondic UV 'glue'. going to test to see if that will work. Happy to take any suggestions (sorry about the blurry pic)

Waikong> Thanks!  I've done a little work on the pilot since then so maybe he's not as angry. 

The Dinah is looking good.  It has such sleek lines it reminds me of an early jet.

As for the lense, if you have a HobbyLobby nearby or a crafts store, you might try looking for a bead to use as a replacement.  I've used them in a C-47 for landing lights and they look pretty good.  Maybe the lense will turn up when you least expect it.

Gary

Waikong: That looks good! If the glue is anything like the MicroScale stuff it will dry clear. It just takes awhile. It might even take a few days or even a week.

Gary: Please post more photos of your pilot when you get him done.

I got a little more done on my Zero. The decals really annoyed the krap out of me. I ended up airbrushing the upper wing ones since I couldn't get them to lay down completly over the airlon hinges.

Greysnake: Despite the issues you had with the decals, air intake, and tow cables that's a beautiful piece of work there! Great job!!! 

Just put you down and thanks for joining us!!! 

PS: Now I want to build a Type 61... 

Gamera> The hinomaru turned out nice.  Good work!  That aircraft has seen better days!

GS> The Type 61 turned out very well.  I like the two tone camo.  The commander figure does seem very relaxed.

Better keep it away from Gamera though, as he will have Godzilla stepping on it!  

Gary

Hmm, I'll do that Greysnake- thanks!!! 

And yes I'm planning on a JGB X next year. Not sure about XI, ten is a nice round number though. Anyone have any suggestions on a badge? The kitsune I thought fit well with nine being a nine-tailed fox. I'm not sure what would work with ten though. 

Ten?  How about "Operation Ten Go"?  A battleship Yamato with a beautiful Japanese Sailor Suited girl?  If it is the end... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ten-Go

Gary

GS - I think that's a great job on the figure camo, that tank came out very nice.

Gamera - that is some nice weathering/paint work.  I always find peeling camo paint tough to pull off realistically for myself.  

Thanks Waikong. I'm not totally happy but it's another I'm chalking up as a learning exercise. 

Gary: My apologies, somehow I missed your post. I like your idea but we already had the Japanese lady dressed in a sailor suit with a battleship- I think it was JGB four or five? All my older stuff is back on Photo Bucket and hard to get to now. 

I dunno- maybe a flight attendant this time with a civilion jetliner? 

Made some progress on my Dinah.  First, using Bondic, a clear resin that is cured in a few seconds with UV light, I fixed my missing nose lense issue.  This is great stuff, and the instant cure is wonderful for people like me that are impatient - I know, bad trait for a modeler.  Definitely will use it in the future for headlights, landing lights, etc...

Did some priming and I try to learn a new skill with each model and inspired by Gamera, decided to try chipping fluid. I've always done chipping by just apply silver paint with a brush or sponge.  For this one, I laid down metallic aluminum coat and then Vallejo chipping fluid. This is a pretty good technique, I find that it gives me more control than using a sponge and you can create much more subtle fading effects with light scrubbing with a stiff brush. More to learn of course.

waikong

Made some progress on my Dinah.  First, using Bondic, a clear resin that is cured in a few seconds with UV light, I fixed my missing nose lense issue.  This is great stuff, and the instant cure is wonderful for people like me that are impatient - I know, bad trait for a modeler.  Definitely will use it in the future for headlights, landing lights, etc...

Did some priming and I try to learn a new skill with each model and inspired by Gamera, decided to try chipping fluid. I've always done chipping by just apply silver paint with a brush or sponge.  For this one, I laid down metallic aluminum coat and then Vallejo chipping fluid. This is a pretty good technique, I find that it gives me more control than using a sponge and you can create much more subtle fading effects with light scrubbing with a stiff brush. More to learn of course.

 

Waikong: That looks good!!! Love the UV glue lens. And the chipping looks great! Frankly I think it looks better than mine. I have some chipping fluid but since I was just going to do the whole thing I just hosed it with 2-3 coats of hairspray. I've got less and less use for hairspray with every passing year so might as well use the stuff.

I put down several coats of paint and let it sit for a few days before I started chipping. Which I think was a mistake, should have went with one coat of paint and chipped it right away. I mean it did come off as you can see in the photos but I had to use more force than probably was a good idea. 

Gamera, interesting you said that.  I put yellow on top of the brown, and those areas I couldn't really scrap off.  I guess I could use more force and with a tougher brush, but didnt' want to ruin the whole masking/painting of the yellow.  So I will put it to good maintanence by the ground crew :)

Falconmd - you can get it on Amazon or Ebay.  Just search for Bondic, that's the named brand, there other generic brands that make the same thing, but since I haven't tried them, can't say they work just as well.

Yeah I think the ground crews did touch up the leading edges, hinomaru etc. So it all looks good from here! 

waikong> Nice work!  Like Gamera, I think I read the ground crews kept the hinomaru touched up, so I didn't do much with mine.  One thing I did do is that after posting the pictures of my completed A6M5 I found a silver sharpie I had forgotten about and used it to add a few more chip spots on the leading edges, plus ran it along the aerial wire.  Worked great!  So if you finish her up and want to add a few more dings, I suggest getting a silver colored Sharpie pen.  It has many uses so is a good investment.

Gamera> No problem!  Maybe that is why I was thinking of the Yamato because I had seen the previous GB badge.  Well, there's always Tenchi... 

Gary

Lostagain> Welcome back!  Was wondering where you had wandered off to.  Nothing like work to get in the way of... work?  Anyway, thanks!  I find the decal framing is a lot easier than freehanding or masking.  Just need some clear decal paper, a straight edge and a sharp Xacto knife.  Of course, some canopies are easier than others.

Gary

Piers: Good to see you again. I hope everything is okay now.

Gary: Hmmm, Tenchi is interesting. Something to think about.