A deviation from my rule: Tamiya A6M2 in 1:32

[al49]

Yes, my rule, since I re-started doing model, was to do Italian airplanes only (or foreign machines used by Italian air-forces).

But a few weeks ago I didn't resisted the temptation to purchase the above Tamiya kit and a few days ago I started building it with the goal to replicate one of these birds.

As usual I started with the cockpit and I will post very soon some pictures of what I've done so far, but I have a problem and I hope someone will be able to help me.

I'm searching good pictures of the cockpit floor and side panels, I men something more then what is available on these books:

Do you have any suggestion where to find something?

Many thanks and Merry Christmas to everybody
Alberto

 

[fubar57]

All I could find was this screen shot from the IL2 flight sim

Geo

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool!

 

[al49]

Hi,
here some pictures of my progress on cockpit.

Still to be completed and weathered a bit.
Cheers
Alberto

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Beautiful work Alberto.

 

[Catch22]

You should make a beauty out of this.

 

[Wayne Little]

Looks great so far Alberto!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Very neat Alberto.

 

[al49]

Hello,
I did some progress on the Zero too.

The cockpit assembled and almost ready to fit inside the fuselage:

and the landing gear area

for the Aotake I used the Gunze Acqueous Hobby Color ref. H63 that seems to be quite OK but I have a question for the experts, which color/shade will you use to weather this color? May be a dark grey?

And a question, again for the experts in Japanese bird, which one will be the best color for the overall external surface?

Tamiya suggest HXF76, as shown also in their color instruction sheet

but I've seen many A6M2 models done in a much lighter color, for instance like this one

What do you think?

Many thanks in advance for any suggestion

Alberto

 

[Catch22]

Looks great Alberto! I think Wayne will be the one to answer your question.

 

[Wayne Little]

Early Mitsubishi built A6M2 Zeroes were painted in an Olive Grey colour with a lighter 'Grey' variation on the fabric surfaces.

The XF-76 represents a slightly faded version of the original Olive grey colour, your zero most likely would not have faded to any real degree yet, so it would still have been the stronger Olive grey colour, glossy in appearance, which does not show up in many Zero images.

What paints will you be using?

 

[al49]

Early Mitsubishi built A6M2 Zeroes were painted in an Olive Grey colour with a lighter 'Grey' variation on the fabric surfaces.

The XF-76 represents a slightly faded version of the original Olive grey colour, your zero most likely would not have faded to any real degree yet, so it would still have been the stronger Olive grey colour, glossy in appearance, which does not show up in many Zero images.

What paints will you be using?

Many thanks Wayne for your answer.

I have thought to two options for painting: either the above mentioned XF-76 or the Gunze H70 that seems to be a bit darker, may be adjusted to the gray for fabric surfaces; but if you have any suggestion on different paints (acrylic) I will be happy to consider them.
Alberto

 

[Airframes]

Beautiful work so far Alberto.

 

[Hotntot]

Very impressive. Looking forward to the next stage.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Beautiful!

 

[Tony Hill]

Great stuff!

 

[Shinpachi]

So detailed.
Nice work!

 

[Wayne Little]

Many thanks Wayne for your answer.

I have thought to two options for painting: either the above mentioned XF-76 or the Gunze H70 that seems to be a bit darker, may be adjusted to the gray for fabric surfaces; but if you have any suggestion on different paints (acrylic) I will be happy to consider them.
Alberto

Options to consider..

First : Metal surfaces Tamiya Paint XF-2 Flat White 100 parts, XF-8 Yellow 24 parts, XF-1 Black 11 Parts, XF-7 Red 2 Parts
Fabric Surfaces XF-19 Sky grey 105 parts, XF-49 Khaki 20 parts, XF-25 Lt. Sea Grey 15 parts, adding small portion of white to lighten....

Second : Metal surfaces XF-14 JA Grey 100 Parts, XF-49 Khaki 40 parts, XF-53 Neutral grey 3 parts, XF-2 White 2 parts, XF-7 Red 2 parts.
to lighten for scale colour it is necessary to add light green and some white amount not quoted.? havent tried this mix myself yet.
Fabric same as above

Gunze H70 and H336 hemp 50/50 also haven't tried this colour.

My Zero was done in first option but i did not lighten the colour as i wanted to see how it looked as is, next will be lightened slightly, more so the fabric colour than the metal colour.

 

[Wurger]