Hi Guys,
I'm not much of a modeller and until recently I have not spent much time at all in the last 20 years making models. When I was a teenager, like the rest of you I suspect, I had model planes all over the place, but my modelling got to a certain level and has been there ever since. I hand paint everything as I don't have an air brush and things look, well, a little too much like a plastic model kit, rather than a true representation of the aeroplane I attempted to build. Nevertheless, this hasn't stopped me buying kits over the years. Because of a change in life style, I now have time to put together some of the kits that I've bought over the last 20 or so years. This is one that I started making about 12 years ago. It's a T-6 converted to a Mitsubishi Zero in 1/72 scale.
I did the conversion using the Academy T-6G and Mitsubishi A6M5 kits. To the basic T-6, I've added rounded wingtips, a top deck and pointed trailing edge to the rudder. I've also attempted to clean up the wing leading edge at the root using body putty, eliminating the prominent bulge for housing the wheels.
Here are the parts at this point in the build; the three bladed prop, undercarriage doors, aerials, machine gun barrels and arrestor hook are from the Zero.
The canopy is a combination of the Zero's rear and the T-6's sliding section and windscreen. The drop tank is from the most recent Airfix A6M2 kit.
The Airfix kit also provided the choice of markings and paints - it was a starter kit - that I am going to use to finish it off. It'll be the A6M2B-21 flown by Lt Saburo Shindo of Carrier Division One, 2nd Strike Unit aboard Akagi during the Pearl Harbor operation.
I made progress on the Airfix Zero for inspiration, now being roughly where I'm at on the T-6. The new Airfix kit is a little beauty compared to the old Airfix Zero, which I used to have as a youngster. It's crisply moulded with the right amount of detail for the scale, although the parts fit leaves a few gaps, which can be filled, and also the engraved panel lines look a little too deep, although they are not as bad as the old Matchbox kits. Here's a couple of pics for comparison between the two machines.
The Zero is smaller than the T-6, except for the hori stab. It is easy to see why the movie makers chose the T-6 to represent the Zero, though. I'm making the Zero as a British ATAIU machine, just for difference's sake.
I have no idea when I'll get these aircraft done; I've got other things I should be doing, like studying for exams for work, but this is quite cathartic and I'm enjoying it again after so long away. Compared to all your efforts, mine will be considerably amateurish, but it'll make me happy and that's the main thing.
I have a few other kits that have been stashed away for so long; I'm working on an Airfix Ju 87 - a terrible kit, which I'm making into a captured Picchiatello; the Italian markings supplied with the kit being supplemented with British markings, a P-51D/A-37 Dragonfly hybrid, using the empennage, wing stores and other bits and pieces from the jet fitted to the Mustang. The prop is from an old F4U that I once had. I originally started this years ago, but never finished it after I realised I wanted it to be a two-seater, so I dismantled it. I also have a Fieseler Storch converted to a Morane Saulnier MS.505A with a Shaky Jake radial up front instead of the Vee 8. I also have an Airfix TSR.2, which I'm turning into a desk top model with commercial stand, which I'm making out of sheet metal, to complement my other desktop models. I have a Pilatus PC-6 Porter, which is a combination of two different kits, as one was not so good, so I borrowed from the other to make one good and sold the other. I'm making an Aussie Army one in splinter camopuflage, which'll be tricky in 1/72 scale. My last one is a Mosquito NF.II, which needs a final exterior paint and it's done. That'll keep me busy for awhile, but it might be another 20 years before I finish them all!
I'm not much of a modeller and until recently I have not spent much time at all in the last 20 years making models. When I was a teenager, like the rest of you I suspect, I had model planes all over the place, but my modelling got to a certain level and has been there ever since. I hand paint everything as I don't have an air brush and things look, well, a little too much like a plastic model kit, rather than a true representation of the aeroplane I attempted to build. Nevertheless, this hasn't stopped me buying kits over the years. Because of a change in life style, I now have time to put together some of the kits that I've bought over the last 20 or so years. This is one that I started making about 12 years ago. It's a T-6 converted to a Mitsubishi Zero in 1/72 scale.
I did the conversion using the Academy T-6G and Mitsubishi A6M5 kits. To the basic T-6, I've added rounded wingtips, a top deck and pointed trailing edge to the rudder. I've also attempted to clean up the wing leading edge at the root using body putty, eliminating the prominent bulge for housing the wheels.
Here are the parts at this point in the build; the three bladed prop, undercarriage doors, aerials, machine gun barrels and arrestor hook are from the Zero.
The canopy is a combination of the Zero's rear and the T-6's sliding section and windscreen. The drop tank is from the most recent Airfix A6M2 kit.
The Airfix kit also provided the choice of markings and paints - it was a starter kit - that I am going to use to finish it off. It'll be the A6M2B-21 flown by Lt Saburo Shindo of Carrier Division One, 2nd Strike Unit aboard Akagi during the Pearl Harbor operation.
I made progress on the Airfix Zero for inspiration, now being roughly where I'm at on the T-6. The new Airfix kit is a little beauty compared to the old Airfix Zero, which I used to have as a youngster. It's crisply moulded with the right amount of detail for the scale, although the parts fit leaves a few gaps, which can be filled, and also the engraved panel lines look a little too deep, although they are not as bad as the old Matchbox kits. Here's a couple of pics for comparison between the two machines.
The Zero is smaller than the T-6, except for the hori stab. It is easy to see why the movie makers chose the T-6 to represent the Zero, though. I'm making the Zero as a British ATAIU machine, just for difference's sake.
I have no idea when I'll get these aircraft done; I've got other things I should be doing, like studying for exams for work, but this is quite cathartic and I'm enjoying it again after so long away. Compared to all your efforts, mine will be considerably amateurish, but it'll make me happy and that's the main thing.
I have a few other kits that have been stashed away for so long; I'm working on an Airfix Ju 87 - a terrible kit, which I'm making into a captured Picchiatello; the Italian markings supplied with the kit being supplemented with British markings, a P-51D/A-37 Dragonfly hybrid, using the empennage, wing stores and other bits and pieces from the jet fitted to the Mustang. The prop is from an old F4U that I once had. I originally started this years ago, but never finished it after I realised I wanted it to be a two-seater, so I dismantled it. I also have a Fieseler Storch converted to a Morane Saulnier MS.505A with a Shaky Jake radial up front instead of the Vee 8. I also have an Airfix TSR.2, which I'm turning into a desk top model with commercial stand, which I'm making out of sheet metal, to complement my other desktop models. I have a Pilatus PC-6 Porter, which is a combination of two different kits, as one was not so good, so I borrowed from the other to make one good and sold the other. I'm making an Aussie Army one in splinter camopuflage, which'll be tricky in 1/72 scale. My last one is a Mosquito NF.II, which needs a final exterior paint and it's done. That'll keep me busy for awhile, but it might be another 20 years before I finish them all!
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