**** DONE: GB-41 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M5 Type 52 - PTO from 1937

[ajd3530]

Small progress. Painted and assembled the power plant. Not much going on, but it will be buried in the cowling behind the spinner, so certainly good enough.

The airframe required more filler than I had originally anticipated, and my time away from the hobby is showed when I tried fill some gaps.

I've masked the canopy as well. Now this is the first time I've masked a Hasegawa kit. While I very much appreciate their very fine molding, the super fine framework made masking this thing a nightmare. I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to mask it, and it still looks pretty rough. I was pretty much cutting using dead reckoning, and it shows. But it's as good as I'm going to get it. I certainly hope the newer Hasegawa kits have more prominent frame work than this older tool kit. I couldn't begin to imagine trying to mask a large greenhouse canopy like on a B5N Kate or C6N Myrt with such subtle frame lines like this kit has.

Still trying to figure out exactly which manufacture made this particular plane. The kit instructions show it as Nakajima airframe, but most research I've done shows it as being a Mitsubishi produced plane.

 

[ajd3530]

Welcome to the build Alex. Good Lord you are fast and looks good. I don't get this far until the 5th or 6th page

Thank you friend!

Typically I condense a days work into just a few photos and a single post, but the small parts count and good simple engineering of this kit have made it particularly quick work So far.

 

[fubar57]

Are you going to be able to make the deadline? GB 41 Ends June 2nd

 

[Wurger]

 

[ajd3530]

Are you going to be able to make the deadline? GB 41 Ends June 2nd

If the 24 year old Hasegawa decals hold up, I should be golden.

 

[Wayne Little]

Looking good.

 

[Crimea_River]

Suggest you give the decals a spray coat of acrylic clear coat before cutting them up.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[javlin]

Like the looks of that crate

 

[ajd3530]

Priming, masking, and painting complete. This is my first job with my new airbrush. I recently purchased an Iwata Neo. While I know it is not up to the standards of many higher priced airbrushes, it is noticeably better than the airbrushes I have had before.

I used my own mixes for the yellow wing markers and underside gray, and XF 70 for the top green.

Unfortunately, the 12 hours I remember waiting in the past to apply gloss clear lacquer over Tamiya acrylics was not long enough this time. Probably has to do with the thinner costs I was able to apply with the new airbrush. Damage done to the top coat is not catastrophic, but will require a respray. So no decals until Friday evening at the earliest. Live and learn I reckon.

**Edit** the plan on to put a flat coat back over areas I have glossed before repainting. Would I be able touch up over th gloss coat though?

 

[Crimea_River]

Gloss Clear Lacquer over acrylics is not a good idea in my mind. It doesn't matter how long you wait as the lacquer will tend to dissolve the acrylic. You should stick with the same type of clear coat as the substrate as a rule of thumb. The exception would be that you can usually apply acrylic clears over lacquer or enamel paints.

If your flat coat is also lacquer then I would ditch that idea. Spray your Tamiya acrylic over the damaged areas and then gloss coat with an acrylic clear.

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far!

 

[ajd3530]

Laid down the decals this morning. Found out I had a set of Aeromaster Zeros decals squirreled away. So I decided to source the hinomarus, prop markings, and stencils from those and then use the kit decals (with a coat of Microscale decal film) for the wing walks, tail codes, and victory markings.

As it turns out, the kit decals went down pretty well, albeit a smidgen thick. The Aeromasters, in the other hand, the hinomarus on the fuselage and top wings are all wrinkled terribly. I've did a little slicing and hole poking, then applied another coat of Micro Sol. Nothing to do now but wait, hope, and start a Spitfire in the meantime.

 

[Wayne Little]

Good progress, hope them decals settle down.

 

[Crimea_River]

Agreed. GB finishes on the 9th.

 

[ajd3530]

The extra week's extension is greatly appreciated!

After 2 extra rounds of slicing, poking, Micro-Soling, and then a buff with a super fine sanding stick, I was able to get the wrinkles down to a fairly presentable (to my eyes at least) level. After the dullcoat, they will probably look like mere cracks in the paint, and I can play that off as a product of the quality of paint that the Japanese had. I couldn't quite get the damage to focus in on camera, at least not in indoor light.

With the extra few days, I think I might experiment with some new weathering techniques, maybe.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Experimenting and deadlines don't seem like a good mix but looks like you have the upper hand.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[fubar57]

Glad you sorted through the issues, looks good