Tamiya 1/48 A6M5 Zero/Zeke

[WolfRacer]

G'day all!

This is my first post in these forums so hopefully it turns out. It's the start of a 1/48 Zero, just finished up the cockpit and ready to start gluing together the rest of it.

Like a lot of people I used to throw together model aircraft as a kid, stopped when I was about 10 and got back in to making model aircraft late last year. This will be my 7th aircraft since restarting, and only the 3rd one larger than 1/72, so go easy on me!

It's Tamiya's Zero, so far I've done the cockpit, I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. The last plane I did (a 1/48 109 Emil) looked a bit flat, so I tried to work in some more shading and colour variation while hopefully avoiding making it look comical.

I used HGW Seatbelts. It's my 2nd time using HGW seatbelts, the first was on a 1/32 Spitfire (the non-laser cut variety) and I really like the Sutton harness for the Spit, but I don't know if I can recommend the HGW for the Zero. They came out okay in the end but were a nightmare, not only fiddly but very delicate, I managed to break a couple of the straps while trying to glue them to the buckles and each other. So the arrangement they are in is to hide my mistakes more than anything. I figured from top down once buttoned up they'd look fine.

As for historical accuracy, I don't really have any references so I'm just going off googling A6M images and making it up when I'm not sure, so if anything is incorrect, that's why! Feel free to point it out so I can lament my mistakes for eternity, lol

 

[Wurger]

Looking good though.

 

[JKim]

Welcome and glad to have ya! I made a similar return to the hobby a few years back and have found that I'm much more patient than I used to be and that really helps with modeling. You're off to a great start and the interior of the Zero looks great, including the belts. This is the newer release A6M5 from Tamiya I assume?

 

[WolfRacer]

Welcome and glad to have ya! I made a similar return to the hobby a few years back and have found that I'm much more patient than I used to be and that really helps with modeling. You're off to a great start and the interior of the Zero looks great, including the belts. This is the newer release A6M5 from Tamiya I assume?

As a kid I just enjoyed building them, usually didn't paint them but loved putting together big complicated kits. These days I'm the other way around, building often seems a chore as it's mostly taken up filling gaps, but painting is fun.

The HGW belts came out okay in the end, but in the middle I was about to throw them out the window after I'd broken 2 of the straps, managed to (mostly) hide the breaks by draping other straps over them. The Zero seatbelts have areas where the belt has 2 holes width-wise and since those holes are laser cut it ends up very delicate. HGW Belts for other aircraft or larger aircraft are probably fine.

I believe it is the newer Tamiya release, it's the one that comes with 4 standing pilot figures so I'll try and come up with a diorama for them.

Even though I haven't built many planes, I'm still appreciating the quality of the Tamiya kit. Detail is really good and the fit is brilliant, the cockpit pretty much just snap fits together and slots right in to the fuselage without any trouble.

 

[herman1rg]

Welcome and that's good work there

 

[JKim]

I still remember the kits that I built as a kid back in the 70's. I also did not bother to paint them but just glued them together and displayed them around my room. I would hang some of the airplanes from my ceiling using fishing line. There were lots of hobby shops around back then... heck, even the department stores and drug stores had good selections of kits and paints.

I really like the way the fabric harnesses drape naturally on the seats but have only used them on one occasion for a 1/32 Bf109G-10 build. At that scale, I didn't run into any issues with fragility (they were from Radu's RB Productions and not HGW). For 1/48 scale, I prefer resin seats with harnesses molded in but will usually settle for photoetched belts that Eduard makes.

Looking forward to more of your work.

 

[Gnomey]

Welcome.

Lovely work so far!

 

[Airframes]

Welcome to the forum. Nice work on the cockpit, and looking forward to seeing more.

 

[WolfRacer]

Thanks for the welcomes and compliments all!

Hopefully I'll have an update sometime later this week. I might post some of my other completed kits in the mean time.

I still remember the kits that I built as a kid back in the 70's. I also did not bother to paint them but just glued them together and displayed them around my room. I would hang some of the airplanes from my ceiling using fishing line. There were lots of hobby shops around back then... heck, even the department stores and drug stores had good selections of kits and paints.

I really like the way the fabric harnesses drape naturally on the seats but have only used them on one occasion for a 1/32 Bf109G-10 build. At that scale, I didn't run into any issues with fragility (they were from Radu's RB Productions and not HGW). For 1/48 scale, I prefer resin seats with harnesses molded in but will usually settle for photoetched belts that Eduard makes.

Looking forward to more of your work.

I haven't tried photoetch seatbelts yet, my next 2 kits on my bench are a 1/32 MkIX Spitfire and a 1/32 Hawker Tempest. The Tempest came with fabric belts included, the Spitfire comes with photoetch but I have a set of fabric belts as well which I'll probably use.

I also haven't tried resin moulded belts, I THINK I'd like them because I prefer to paint belts myself, but they seem harder to find.

Most of the aircraft I've done since getting back in to aircraft have been 1/72 scale, so I just made Tamiya tape belts and painted on the buckles. The one other 1/48 aircraft I've done was a Bf109 and I did Tamiya tape seatbelts for that too, but made the buckles from wire and it was a nightmare to thread them. They don't look anywhere near as nice as the HGW ones when you take zoomed in photos but from a distance sitting on my display shelf I think they look good enough.

I should say the delicateness of the HGW belts I think is specific to the Zero due to the way they have 2 rows of holes on an already thin strap, creating weak spots. One strap I broke because when gluing it, some glue came through a hole and stuck to the knife. Before I had a chance to salvage it, it just snapped at, the other one snapped while threading it through a buckle, if just caught on the buckle and broke.

 

[fubar57]

Welcome to the site. Nice job on the innards. As for not having references, don't hesitate to ask. The modeling community here is a wealth of knowledge and probably has a library that is second to none (Check out the "A New Book in My Library) thread down in the WORLD WAR II - GENERAL section

 

[SANCER]

Welcome to the forum WolfRacer, in the same way a few years ago I retook the hobby and has been my best therapist.

As George (Fubar57) says ... you have fallen into a family of experts knowledgeable in military aviation, excellent model makers willing to support you with images, references, recommendations and enthusiastic camaraderie.
It is a very clean work that show us so far; I will be attentive to what follows.

Saludos desde México amigo

Luis Carlos

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice work and welcome. You might consider joining a group build.

 

[WolfRacer]

Thanks!

What would be a good subforum for asking people about references for aircraft?

Nice work and welcome. You might consider joining a group build.

I will admit I'm not entirely sure what a group build is At first I thought it was building a single kit as a group, but it seems to be a group of people building a bunch of kits with a specific theme?

 

[fubar57]

Regarding references. If you're looking for info on a specific aircraft you could look in the World War II - Aviation/Aircraft Pictures section. For colors, decals, paints etc, look in the Modeling section, many forums there. And of course, ask anytime you need help during a build. Better to get it correct before paint and glue is added than have to strip it down....trust me, I've been there. You're correct about the GBs. This builds theme is Military Conflicts of the 1950s

 

[JKim]

The GB's are really fun so I recommend jumping into one if you have the chance!

 

[WolfRacer]

Ok, been too long since I updated this. It's taken me a while to do the engine. Basically out of the box, but added the ignition wires. Overall I didn't put a huge amount of effort in to the engine because it's pretty well hidden, you only see it if you look straight down the fuselage and even then you only see a small part of it.

None the less the ignition wires took me a while, both as far as execution and also spent ages planning how to do it, 28 individual wires My first attempt at doing ignition wires, it was a test case more than anything because I want to have an exposed engine on a 32nd Spitfire I'm doing and wanted to practice on something.

I might throw a brown/oily wash over the cover thingo at the front (not sure what it's called? I guess it covers a gearbox, ignition system and governor for pitch adjustment?), but since you can barely see it once the propeller spinner is in place, it's probably fine as it is.

 

[fubar57]

Very nice job on the wiring. True that it sucks when all your hard work gets hidden but still rewarding knowing what you can accomplish.

 

[WolfRacer]

Yeah, I'm almost tempted to try a 1/32 Zero so I can have an exposed engine I really love the look of a radial engine.

The exhausts on the 1/48 kit don't go through and connect to the engine so even if I wanted to there's not really any point hacking up the cowling to have the engine exposed as it only looks decent from the front.

 

[WolfRacer]

Does anyone know what colour the inside of the cowling should be? Would it have been aotake?

 

[SANCER]

I do not have on hand the correct name of the cabin interior color, but I used it as a base metallic blue Tamiya (X-13). Someone else will give you better information.

Very good job so far. I also am a fan of interiors, engines and landing gear.
This Zero was my first plane on 1/48, now that I went back to hobby ... you can see it in my gallery.

Saludos

Luis Carlos