Tamiya 1:48 Mitsubishi A6M3 (Captured)

[Crimea_River]

Way out of my depth Geo, sorry.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks guys. Definitely darker. I found another build and the guy painted them metallic blue but I'm not going that route. A photo of another captured Zero with the tail number EB-201 with the dark inner gear doors.

http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyBWZeros/A6M2-Hamp-(EB-201)-10.jpg
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I'll get to that when the time comes. Anyhoo.....where we stand as of now. I noticed while editing that the I.P. decal needs a bit of trimming on the bottom and gun butts need painted

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I never noticed this on my last Zero build but I'm going to drill the gun troughs open. As per the photo, more clean-up needed

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Noted in my last build, I found out that Zero landing gear were canted in toward the fuselage slightly, similar to the Fw 190. This is confirmed in these instructions

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks great Go. Maybe Wayne will have an answer to the gear door question.

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far George!

 

[fubar57]

Thank you. The parts soon to become whole

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Bondage isn't really necessary. A quick fuselage/wing test fit shows that I may have to shim up the wings. They don't sit high enough along the wing root

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Looks good Geo

 

[Wayne Little]

Mmmm..... can't say for sure on those gear doors, under normal circumstances should be the Mitsubishi colour, but does look rather dark, certainly could be a repaint as with the rest of the Aircraft......Colour pictures.....anyone..??

 

[nuuumannn]

Dunno if these'll help. This aircraft is a modern restoration, but the pics give a bit of detail and show the metallic blue colour commonly in use. Note the aftermost section of the door has a hinged triangular bit, also note the uplock hook that hooks onto a hoop on the main gear leg and folds the doors inwards via the U shaped bracket.

Detail Wheel Well

here's a leg in detail. Note the hoop on the lower casting of the leg.

Detail UC Leg

From the front you can clearly see the geometry of the U/C legs.

A6M3 front

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Grant.
I know sod all about Japanese aircraft, but if that blue colour is the 'normal' finish for the inside of the gear doors and wells, then I would think that this is the colour shown in the pics in question, rather than black. Not much point making all the effort re-painting areas that are not important, when the exterior colour change was the aim.

 

[fubar57]

As Wayne says, the insides of the wells and gear covers were Mitsubishi grey underside colour. My thoughts are they may have tried to match the semi-gloss black landing gear. The wells of the above aircraft are also darker than grey even taking shadow into effect. Seeing as the aircraft was restored at Eagle Farm, Brisbane, Imma thinkin' black would have been easier to attain than metallic blue. Anyhoo.....bondage required....

 

[Crimea_River]

Good progress. Shadow areas can be awfully dark depending on the camera settings so I wouldn't necessarily rule out the grey. My not even 2 cents worth.

 

[Airframes]

I think we need a colour pic for a model Geo's building - coat's on, and I'm out the door !!

 

[rochie]

There's always one !

and its always you

 

[Airframes]

Well someone has to do it old boy !

 

[Grant Barr]

Nice work Geo. The cockpit and engine came up really nice, I really like the wash you used to make the cylinder heads look grimy.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks all. Did some spritz, spritzing finally and kinda caved in. I went with metallic blue for the sole reason being, in the way-back-when, everyone considered this colour to be used on everything Japanese so....having many Japanese aircraft in the stash I somehow acquired three bottles from different brands. Years later we find out this isn't necessarily so. I masked off the wheel wells as I didn't want any dark over-spray that would need to be covered by a later lighter top colour. This is the first time I've airbrushed propeller blades, a right pain in the keester to get all around coverage. These were painted Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black as opposed to the Japanese colour as per the photos. I also painted the cowl this colour instead of the "correct" colour as it will be covered by the repaint.

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In the oval is the gear cover for the gear up option that Tamiya thankfully included. These will be used to mask the wheel well when I start spraying the body. A test fit of one showed a fantastic fit. I pushed it gently in place and had to pry it out. Next up comes the fun task of masking the canopy and then we can get back to spraying

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

A6M3's were Mitsubishi built and therefore should not have "dark" coloured gear doors. Nakajima built had the metallic blue in the wheel wells BUT the gear doors were still done the same as Mitsubishi....

I think the Zero in question was rebuilt from a few different aircraft so it's quite possible a different darker colour could have been used....once fully repainted.