73north

I have started work ,
on this very rare limited edition Model by Hasegawa
won on E-Bay a few months ago


Mitsubishi A6M8 type 54/64

Scale: 1/48

History

Most modelers will be aware of the history of earlier Zero versions, but this last one is less well known,

I only had read about it whilst reading the Martin Caidin Paperback Book called Zero Fighter ,
this was Published in late 1960's by Purnell’s
[ Weapons Book Number 9 ]

If you have never read any books from the Series - also published by Ballantine in early 1970's, under History of Violent Century ,
then I highly recommend you do ,as they were all really well written and illustrated , and they are now selling for quite a few pounds on Ebay .

I certainly had never heard of a model of it until I stumbled upon this box.
All through its development the Zero gained more weight through added armor and heavier armament. It never got a bigger engine though. After the relative ineffectiveness of the A6M5c and A6M6c the Japanese Navy finally realized that a more powerful engine was needed if the Zero was to keep up with the new allied fighters.
So it gave permission to install the 1500hp Kinsei 62 engine.
Due to the larger diameter of this engine a new cowling was fitted. Partly because of this and partly to safe weight, the fuselage guns where omitted The carburettor intake was enlarged and a bigger prop was fitted with a larger spinner. Wing armament stayed the same as on the type 52. The wings itself were modified to be able to carry two 150l drop tanks. This freed the fuselage centerline for installing a 500kg-bomb mounting. Two prototypes where completed in April 1945. Flight-testing revealed no serious problems but the oil cooling system was revised. Top priority was given to a production order for 6300 machines but none was completed before the end of the war.
The kit

Packed in a familiar Hasegawa box you will find a bag with 5 grey sprues, a bag with the resin parts made by Jaguar of the USA .
. The clear parts are bagged together with the decals and a further two bags with the etched parts
The injection-molded parts have crisp detail.
The canopy is thin and very clear. The resin parts are bubble free but a bit less crisp than the plastic parts , and you have to get rid of a lot of flash and clean it up before you can start /.

The fit of the parts is excellent.
The clear instructions are in the usual Hasegawa style
and leave no questions.
Accuracy

The dimensions are spot on. Others before me have already commented on great accuracy of the new mold Hasegawa Zeros.

This one is no different because it is basically an A6M5 with a new larger engine ,the Cowling is much bigger, the finished model surely looks like a Zero on steroids.

The new engine spoils the thoroughbred lines of the previous versions, and makes the aircraft look a lot more potent and menacing.
The old engine is still the same as in the A6M5 kit and it looks decidedly too small in the new cowling.

Although the larger spinner covers up most of the front, you still might want to look for an after market Kinsei,

as I have done when I bought the Resin Replacement made by Engines and Things .

This is well worth the effort , and looks great .

The wings and landing gear are as per M5 kit. The bomb is made up out of a resin body with etched fins and detonators. It will look very good. The drop tanks are also resin parts. Finally the metal prop, the canopy and various other bits and pieces can be installed.
Painting details are given throughout construction.
The decal sheet gives two options: Markings for the second prototype, and fictitious markings for a what-if machine based with the Yokosuka aircorps in 1946 . Both machines are painted in dark green over pale green, with a black cowling and a brown prop.









Box Art



Under Construction

73north

This is the Resin After-market replacement by Engines and Things -

it is available from Rollmodels on the internet ( price about £ 10 )



I am not using the ugly ring , but as you can see from the rest of the engine - it is very detailed
and I intend to add extra wiring from copper wire , for added effect

regards

David

rjwood_uk

nice work so far mate!!

are you going to be brush painting the whole thing?

the spark plug wires will really bring the engine to life.

__________________
...One finished model...5 O'Clock in the morning!

GEEDUBBYA

Howdy david,


The model is looking really good, I cant wait to see more photos and the finished model. Keep us posted on the build.


Have a good day,

Greg

wonwinglo

Very nice David,the cockpit detail is excellent.

73north

Hi ,

I am finally finished , helped greatly that I was on holiday

this entire week

The main # 1 trouble with the Model Build were

the extremely high amount of work to clean up the resin parts

and then make them fit together , the cowling had to be trimmed and

grinded down to allow the aftermarket engine to fit , and the air scoop

underneath ( longer than normal zero - in resin ) had to be trimmed and

adjusted , so that cowling and air scoop fitted together , thankfully I

always do a dry run , so became aware this needed extreme work

Did weathering usual way , and use small silver pencil for parts showing

wear and tear - Eduard parts were very useful , and the engine

replacement was very good , a much more busy engine look than if I

had

not replaced the wrong engine supplied by Hasegawa

I hollowed out the engine exhaust stubs , although you can't really

see it in these views



best wishes to all










enjoy - hope you like it ?

Bunkerbarge

Lovely weathering job. I have never tried the chipped paint effect along panel lines but from what I can gather the Jap planes were very poorly looked after externally so it is certainly something you would have to get your head round to make a kit of one.

The wash looks fantastic as well, great job.

__________________

“Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days"

wonwinglo

The paintwork on Jap aircraft was highly functional and had no proper primer,parts were sozzled with lanolin prior to shipment and any paint applied had the effect of flaking off the airframe revealing a purplish alloy effect.
A good way to achieve this is with sea salt,dampen the salt and apply to portions of the airframe where flaking is required,paint the model,allow to dry and brush oof with a stiff artists bristle brush.
David,I would be interested to hear how you created the same effect on your model ? thank you.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

73north

Hi ,

No real secret -

the application of the decals, I gloss coat the entire model for one final time. Using my airbrush, I give the entire model a good coat of clear gloss using Floquil Crystal Coat. I dilute the Crystal Coat 50/50 with Xylene as thinner. This is actually a lacquer paint and lacquer thinner, but I have never had trouble covering Model Master enamels with them. I thin the Model Master enamels with the same Xylene thinner, which prepares them for over-coating by this gloss finish. The purpose of this clear coat is to prepare the surfaces for application of washes using thinner-based paints. After applying the gloss coat, I let the model dry overnight so the washes do not eat into the gloss paint.

I apply thinner-based enamel paint washes. I tend toward the darker colors, usually black. I generally will also include a medium brown or dark tan wash in select areas. I apply these by dipping a paint brush in the paint color, then swishing the brush in a cap full of mineral spirits (thinner) until the brush is mostly clean. The brush tip, wet with "dirty" thinner, is then carefully touched to the places where panel lines cross and the corners of details. Capillary action draws the "dirty" thinner off the brush and along the panel lines and edges of the details. Controlling the "dirtiness" of the thinner effects the darkness of the washes. Repeated applications also make progressively darker highlights.

Invariably, some of the "dirty" thinner gets onto the model surfaces around the panel lines where I touch the paintbrush. To remove these excesses, I swipe my finger gently over the spot in the direction of the airflow on the aircraft. This will create a small streak. Controlling the locations where I touch the paintbrush to the model controls where these streaks are created.

Raised or engraved panel lines work the same in this process. There are inside edges with raised panel lines, similar to the troughs created by engraved panel lines. On raised lines, I try to only highlight one side of the panel line, thus avoiding the look where a bright line (the top of the raised panel line) is surrounded on both sides by dark highlighting.

Following the washes, I flat coat the model, again using my airbrush. For clear flat paint, I am hooked on PollyScale (used to be PollyS) Flat Finish. This paint gives the flattest finish I have found. Here is when the fruits of my labors start to come alive. With the model now a uniform flat sheen, all the subtle variations in colors created by the washes start to become really visible.

After the flat coat, I turn to my air brush to do shading on the model. This shading takes two forms. The first form is the simulation of actual dirt. Many of the streaks created by the washes are rather light in their centers with darker edges. I use the air brush to lightly fill in the centers of these streaks.

I also will lightly draw lines along the panel lines of the model with a very fine silver pencil , works every time.

I use the air brush at very low pressure to create exhaust and gun smoke on the Model - prefer not too much


Hope this answers the question

Best wishes to you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

jspitza

Hi73 North!
Actually, was wondering how you craft the canopy frames? They look great and very precise! Take care, Jeff