Awesome . Looks like a very cool subject!
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@keavdog Roster Updated! 
Just a note. You may have missed @JoeCalPo’s addition, the Auxiliary Subchaser Shonan Maru. It was so short, it’s only a few paragraphs that anyone could overlook it. I’m not sure if he wanted it included, but you might want to check.
Gary
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Airfix 1:72 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero
Small update today in the absence of much bench time, using Tamiya Acrylics thinned with Mr Colour Levelling Thinner 400 we’ve:
- Assembled and Primed the engine and inners of the cowling in XF-1 Flat Black
- Painted the MG Mounts and Gunsight in XF-71 Cockpit Green (IJN)
- Painted the Machine Guns in XF-1 Flat Black
A nice detail here was that Airfix had moulded the cocking handles for the MG’s, which protruded back into the cockpit for an almost “Red Baron” sort of aesthetic. This allowed the pilot to manually clear any gun jams.
We’ve also done some cleanup of some runaway Tamiya Extra-Thin Cement and applied some Deluxe Materials Perfect Plastic Putty between two strips of Tamiya masking tape in order to fill over the joint between hull halves. Once the putty had sat for a few minutes, we pulled the tape, which had confined the putty just to the target areas.
Unfortunately we’re a little self-limiting here, as putty needs to set and lacquer-based thinner needs to gas out before I glaze and drybrush with water-based acrylics over the top.
Love the badge @cbaltrin! Very fitting for the topic at hand…
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I look forward to displaying it proudly Someday … hopefully.
Ahh yes, Gary, thanks for the reminder. I seem to remember this. This was, shall we say, an unorthodox way to enter a group build. I had to go to scalemates to figure out what kit this was and they I noticed a tiny image of the kit box was in one of the posts 
.
No matter, for sure it qualifies and the interesting bit of history is appreciated as well. I will get the roster/wall updated. IJN Auxiliary Subchaser Shonan Maru by AKAMODEL
Hi @JoeCalPo , Sorry for missing your entry! Your Sub Chaser completion has been added to the roster. Thanks also for the interesting history of the ship and it’s demise!
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Thank you for noting my entry, Gary.
I definitely was sharing my build with the group.
Regards,
Joe
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Airfix 1:72 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero
Another small update, but another couple of tasks that are good to get done, this time using Vallejo Game Colour acrylics:
- Engine was drybrushed in 72.052 Silver
- MG Mounts and Gunsight were glazed with a 1:1 mix of 72.030 Goblin Green and 72.051 Black.
Much of the area around the gunsight will be painted over with an anti-glare black, before transitioning back to the nominal hull colour however we wanted to make sure the gunsight and its frame was appropriately painted and shaded first.
We’ve also sanded back our earlier filling, with the residual putty revealing how wide a small misclose between parts can effect the lines of a model
That’s a tidy little ship @JoeCalPo! Looks like a proper act of surgery to get her together, well done!
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That’s looking really good! I’m always impressed by how much detail you guys manage to get into these little 1/72 aircraft.
WWII fighters are already tiny compared to the modern jets I’m used to building, and then you shrink one down to 1/72 and the miniaturization factor really becomes apparent. I’ve never worked on an aircraft that small, and frankly, it looks challenging. 
Nice work!
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She’s really looking good! That ‘Zero’ is coming out extremely well! Looking forward to seeing you cross the finish line with it, Bravo!!
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Ha the way I see it though, when you upscale to 1:48 then kit manufacturers are then obliged to integrate more detail rather than simply do a bigger and less fiddly version of the 1:72 kit. They’re still going to render as many details as is practical to render via injection moulding at the scale.
I feel like 1:72 gives the right balance of having physically mouldable details without the subject looking sparse or in need of aftermarket features to get a passing grade.
If anything, this scale isn’t so much a challenge for me but laziness at not having to go into an equivalent level of detail on a kit that’s twice the size
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Plus, more room in the display case…
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Started work on this Fine Molds kit. I’m terrible at taking pictures but I do hope to get some better shots of the cockpit. The fuselage halves are clamped closed to maintain the cockpit stays put until the glue sets. It’s only attached to the port side for now.
Wings and gear bays are done and put together. They will be attached once I get the fuselage button up and seams corrected, if I have any. I’m not overly enthusiastic about that though. Much of the detail seems rather spartan at best.
The Q1W1, “Lorna” seems to look like a Japanese version of the Ju-88, although it’s a lot smaller aircraft. Still it’s not one you’d see often and I am slowly getting into the build. I hope the decals behave because there are not any aftermarket replacements!!
Till next time,
Freddie from Palm Beach Gardens
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Cracking start Freddie! Not gonna lie, so many of the details (even the cockpit layout) screamed “JP-88” 
If you have a Ju-88 casually lying around, I think putting them side by side would be a fascinating image once assembly is done
… It’s probably not quite as disproportionate as @JoeCalPro putting his Shonan Maru Sub-Hunter next to the USS New Jersey though
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@pr154 That’s a fair point. I hadn’t really thought about it from the other direction—the larger the scale, the more detail the manufacturer almost has to give you, and then of course I feel compelled to do something with all of it.
@fjs3 And yes, you definitely win on display space. I just bought another display case and I’m already trying to figure out what I’m going to do when I fill it. Apparently 1/48 wasn’t a very good long-term real estate decision.
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1/72 is a great way to fit more models! I even have a few hanging from my ceiling like so many of us used to do as kids.
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I have never heard of this plane, luckily its in 1/72. Since I build in 1/48, otherwise I would HAVE to get one. 
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Good progress on the Fine Molds Q1W1,Model 11, ‘Tokai’ (Eastern Sea), Reporting name: ‘Lorna’.
I still have some work to do on the fuselage seams; down the spine and under the belly. Wing root is a bit of a pain in the a…rump too, but then I knew that going in. Neat little model but it is one of the earlier types of Fine Molds kits, circa 1998, and it does have some fit issues. Still, it’s different and it sort of looks like a Japanese version of the Junkers Ju-88 only smaller.
These aircraft were purpose built to hunt American submarines which at the time, were a major problem for Japanese shipping and naval movements. They were an effective ASW aircraft. Fortunately, there weren’t that many built and they were underpowered. This in turn made them slow and easy targets for US Navy aircraft.
This machine will be from the 901st KoKutai and was based in Shanghi China, late summer 1945.
That’s where I am at with this one. Looking at another one too, but I’ll get to that after this one hits the finish line.
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