I’m looking to do a series of quarter-scale ZEROS and I want to do two with these schemes, but I have yet to find actual documentation of either in pictures…anyone ever seen these in real pics or have refs on them???
I will look at some of my books when I get home…but the top one was flown by Iwamoto Tetsuzo, and you may be able to search on him to find a picture or two.
I know that is zero help but…
Yeah, I knew that was his plane but couldn’t find any actual pics showing that he had a mount w/ those extensive markings on them (there is another option in the box w/ a similar plane of his sans kill markins), especially when it was fairly rare for individual pilots to mark their planes w/ kills…
The lower plane was one that was supposed to have flown off of the Junyo in late '44, but again, no picture documentation…Tamiya offers the same markings sans the horizontal red stripe in the fin…I like this scheme because it was rare to see a A6M5 model on carrier duty…
Here’s the box-art from the one that flew from the Junyo:
You are aware you are adding to my buy list? I am on a bit of a Japanese buying spree at the moment with the Zero being the latest craze. I just picked up the A6M8 to add to my collection.
Where did you find it? Those are hard to come by…
As far as the ZERO goes, get the new Tamiya release—one of the best quarter-scale a/c ever released in terms of engineering and fit…you can build a masterpiece OOB…
I beleive ksm-miniatures in here just did one in AIRCRAFT not too long ago…they also have an upgrade set for it w/ metal cannon barrels and pitot, etc…check his thread out—the plane falls together…
What I like about Hasegawa is that you get a very rock-solid kit in its own right, but they also release their marks with tons of different decal options that make them more interesting…gotta love the box-art as well!
I picked it up at the Hobby Depot in Tempe AZ last month when I was on a business trip. I grabbed it as soon as I saw it. It appears to be a pretty nice kit. I also picked up the metal barrels to go with it. They even shipped it back to me…great folks.
If you are talking about the A6M5 that Tamiya just put out I picked that one up too, alnog with their add on stuff for it. I am saving it until my skills get a little better. I want to do it justice as it does look like a fantastic kit. That and I have the A6M2, 3, and 8 to do before I tackle it.
I agree about the box art…that is what initially draws me to a kit in the first place. They seem to go a little above the norm with the Japanese stuff (go figure).
So which of the two schemes do you like best (that I’ve posted)?
Is that A6M8 in 48th or 72nd?
I think I like the second one a bit better. I like the kill markings of the first one, but the red tail strip kinda puts the second one over the top for me. I think their tail markings could be a bit boring so I like the color.
The A6M8 I picked up is the Hasegawa 1/48 one.
I’m leaning that way, especially if I can’t confirm the validity of the kill markings…like I wrote before—very rare to be able to model a carrier-borne A6M5…and since I’ve seen these markings on more than one company’s decal sheet (w/ some differences, but calling out same unit and tail code)—there must be a ref pic out there somewhere…
I will keep looking for a pic for you.
Are you going to do a WIP on this one? Might inspire me to buy some more zeros’s…as if I need more inspiration.
Cool, thanks…
you need help…uuuhhh does that mean you want me to hold your hand…hmmmm?? [whstl]
I got some Zero info at home…lemme’ see what I find…
I am afraid to report that after looking through my book collection, and even my old Take Off magazines from England I could not find any reference picture for your use.[:^)]
I will begin the beating immediately.
I went to the LHS today and bought a book about Aces of the rising sun and it has a big article about him, but it only had pictures of his gray mounts not the green ones. Sorry
Since there are such few references, I once made up my own markings and won many awards. Make sure, though, if you are making a well weathered plane, you should make the reds look a little like reddish brown. That is what happened to Japanese red paint.
I have found in the past that Japanese manufacturers (namely Tamiya and Hasegawa) have never that I am aware offered a marking option w/o pictorial backup…hmmmmm…
[*-)]
Ach !!!