Couple of them actually. Its the Tamiya 1:48. The instructions say to use the grey green color, AS something, but I can’t find it. I actually just wanted the grey color I’ve seen zeroes in, what color Tamiya paint should I use?
Also, I’ve been trying to find PE detail parts for some of my kits including this one and a revell P-61. I’ve looked all over online but I cant find any. Can anyone give me a good place to look? Are there PE kits for most planes?
One more question. I want to do a base for the Zero where it is flying. What should I use to hold it up and how do I get it in the plane?
A good friend on here is building the same thing. He is using XF-20 (Medium Grey),
Go and have a look on the War in the Pacific GB. Great stuff being built there,
Good luck,
…Guy
Are you building a Japanes navy or Army Zero. They both used different shades of grey. The Navy used a grey/green close to a British Sky shade. The Japanese Army used more of a straight grey on the underside. Also take a close look at the cowl color it is not striagh black like you will often see but a blue/black. If you want a real nice Zero you are going to have to mix this color up youself. Here is a picture of an acurrately restored Japanese Navy Zero.
Soulcrusher[oX)]
That overall grey-green colour is Tamiya XF-76. (AS-29 in the spray can.) The cowling can be X-18 or (X-3: 1 + XF-1: 1).
For the green and grey schemes, use XF-70 (or XF-11) and XF-12. Keep in mind, however, that Mitsubishi and Nakajima also differed in the greens used in their respective finishes.
You can use XF-71 for the cockpit colour. If you want to be more specific, however, try these mixes dependent on the manufacturer. Mitsubishi made at least partly all Models, and Nakajima made Model 21s and Model 52s and later operational variants in conjunction with Mitsubishi. If your Zero was Mitsubishi-built, the cockpit colour would be (XF-49: 1 + XF-58: 1). A Nakajima-built Zero’s cockpit colour would be (XF-3: 1 + XF-21: 1 + XF-58: 1).
Hope this helps.
Soulcrusher: The Zero was strictly a Navy aircraft, as indicated by the A6M designation. Army fighters always bore the “Ki-” prefix. The Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service (IJNAS) also frequently used the type as a land-based fighter.
Thanks for the paint help guys. Jagdwolf- You know I went and looked in the manual after your answer because XF-76 sounded familiar. What I had been thinking of was XF-71, cockpit green. But then to my surprise I noticed it said XF-76 in parenthises underneath the AS-29 listing. I’m doing the early war version so I needed the right color. I love that Tamiya gives like 7 different versions too.
Anyone have any help on the other questions?
I’m off to Hobby Town tommorow for some XF-76
Squadron.com has PE for the P-61 as well as most aircraft. In their search window, just put the plane type in the “keyword” search. For instance, for P-61 accessories, just type P-61 into the search. Though sometimes, you have to try variations, like Me262 instead of Me-262, in order to get all the possible parts. They don’t seem to have a lot of consistency when it comes to searching. It pays to be a bit generic when searching Squadron’s site.
And if you come across a set you can’t find on squadron, check http://www.eduard.cz/ as they’re the premier manufacturer of PE.
-Fred
The AS in the instruction refers to Tamiya’s spray lacquers designed for aircraft. Eduard makes PE sets for the P-61 (both interior and exterior). They don’t make them for the Tamiya Zeros (those are fairly old kits) but you can probably modify a PE set for a Hasegawa kit.
Good luck,
Jim C
Hill Country Hobby
jimc@hillcountryhobby.com
I just posted some pics of my newly completed 1/48 Tamiya A6M2 Zero today. I used the Tamiya XF-76 Grey-Green on my kit as well as the XF-71 interior green. Yeah, it took me a few moments of studying the instructions to catch the AS-29, XF-76 correlation. I used the Eduard IJN PE seatbelt set and used the ones labled “Mitsubishi”.
I posted my pics after I read your post and I hope that they help you get an idea of how the paint will appear. I look forward to seeing pics of your completed Zero.
Good Modeling, Joe