Well I finally finished another plane and I am convinced I need to do more than 1-2 kits per year if I am going to improve my skills (LOL). Sometimes I swear I temporarily lose my mind during a build and regress to doing things I did when I was 10 (i.e lose or break a small part, too much glue, fingerprint, etc.)
This is a pretty nice basic kit OOB, but for Tamiya I most say I was not thrilled with the fit on the wings and had to do a lot of sanding all around and filling in the wing roots. Trying different fill methods and must say putty seems to work best for me over super glue. Anyway I did post this on the Group build - a first for me.
I did not want to weather this too much just some panel line and mild fading. Not real thrilled with the canopy - I seem to struggle here the most but just need more practice. Comments welcome.
Swede
That is an older Tamiya kit, I’ve built it and had the same problems you did. Its a nice plane to practice on though, Yours turned out pretty good!
Nice Zero. I still have one in the closet to work on, thanks for the heads up on the wing’s fit. What did you use for the fuselage color?
Glenn
[dto:] (aka ditto)
… right down to the “what paint did you use” question. Looks good.
The color is good old Tamiya XF-76 (IJN green gray) right out of the bottle with no other color added. They sure do a do a good job on paint. It looks pretty dead on. After I put on the decals I sprayed it with flat clearcoat from a rattle can which slightly darkens the color. Then to touch up around the canopy and the top I sprayed a very fine mist of XF-76 again concentrating on the middle of the panels and the top of the fuselage and blended around the canopy. I thought it came out nice and creates a slightly lighter look to simulate some fading.
Thanks for the comments glad I was not alone on the fit issues.
Swede
Always nice to see Lt. Sakai’s bird. Good Job!!