Stikpusher Posted November 29, 2021 Report Share Posted November 29, 2021 (edited) This is my latest effort at reducing the queue on my “Shelf of Doom”. It’s the old early 80’s 1/48 Hasegawa A6M5 Zero. Anyways, I started this one, barely, several years back, then sidelined it for some unknown reason. In the summer I pulled it out and resumed work, primarily in the cockpit. Anyways, seeing how this is a simple kit and that the end of the year is approaching, I decided that I wanted to try and get it finished by the end of the year, so after all the hustle and bustle of the Thanksgiving weekend was over, I got back to work on it. Yesterday I finished up the cockpit Then I assembled it into the fuselage Today so far I did seam clean up on the fuselage, then added the wings Then I added the horizontal stabilizers and test fitted the engine and cowling So far, so good… I love these old kits that take shape practically overnight. Edited December 30, 2021 by Stikpusher Completed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted November 30, 2021 Report Share Posted November 30, 2021 Looking good! Git 'er done! Gil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2021 On 11/29/2021 at 6:09 PM, ghodges said: Looking good! Git 'er done! Gil I’m working on it… gotta mask up the canopy here next… hope I don’t have any more X-Acto slips… 😲 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2021 Canopy masked off and glued into place Now it’s ready for paint…. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 Well, today I got in a good airbrush session and got the base colors applied. Tamiya XF-11 JN Green and XF-12 JN Gray thinned with Mr Levelling Thinner. And then I used Testors Enamel square bottle black on the cowling. I’m gonna let it dry overnite, then I’ll mask off the wings to do the yellow leading edge ID stripe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 Wow that looks fantastic! Nice smooth coverage Carlos! Way to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 (edited) Thanks Mark. Thinning Tamiya acrylics with Mr Leveling thinner really does help those paints. Finished up the base colors this morning. Added the wing leading edge Yellow ID stripes, and painted the propellor blades. Then I had to go back and do a little touch upon the IJN Green. So then I did a bit of mottling to give a nice blotchy appearance. Next up, gloss coat, then decals… Edited December 6, 2021 by Stikpusher 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 Been working on my Zero some more over the past couple of days. First I applied a gloss coat, allowed that to dry overnite, then today was decals. Since the kit decals were probably at least 35 years old, so I hit them with a dose of Micro Decal Film. Unfortunately the red stripes for the wing no step areas did not survive, in spite of the coat. But all the other kit decals came out ok. And I used some Aeromaster Hinomarus instead of the kit decals, since the real aircraft had the white borders overpainted with green, while the kit decals had the white edging. Anyways… just a bit more of a ways to go now on this one… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheveuxroux Posted December 12, 2021 Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 Definitely shows off the clean lines of that aircraft ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 13, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2021 I agree Bob. The Zero was a very sleek design. Since the kit’s stripe decals gave me some problems last week, I picked up these two extra fine point paint pens on Friday to deal with the problems Today I touched up the propeller stripes where needed with the yellow pen and then I added the no step wing area red stripes, since those decals had self destructed during the decalling session. The red is not a 100% match, but it’s better than nothing. Now on to the next steps… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted December 14, 2021 Report Share Posted December 14, 2021 Ooooo....(note to self): gotta get those pens! Nice! Gil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johneaton Posted December 28, 2021 Report Share Posted December 28, 2021 Me too on those paint pens! Almost off the doom shelf, Carlos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2021 On 12/13/2021 at 8:43 PM, ghodges said: Ooooo....(note to self): gotta get those pens! Nice! Gil I see that Hobby Lobby is now also carrying the Gundam paint pens, so I’ll go grab a few of those as well. They have an even finer tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2021 Well, today I have wrapped up my Zero build. Another longtime sideliner completed! And posed on the Eduard Carrier Deck base that I’ve been working on during pauses in this build Farewell last project of 2021! I’ll get a proper walkaround batch of photos up tomorrow 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johneaton Posted December 31, 2021 Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 Very nice, Carlos. The deck looks great with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted December 31, 2021 Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 Excellent! And knocking one off the shelf of doom is a great way to finish off the year! Congrats! Gil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 31, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 John and Gil, thank you for your kind words. John I love the Eduard deck base. It’s kind of got me thinking about building more IJN carrier based types in the not too distant future. Gil, you are so right about feeling good resurrecting and finishing a doom build. That makes two this year, and both barely started. Gotta clean up that backlog! More next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted December 31, 2021 Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 Sweet job Carlos and that deck really brings this plane to life! I hope I can follow your lead and finish off some of my Shelf of Shame backlog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted December 31, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 Thank you Mark. I’m slowly chipping away at my old shelf queens… two last year, and two this year. Perhaps next year I can do three. So here it is in a proper all angles session, my last completion of 2021, Hasegawa’s 1982 vintage A6M5 Zero. I bought and started it in 2016, barely, then sidelined it for unknown reasons. I restarted it a bit over a month ago and wrapped it up on the 30th. I added a PE harness in the cockpit, and used some Aeromaster Hinomarus for the green outline types that the actual aircraft wore when it was captured on Saipan. I figured it must have had a decent pilot to survive the Marianas Turkey Shoot, as it was captured intact and in flying condition on Saipan after that battle. It was brought back to the US for evaluation. Today it is the only flying Zero still equipped with the original Sakae engine. All others still flying today have had their engines replaced by other types that fit the airframe. Decals aside from the Hinomarus are from the kit, and the paint colors are Tamiya. It’s nice to finish another old shelf queen. Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 Sensational job Carlos! Wow, that Zero is small next to the Hellcat, amazing! I wonder of that was one of the planes flown by Saburo Sakai; he survived the Turkey Shoot, fending off more than twenty Hellcats in a big furball before he landed at Saipan for lack of fuel, if I recall correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johneaton Posted January 8, 2022 Report Share Posted January 8, 2022 Well done, Carlos, and good shot with the Hellcat. Mark, Sakai's last combat was in the A6M2 marked V-107 on August 7, 1942. He had a long convalescence and the other combat flying he did was based in Iwo Jima and Japan, if I remember correctly. He didn't get back to combat flying until early 1944. Iwo was where he had the big furball with Hellcats and finally escaped by maneuvering the fight to where there was enough flak that the Hellcats gave up. That was in an A6M5. He also flew the George and the Raiden during that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted January 9, 2022 Report Share Posted January 9, 2022 Thank you John for the clarification. i had read his autobiography many years ago; so much of it is forgotten. I remember enough to know what an incredible pilot he was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdCarr Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 Carlos, I love this build! Especially the paint job. The words simple yet elegant come to mind. I too used a Sharpie paint pen in a build I finished last year (I need to post some photos of it soon). It was of a M-41 Walker Bulldog tank that disaster struck. I, being rather new to modelling again, used a napkin to sop up extra MIcro-Sol on a decal. The napkin promptly became part of the decal in a very bad way! The decal was of a white number on the side of the turret. It was in very bad shape. I purchased and used a Sharpie white-paint pen which fixed it up well enough. Man I was frettin' lol. Great work on a sleek plane. Love it! 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted February 1, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 Thanks Ed. Yes, the Sharpie and Gundam fine tip paint pens are a godsend for decal mishaps. Much easier to control than even the best paint brush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 Awesome. I need to get some of them for some of my decal mishaps.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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