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Shelf of Doom 1/48 Zero. Finished 12/30/21


Stikpusher

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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

DD104-A2-F-1-DE3-4831-A0-BA-B9955-AE6706

Then I assembled it into the fuselage

334-B0-B39-5-BF4-4-F4-E-8334-95-D615-A09

Today so far I did seam clean up on the fuselage, then added the wings

88881199-DB25-4620-80-A5-9-B2-ADA535661.

Then I added the horizontal stabilizers

DD457-F68-BAD7-48-F1-A6-B7-AAACFADA87-AA

and test fitted the engine and cowling

5474-A75-D-D3-C4-4212-865-D-08-C8913-FFD

So far, so good… I love these old kits that take shape practically overnight.

Edited by Stikpusher
Completed
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On 11/29/2021 at 6:09 PM, ghodges said:

Looking good! Git 'er done!

 

Gil :cool:

I’m working on it… gotta mask up the canopy here next… hope I don’t have any more X-Acto slips… 😲

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Canopy masked off and glued into place

CFB10015-B8-F1-4379-9-F0-F-457001043-C7-

Now it’s ready for paint….

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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.

D1523616-B96-B-4-FF4-9520-DB6-A0-EF2-CE1

3-C88-F8-D9-45-A9-4-FD2-90-B5-79-F580770

I’m gonna let it dry overnite, then I’ll mask off the wings to do the yellow leading edge ID stripe

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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. 

6-E38-FD96-CF58-4-FF4-9016-9-C6160-B11-D

Next up, gloss coat, then decals…

Edited by Stikpusher
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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…

4-F19-CBBC-7-EC5-4-AE6-9-F94-119-EE37-B6

527587-C2-CBF2-481-C-8-D05-E0-F3-FDF4330

just a bit more of a ways to go now on this one…

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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

075-D54-B2-C99-A-4-A78-8411-8-D9-F9-D7-A

Today I touched up the propeller stripes where needed with the yellow pen

E99-FD483-032-F-42-AD-AACB-40-DDCC9-DBBE

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.

A9-DA5642-A064-4753-82-F5-8382-B9808329.

Now on to the next steps…

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/13/2021 at 8:43 PM, ghodges said:

Ooooo....(note to self): gotta get those pens!

 

Nice!

 

Gil :cool:

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.

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Well, today I have wrapped up my Zero build. Another longtime sideliner completed!

E2-A618-C3-6766-4-ED7-BDB3-764-FFE582255

7-F85-DC71-DCEB-43-C5-B946-BAFC5-DC3-C58

And posed on the Eduard Carrier Deck base that I’ve been working on during pauses in this build

97-B3407-A-2416-45-DC-9-BB8-05-DB7-D64-D

Farewell last project of 2021!

I’ll get a proper walkaround batch of photos up tomorrow

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  • Stikpusher changed the title to Shelf of Doom 1/48 Zero. Finished 12/30/21

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!

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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. 

93-D31-FF9-F2-A4-41-A1-A60-A-B28-F613505

5-F60-C884-EBD2-4-BC5-8548-43-D610-F2-D8

025-D56-C2-45-E0-4039-B5-D8-72137%20E5-A

0-FFBA998-FB47-4-F20-BC98-0-AB73-A93-AB8

B33-B730-B-AC9-C-48-EF-9-EA9-8-C79928249

8-B794-D38-F262-49-EA-9-A2-D-A8-BA6-F1-B

69-E918-E6-EAEA-448-F-986-D-FA6-E4-C2-B7

93-B2-A0-CE-7025-40-C3-8225-AEDD7-EFC843

B0925835-F7-CC-4-ED6-AE58-9-A4010-B80-D0

6-D78-A1-CA-43-E4-4-BFE-B183-11-B0-FCF1-

06633196-6-DBD-4-E12-BA3-D-C34-BA6-FFCFD

It’s nice to finish another old shelf queen. Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcome.

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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.

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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.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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!  🙂 

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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.

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