1-72 Hasegawa
A6M3 type 22 Zero
by
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Hello, fellow modelers!
I’d like to share with you my second Zero here at ARC,
specifically a Hasegawa 1-72 scale Mitsubishi A6M3 type 22. By the way, a Zero
was the first model I assembled, in 1972 I think. This one is actually the
fourth or fifth Zero I’ve built, but it’s the first from a high quality kit. I
will not focus this article in the building process, as this is an “out of the
box” build, except for the addition of masking tape seat belts.
The kit
It seems that the A6M3 has received less attention by
both the modelers and the kit manufacturing companies than its brothers, the
A6M2 and the A6M5. In 1-72 scale, the A6M3 kits from Hasegawa are still the
only kits available, to the best of my knowledge. Hasegawa’s 1-72 Zeroes are
well known and have been reviewed many times. Even though the molds were
produced some 20 years ago, they still yield beautiful representations of the
subject. Nevertheless, I found some problems during my build:
·
The fuselage is
narrower than the space between the upper left and right wing parts, leaving a
wide gap that calls for a lot of putty and sanding to correct.
·
The panel lines of the
upper and lower wing halves don’t match at several places.
·
Each main wheel’s axle
is molded in two halves, one half on the main undercarriage strut and the other
on the main undercarriage door. The problem is that the two halves don’t match
well, resulting in a misaligned wheel with respect to the strut. Furthermore,
the misalignment is not the same at both sides.
·
Although the inner
undercarriage doors are to be glued at an angle, their upper edges were molded
as if they were to be glued perpendicular to the wing. I filed the edges at an
angle to improve adhesion by increasing the contact area, but I couldn’t get
the same angle at both sides.
·
The fit between the
cockpit canopy and the upper fuselage isn’t good in the windshield area,
leaving a big gap that has to be filled carefully. I had to fill it in two
passes.
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Choosing the
camouflage scheme
I began building my type 22 kit (Hasegawa kit AP15)
more than five years ago. It had three decal options, two in field-applied IJN
dark green over IJN light grey and the other in overall IJN light grey. At
first instance I chose ‘188’ from the “Zuikaku” aircraft carrier, one of the
dark green over light grey versions, because it had two cannons protruding from
the wings and also because I wanted to experiment with the field-applied
finish. I had already painted the main undercarriage struts, the engine, the
inside of the engine cowling and the propeller as separate parts. When the
basic aircraft (fuselage, wings and stabilizers) was almost finished, I found
I’d inexplicably lost the kit’s decals.
By that time the kit AP15 had been discontinued, so I
first tried to paint the hinomarus and the other markings, and make the
trapezoidal wing walk red outlines from spare decal red stripes (as I did
before on my Airfix Zero,) while making the white fuselage bands from white
spare decals. In fact I succeeded painting the hinomarus, but I wasn’t able to
make acceptable masks to paint the ‘188’ tail serial numbers. My next strategy
was to search for aftermarket decals, but during several years I had no
success, so the model stayed unfinished for a long time. Meanwhile, I gathered
a lot of information on Zeroes’ different camouflage schemes. The discussion on
the so-called “Ameiro” (caramel) early Zeroes’ overall color caught my
attention, and I thought I could finish my Zero this way.
On the year 2010 Hasegawa released the kit again (kit
D26,) this time with optional parts for building types 22 and 32 (with clipped
wings,) and with decals for two type 22 and one type 32 aircraft. At the
beginning of 2011 I bought the kit again, with the main purpose of having the
necessary decals to finish my model. ‘X2-
Mixing and
painting of the “Ameiro” colors
When the main model (without engine, engine cowling
and undercarriage) was again ready to be painted, I did several experiments on
scrap plastic to tune the “Ameiro” colors. According to the information I
gathered, there are in fact two slightly different colors, one for the fabric
portions of the control surfaces, and the other for the remainder of the
aircraft.
My starting point for the “Ameiro” colors was the Greg
Springer’s mix formula with Model Master colors: 20 parts SAC Tan (FS34201) +
11 parts White + 1 part Zinc Chromate Green (fortunately, I already had all
these colors.) Taking into account that the above formulation is for full scale
“Ameiro” color, but my model is 1-72 scale, I simplified the formula to get a
lighter version. My first simplified formula was: 20 parts SAC Tan + 12 parts
White, which further simplifies to 5 parts SAC Tan + 3 parts White. I tested it
on scrap plastic but I found it to be too dark. Then I made several experiments
adding different amounts of white, eventually I arrived to 2 parts SAC Tan + 3
parts White, which is the mix I used for the fabric surfaces (mix “A”.) For the
remainder of the aircraft, I thought that mix ”A” was too green, so I made more
experiments adding RLM 79 Sand in different proportions, in order to slightly
shift the color towards a light green-tan. The selected formula for the
remainder of the aircraft was 4 parts SAC Tan + 1 part RLM 79 Sand + 7 parts
White (mix “B”.)
After masking the wheel wells and the canopy “glass”
surfaces, and painting the frames with the interior color (anti-glare
blue-black, same as the engine cowling according to the information I gathered,
although the new kit instructions suggests such an odd color as RLM 66
Schwarzgrau!) I airbrushed the control surfaces with mix “A,” then masked the
fabric portions and airbrushed the remainder of the aircraft and the exterior
of the undercarriage doors with mix “B.”
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Further
painting, weathering and finishing
As I had a complete new Zero kit unassembled, I
decided to use only the decals I’m not able to paint, in order to make it
possible to build the new kit in any of the two remaining versions. For the
version I choose, I had to use decals only for the tail serials ‘X2-
Although many modelers give their WW2 japanese
aircraft a heavy weathered finish, taking into account that in 1942-43 japanese
aircraft were well maintained and had better paint production standards than
two years later, I thought that a moderate weathering would suit best my model.
I developed another formula for “faded Ameiro,” and airbrushed it here and
there (not on every panel’s center, as seems to be the standard procedure.)
With regard to the panel lines, I’m not a fan of heavily accented panel lines,
because the panel lines are barely visible in photographs of actual aircraft,
even heavily weathered ones. I think
that the observer should be very close to a full size aircraft to see the panel
separations. However, panel lines do improve the look of a scale model.
Therefore, I slightly highlighted the panel lines with a 2H drawing pencil,
which made the panel lines just visible, and an F drawing pencil for those
corresponding to the control surfaces. I finished the weathering by applying
ground pastel chalks for the exhaust’s smoke and gun blast residues, and also
to represent dirt adjacent to the control surfaces’ panel lines. I even applied “exhaust’s smoke” to certain
sections of the undercarriage doors that would receive it when closed during
flight. After all that I airbrushed two coats of Polly Scale acrylic Gloss Finish
to seal the weathering and prepare the surface for further painting and decal
application. An acrylic gloss coat makes it possible to easily correct painting
mistakes easily if the next painting is done with enamels.
I masked and airbrushed the hinomarus and the
trapezoidal wing walk red outlines with Humbrol 154 Insignia Red, the same
color was used to brush paint the red dots on the caps of the fuselage and wing
fuel tanks. By the way, the new kit decals for the wing walk red outlines
doesn’t form a closed trapezoid, they’re opened at the outer end, but I painted
a closed trapezoid, because the old kit decals had it closed and also I’ve seen
many photographs of Zeroes with closed trapezoids outlined over their wings.
Another interesting fact is that the new kit decal and painting instructions
suggest using hinomarus with white outlines for the upper surfaces of ‘X2-
Now it was time for decal application. Hasegawa has
improved their decals a lot, specially the shade of the white (which I didn’t
use anyway,) but the decals are still thick, and the red band around the rear
fuselage didn’t conform 100 % to the panel lines despite many applications of
Micro Sol. I let the decals dry for a day before washing the main model to
remove decal residues. Meanwhile, I had to paint the engine cowling with
anti-glare blue-black. The AP15 kit instructions suggest using a mix of 60%
Gunze Sangyo H5 Blue and 40% H2 Black. I replaced H5 with equivalent Humbrol 15
and H2 with Humbrol 33, but I found the result too blue, so I reversed the
formula (3 parts Hu 33 + 2 parts Hu 15) and was satisfied with the new outcome.
When it was dried, I mixed a slightly faded version of this color and
airbrushed the center of the main panels. When the main model and the cowling
were dry, it was time for final assembly and finishing.
I first glued the engine and the engine cowling to the
main model, then masked the engine cowling opening and airbrushed the model and
the exterior of the undercarriage doors with my home brew mix of “Semi-matt
coat” made of Polly Scale Acrylic Satin and Flat finishes. After this I masked
and airbrushed the wheel wells and the inner side of all the undercarriage
doors with acrylic Gunze Sangyo H-63 Metallic Blue Green (Aotake color.) Then I
painted the exhausts with my own “exhaust color” mix and glued the
undercarriage assemblies in their positions under the main wings. I then took
the masks out from the cockpit canopy and realized that I had to retouch some
of the frames, which was done after polishing the “glass” panes again. The
various navigation lights, the arresting hook and the pitot tube tip were
painted, a piece of black hair was added for the antenna, and the propeller was
glued in its place to finish the model (I didn’t let the propeller spin because
the fit was too loose.) At this point I had to mention that the double parallel
red stripes at the tips of the propellers were also made from spare decals.
I’m very satisfied with the outcome of all my
research, my experiments, my learning and my finished model, specially how my
camera caught the blue-black of the cowling, although the same blue-black color
for the cockpit interior upper surfaces made any cockpit detail virtually
invisible (it looked better when it was painted in a medium green color, as
suggested by old AP15 kit instructions.) When I remember I’d lost my old kit’s
decals, I think it proves, as it’s often said, that many bad things lead,
sooner or later, to a good thing.
I dedicate this model to my son David on his 24th
birthday. He likes Zeroes very much, as other WW2 axis and allied aircraft as
well. Greetings from Caracas, Venezuela, home of the 21st Century “Pirates
of the Caribbean”…
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Photos and text © by Orlando
Sucre Rosales