This project began
as part of last year's "Easter Eggplane" group build, but naturally
didn't get finished in time. I've always loved Hasegawa's eggplanes, and
wanted to see just how far I could take one (to an absolutely absurd level it
turns out.)
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I began by filling
the mounting holes for the landing gear and moving it forward to a more
"accurate" location, and scratchbuilding wheel wells. I also
filled and rescribed the aileron and flap hinge lines. The cockpit
consisted of a simple tub, so I scratchbuilt a "zero-ish" seat and
instrument panel. The canopy frames were too thick for my liking, so I
sanded and polished the canopy and masked and painted better looking ones.
The kit engine was, well, a joke..so I found an old one in the junkbox from a
long-dead Monogram C-47. The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 makes an acceptable
substitute for the Zero's Sakae 21. I also scribed the cowl flaps, drilled
out the exhausts and cowl gun openings, and added the side vents to
the fuselage. I actually toyed with scribing a complete set of panel
lines, but decided to keep what little sanity I have left. I finished off
construction with brass tube wing cannon and a wire pitot tube, and added an
antenna from strip styrene and invisible quilting thread.
The model was painted with Gunze IJN Green and IJN Gray, and the
decals came from the spares box. The tail codes are for the YOKosuka Naval
Air Group, naturally.
This was a fun
little project, and strangely it actually got me my second award
ever at an IPMS National Convention, when it took 2nd place in
"Miscellaneous; Military" last year in Columbus. Hasegawa recently
re-released most of the Eggplane series, and even added a P-51. I've
got all the WWII aircraft, but would like to find another TBM Avenger.
I've got this crazy idea of converting it to an F4F Wildcat.
Steve
Nelson
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