1/48 Tamiya Mitsubishi A6M3/3a Zero (Zeke)

Gallery Article by Dave Johnson on Sept 15 2010

 

1/48 Mitsubishi A6M3/3a Zero (Zeke) (http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM61108)

Product # 61108 Tamiya from Hobby Link Japan

*History*
In late 1941, Nakajima introduced the Sakae 21, which used a two-speed supercharger for better altitude performance, and increased power to 840 kW (1,130 hp). Plans were made to introduce the new engine into the Zero as soon as possible. The new Sakae was slightly heavier and somewhat longer due to the larger supercharger, which moved the center of gravity too far forward on the existing airframe. To correct this, the engine mountings were cut down by 20 cm (8 in), moving the engine back towards the cockpit. This had the side effect of reducing the size of the main fuel tank (located to the rear of the engine) from 518 L (137 US gal) to 470 L (120 US gal). The pervious type 32 Zero had the folding wing tips from the type 21 Zero removed creating a shorter wing span. The wing changes had much greater effects on performance than expected. The smaller size led to better roll, and their lower drag allowed the diving speed to be increased to 670 km/h (420 mph). On the downside, maneuverability was reduced, and range suffered due to both decreased lift and the smaller fuel tank. Pilots complained about both.  The shorter range proved a significant limitation during the Solomons campaign of 1942. In order to correct the deficiencies of the Model 32, a new version with the Model 21's folding wings, new in-wing fuel tanks and attachments for a 330 L (90 US gal) drop tank under each wing were introduced. The internal fuel was thereby increased to 570 L (137 US gal) in this model, regaining all of the lost range. As the airframe was reverted from the Model 32 and the engine remained the same, this version received the navy designation Model 22, while Mitsubishi called it the A6M3a. The new model started production in December, and 560 were eventually produced*. 

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*The Kit*
In 2008, Tamiya announced that they would be releasing the A6M5/5a type 52 Zero in 48th scale, which would be scaled down from their wonderful 32nd offering of the A6M/5a Zero. This was a nice addition to Tamiya's 48th range and complemented Tamiya's range of Zero's that have been release in the past... even if they date back to the 70's, they still build into a nice subject if the modeler wishes to do a bit of extra work and the results are well worth it. The new A6M3/3a kit from Tamiya shares a lot of parts from the A6M5/5a release in the way of the canopy, cockpit, engine, wheel wells, landing gear and the fuselage. Some of the new tooled parts include a new tail, engine cowl, exhaust, and upper and lower wings that now include a folding wing tip feature. The kit is what you would expect from Tamiya... Finely detailed parts with crisp panel lines, and each part slotting into place with ease to be glued. 

The A6M3/3a Zero from Tamiya comes with 3 options of schemes for the following airframes -  

  • 251st Naval Air Group, The Solomons, May 1943. 

  • Iwakuni Naval Air Group, Iwakuni Airbase, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Autumn 1943.

  • Major Saburo Shindo, 582nd Naval Air Group, Buin, Bougainville, June 1943.

The decals are a little bit on the thick side of things, as most of Tamiya's decals are. But with a bit.. okay, a lot of Mirco-sol or your chosen decal solution, you can get them to sit down nicely. The register of the decal sheets are nicely done without any mis-prints or errors and the colours are bold and crisp. The 6 Photo Etch parts that are supplied for the folding wing option, are made from steel and are very easy to work with, just remember that you will require some CA glue or something along those lines to glue in place those parts. Also include in the kit are canopy masks which are not pre-cut, a 3 page information booklet explaining the different variants of the Zero, painting and decal guide and a sprue containing 4 Japanese Pilots in different poses, which was also included in the A6M5/5a release.

*The Build*
Once the review sample arrived from HobbyLink Japan, I jumped into building it straight away as I was currently building at the same time, Tamiya's 1/48 A6M2b and A6M5/5a kits for my Local IPMS 'Build Same Kit' competition that we have each year. I though, I could handle one more as both kits were progressing nicely within the 2 month build period that we give ourselves to complete our builds. Some of you must be thinking that I have gone mad! 3 builds within 2 months...Well I am glad to say that I got all 3 of them done, with the help of taking a off a day of work and skipping out on some quality time with the wife and kids for a couple of weeks.. While I'm saying this, I'm sending a big thank you to my family for supporting me in my crazy hobby.... Even if there is plastic lying all over the kitchen table most nights which drives my wife nuts! 
Ok, back to business! I choose to build the kit pretty much straight out of the box, with a couple of small additions. The only aftermarket item that was added was a Eduard Photo Etch seat harness and the rest were small amounts of wire added to the engine for the ignition wires and hydraulic pipes lines in the cockpit area. The build was easy and everything fitted like a glove. The cockpit areas were built up first and received a coat of Tamiya Acrylic Flat Black as a primer and be used for shade with the top coat of XF-71 IJN Cockpit Green from Tamiya. All the cockpit details were pick out with a fine brush and again with Tamiya Acrylics for the different colours . A dry brush of Games Workshop paint brand Citadel Mithrel Silver was given to wear down the cockpit area. I find the Citadel Metallic paint range fantastic, as they dry nice and smooth and don't have that grainy look that you get with Tamiya Metallic's. Before the cockpit got closed up it got a quick coat of Mr Hobby Semi-Gloss Lacquer varnish and washed with a mix artists oils. The rest of the airframe components were assembled and added to the fuselage for a priming with a mix of Mr Surfacer 1200 and paint thinner. I was looking at the schemes that were offered from the box and the box art caught my eye, but I wanted to do something different! I was looking through some of my Zero reference books I have, and one scheme jumped out at me and jogged my memory of something different and something to do with my to home country of New Zealand and our Air Force during World War 2!

What I had remembered was, the RNZAF took a hold of a few surrendered Zeros in Bougainville, New Britain Islands, during September 1945. One of them happened to be a A6M3 Type 22 Zero, which was shipped back to New Zealand as a war prize and is on display in the Auckland Museum in NZ. More of the history on the particular airframe during its time in RNZAF can be found here - http://mitsubishi_zero.tripod.com/warprize.htm. These Zeros that were handed over to the RNZAF had there upper green and lower grey surfaces painted over with white paint and crosses painted over the Hinomaru's with the upper green colour. The A6M3 Zero still retained the black and green on front of the cockpit and engine cowl areas.

With the model now dry from the Mr Surfacer primer coat, I gave the upper surfaces a coat with Tamiya's XF-11 IJN Green and Lower surfaces were painted with XF-12 IJN Grey. I normally pre-shade my builds but I didn't bother this time as the whole airframe would be getting covered in white. Once these coats of paint were dry, I masked off the Hinomaru's with a paint mask set from Warpigs Scale Precision Masks and sprayed with a coat of Tamiya's XF-7 Red. Once everything was dry, the paint masks were removed and revealed a normal looking zero! Mr Color's Flat While lacquer was then used to coat the whole model, I paid careful attention while airbrushing the white on, as I wanted the  Hinomaru's and some of the green to show through the white coating. In areas that I did apply a little bit to much white were lightly sanded back with some 2000 grit sandpaper to gain the look I wanted. The crosses over the Hinomaru were applied with a mask from Warpigs, again and sprayed with Mr Color's C-124 Mitsubishi Dark Green in their lacquer range. At the same time I masked off the canopy parts and the forward area of the cockpit that required the Mitsubishi green and sprayed them.

The model was then coated with a gloss varnish and received a wash of light grey from a mixture of artist oils and turpentine. All the smaller part assemblies were then painted as per Tamiya's call outs in the instructions and glued into place. This surrendered A6M3 had the all radio equipment and armament removed. So the parts for aerial mast and machine guns in the cockpit were left out. The undercarriage doors were  also shorten as per the original machine. Before I hit the final stage of applying a Flat varnish to complete the build, I lightly weathered the engine cowl and underside with oil stains, again made from a mixture of artist oils and turpentine. Paint chips were added with a silver pencil and dirt on the wheels were done with Tamiya weathering master sets.

Overall this kit was a real joy to build. Clearly again, Tamiya have lived up to the name of creating another "Shake 'n' Bake" kit. I totally would recommend this kit to any skill level of modeler.  

I would like to thank HobbyLink Japan (www.hlj.com) for supplying this review sample.

Dave Johnson

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Photos and text © by Dave Johnson