read on. 

http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=172153

Von- you know the mix he used on that M3?

Here's a pic of the most recently restored Zero: original except for the engine. (Done in Minot ND.) They did their best to match the original early war color.

Eric

Eric,

The only thing for me was, the fuselage panel lines were raised and the wings were recessed. I just re scribed the fuselage. otherwise i really enjoyed the build.

Cheers Leo

Leo,

I was afraid of that. I bought the A6M5 and it was described as having "recessed" lines. The M2 was a gift. I don't unseal kits before a build and it really didn't dawn on me that the claim could be half true. Thanks to you tip I opened the M5 and you're right.  I've never rescribed great hunks of model before - just little stuff that got sanded away. Can always try it: am going to weather the daylights out one anyway for Kamikaze service. (Zeros were the most common "special attack" aircraft. The Japanese had so few decent pilots by late 44 that they were given the few second generation fighters that could actually get into the air.) But it does sound like I'll need a new M2.

Anyone know if the old Tamiya Jack has raised lines?

Eric

Done this kit as well, like every one else as noted it's simple and straightforward. It dresses up nicely, I had zero complaints for the money ($15 in 1/48).

EBergerud

Anyone know if the old Tamiya Jack has raised lines?

It does. Raised on the fuselage and a mix of raised and recessed on the wings. Also loses points for the one-piece canopy.

It is a 70's vintage kit though.

I have build the 'old' J2M Raiden about a year ago,
and I have to say that it was one of the most fun and easy builds I've done so far.
So I think the Zero will be about the same!

Just build it, will be a whole lot a fun!

Regards Ninetalis.

In case anyone is still following this thread, I've finished the Val and it is in "Aircraft." One pic below:

Eric

Very nice Val! I love the oil staining behind the cowl

I did the old 1/32 Zero about 7 or 8 years ago good kit go build it .             ACESES5           ON BENCH DRAGON 1/35 HUMMEL 165 EARLY                 

I use Testor's Model Master Camouflage Gray (FS 36622) for the Zeke's overall color, as well as any other IJN aircraft that're camouflaged in Gray...  No it's not an exact match, not even a close one, but it looks "right" when it's compared to the "Texas Zeros" I've seen on the flightline in the CAF Tora Squadron, and in CFS II... 

Texas Zeros from CAF Tora Squadron

             (Man, I wish the that "Texas Raiders" had a working chin-turret sometimes... Always wondered what I'd really see if the pilot looked over his shoulder and saw the turret tracking him, lol)

 CFS II A6M2:

I guess the main thing I judge by is the contrast between the camouflage color and the "meatballs"...  When it gets to the "green side" of the grey shade some folks are using it causes the meatball to "vibrate"...  Whether or not the color is "right" is irrelevant to me in the case of IJN birds, but more about what I think looks right, taking into account scale color and lighting, since they're always on dioramas or in shadow-boxes with controled lighting.... 

 Note the variations on color of the top Zekes vs the bottom one (as seen through the Fort's nose) as the angle of the sun changes...  With the sun lower in the eastern sky in the bottom photo, the color takes on a slightly darker look, while at mid-day, it's a "brighter" gray.. The CFS II screenshot is there becasue I painted that particular model "skin", same as I did the SBD's skin..

 As for if it's "worth building", well... I'd have to say that almost every kit I buy is worth building, with damned-few exceptions (The Aurora P-61 being one of those, Scratch-building an entire 1/48 P-61 would be faster than fixing what all's wrong with that one...).   For the level of detail and ease of assembly, as well as price, the Tamiya A6M2 is pretty hard to beat... It's a "shake & bake", true, but it's also a great kit for a beginner to build S.O.B., and intermediate and advanced modelers can easily to go to town on it with scratch-built details... 

 I think I paid like 16.00 for it last time I bought it at Hobby Lobby... Still need the Rufe and Hamp,  though (Anyone besides Tamiya even make those two in 1/48th?)... I've also got their recent A6M5, but that one isn't in the line-up yet, and haven't seen a copy of the Hamp anywhere off-line, although my LHS guy can get one for me whenever I ask him to...

Meanwhile, I've gotten the A6M5 from Monogram up on the bench, at about 65%, plus another to start, and four other injection-molded Jap fighters sitting there, all Otaki kits, Frank, Oscar, and Jack, and an Arii Tony...  Add the 1/48 Jill and Grace vac-forms, and one each a 1/32 scale Revell Zeke and Tony, I'm sitting pretty with "Aircraft of the Rising Sun"... I think that's more aircraft than the IJN and Army had after the Marianas Turkey Shoot...

Still looking for that ever-elusive 1/32 Revell Jack though... THAT aircraft has turned into my "Elenore"... Every time it pops up on Ebay, it starts at 22.00 or so, and before it's over, it's upwards of 130.00... 

But yeah.. The Tammy-zeke..It's worth it... Especially at the price they want for it... How can you go wrong with a Tamiya kit for 16-20.00?

That don't even look close...  Any background on it about how they came up with that color, Eric?

There's a complete description on how this color was chosen at http://www.straggleresearch.com/2012_01_01_archive.html . Despite the name of the address, it's a very complex blog called Aviation of Japan. This appeared in the January 2012 rendition. (Scroll all the way to the bottom to see the article written by the guy who painted the plane.)

Accurate? All I can say is that Nick Milman gave it very high marks - he's the guy who wrote the pamphlet "Painting the Early Zero-Sen" that I used for my work. (Link available on the address above.) The booklet has paint chips galore and goes into the technicalities of color matching which may or may not be helpful for most but I found fascinating. We also must remember that the camera and computer monitors add layers of disinformation. And the Zero color has a "fugitive" green in it that comes from the interaction of neutral gray and ochre - the two main pigments used by the Japanese. In the real world that means yellow and black. You need to consult Milman for details but the color he thinks correct is pretty close to Munsell Y 6,2: that puts it as a kind of yellow. If you want a humbling experiment take this photo, or another of your choosing, and load it into a complex draw program and run the eye-dropper all over it and watch the RGB numbers go nuts. So we don't see a color but mentally try to make sense of thousands of slightly different color signals. And there is no color spectrum more guaranteed to drive you nuts than the grays. Most LW colors are really one form of gray or another and no two paint makers give you the same color. (The USN blues are really greys - I think based on some kind of chromatic black - and they drive you nuts. Ship expert Tracy White who consulted with Dragon over their recent Independence claims US ships at sea were given a big pot of white and a big pot of purple and depending upon the ratio out comes haze gray, deck blue, navy blue. Figure. If he's right that purple was one step from a chromatic black.)  And the one thing you can say for sure is that neutral gray is the principle pigment for the early war Zero (or Val). No wonder people have squabbled for twenty years.

Eric

Should add that you can see two videos the above reconstruction (the plane is only 5% original but built to actual Japanese plans from scratch - not a worked-over Texan like some replicas) are available. One that shows it in detail mostly on the ground is US YouTube : search A6M2-21 Zero at Air Expo 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To5T3WI7pHg . The other is on Japanese YouTube and shows it in flight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjGXYxfGQiQ . A link to the second is available in the article on the plane in Aviation of Japan cited above.

Might add that the English commentary on the Japanese site was very favorable to the scheme - something like "they finally got it right." Should also add that there are two errors: the early war zeros did not have a yellow/orange edge on the wing - that came when they switched to green. Also the national marking on early war planes normally lacked a white circle. This was one reason why I painted my own on the Val I just built - pics on post in "Aviation" made two days ago.

Eric

: the early war zeros did not have a yellow/orange edge on the wing - that came when they switched to green. Also the national marking on early war planes normally lacked a white circle.

Regarding the last, does it mention that the underside honimaru were without the white border, or is that a given, regardless of upper camouflage color scheme?

As for the yellow leading edges, I always understood that to be a distinction between IJN and IJA markings, as the leading edge-colors were IFF markings...

The CAF bought the Zekes, Kates, and Vals from the production company that did them for Tora Tora Tora... Several more aircraft were then built to their specs from BT-13s and T-6s.  The CAF has one of two flyable, authentic Zekes, the other belonging to the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino... The CAF's A6M2 Zeke is mostly authentic, except for the engine and certain avionics,  that is, since the Sakae engine is actually a P & W from a T-6, while Chino's A6M5 has an authentic Japanese-built Sakae, but was a Japanese-built copy of the P & W logo, right down to the words, "Dependability and Reliability" on the engine's serial number plaque..