My 1st WWII Aircraft: Tamiya 1/48 A6M2 Zeke

congrats on returning to the dark side lol. she looks good. keep it up

Nicely done... Working that same kit right now, m'self...  I only recently got into buying some of the Tamiya aircraft (provided I can get 'em for around 20.00)... 

Nice looking Zero you have there, well done i'll have to do one myself one of these days...

Nicely done Zeke.  If that's your first WWII a/c, hope it isn't your last.  Thanks for sharing.

Regards,  Rick

Nice job on the Zeke!  Looks like you should've been doing WWII aircraft all a long!  Has stated before, welcome to the dark side.

Nice work! Which version are you modelling? If I recall, the A6M2 all used the short barreled 20mm type 99 cannons.

It's the 261st Air Group version...I couldn't find any photos illustrating the cannons, so it was best guess. The design of the PE cannons seemed to indicate they should be inserted only partially into the wing, so I did it that way not being sure of the accuracy. I probably should have looked harder for the proper representative photos, and all the ones I found didn't seem to even have the cannons present (primarily the J-aircraft site).

Thanks everyone for the kind words!

Interesting A6M2 version...seems to have the correct early cowling but the long-barrled guns don't seem correct...also rarwe to see the early one ion a green camo. 

It's supposed to be a Kagoshima Base 1944 version...the paint scheme is provided as option C in the instructions, the underside (which I forgot to take photos of) is Tamiya Sky...a shade of green lighter than that of IJN Interior Cockpit Green. I did this scheme because it represented a bigger painting challenge than the mono color of the earliest variant, and also seemed more interesting to me.

The cannons were part of the Tamiya PE set (the kit came with no cannons), and the wing-end of them are slightly narrower than the rest of the barrel, which led me to believe (lacking representative photos) that they should only be inserted partially into the wing rather than all the way down to the muzzle. Oh well. I suppose I could clip them short down to the wing for accuracy. Thanks for the observations.

sWeet!

Can anyone tell me if the cannons for this later variant were completely contained within the wing, or did the barrel protrude somewhat from the wing edge? Any links to reference photos would also be appreciated, as I was unable to find any specific to what the cannons looked like. I have another one of these kits and I'll eventually build the earlier version, and would I be correct in assuming that the cannons for that one were indeed the long-barrel type?

Usually, the A6M2 versions all had the Type 99 short barreled cannon which did not protrude from the leading edges. Some experimental versions had the long barreled version, but I don't think these were used operationally.

Some examples of the A6M3 and all the A6M5 versions used the Type 99II long barreled cannon. These protruded 18' from the wingtips.

 Your version is the A6M2. You can tell as the cowling had the gun troughs and not the slits as seen above with the A6M3 and the A6M5. Exaust stubs were different as was the size and shape of the spinner.

mike_espo

Usually, the A6M2 versions all had the Type 99 short barreled cannon which did not protrude from the leading edges. Some experimental versions had the long barreled version, but I don't think these were used operationally.

Some examples of the A6M3 and all the A6M5 versions used the Type 99II long barreled cannon. These protruded 18' from the wingtips.

 Your version is the A6M2. You can tell as the cowling had the gun troughs and not the slits as seen above with the A6M3 and the A6M5. Exaust stubs were different as was the size and shape of the spinner.

Thanks for that!

I see where I made my mistake: upon another inspection, the package for the Tamiya detail-up set indicates it's for the 1/48 A6M, not the A6M2 specifically.

The cannons are apparently intended for the M3/M5 models as you've described, while the seatbelts, wheel chocks, and pitot tube can be used for any of the A6M's.

My bad for doing incomplete research, but it would be nice if they specified this in the instructions. I know in the kit instructions they indicate the omission of certain parts depending on what paint scheme you're employing.

Hey there...nice looking zero! What is the kit #?  I built an A6M5c a few months ago...I love building Japanese aircraft...don`t know exactly why but they fascinate me! The kit I built was 6427...the instructions actually show you how to scratch build a few things..thought that was pretty neat! Anyway, keep up the excellent work!!   Len