Tamiya 61016 Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 21 Zero (Saburo Sakai)

Kit#: 61016.

Price: Can´t remember.

Decals: Five options.

Notes: None.

History:

From the instructions: The Zero fighter was the main fighter of the Japanese Navy throughout the Pacific War. The development of this fighter started in 1937 when Mitsubishi design staff led by Jiro Horikoshi proposed a model that would meet the strict requirements issues by the Japanese Navy for a fighter capable of high speed, excellent maneuverability, long range, superior climbing and lethal armament. Drastic measures were taken to meet these big demands and lighten the plane as much as possible. Features employing new techniques such as lightweight duraluminium alloy main beam, a constant speed variable propeller and a streamlined droptank that allowed it to fly over 3000km were used. 

The armament consisted of two 7.7m machineguns in the nose and two 20mm Type 99 cannons in the wings. 

Zeke's prototype was completed with a Mitsubishi Zuisei Type 13 engine on March 1939 and made its maiden flight the following month. In July 1940, the engine was replaced with a 940hp Nakajima Sakae Type 12 engine, giving birth to the Zero Type 11, which overwhelmed the Chinese Air Force's Soviet built I-15 and I-16. 

The Zeke was modified to be a carrier borne fighter in December 1940 with the employment of 50cm folding wingtips, hook and homing equipment, Hence the birth of the new Type 21, which became the main Japanese fighter of the Pacific War. This version took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Philippine Islands invasion, and the Indian Ocean campaign where it clashed with countless Allied fighters. 

Besides Mitsubishi, Nakajima also built the Type 21 Zero under license. A total of about 3600 Type 21 Zeroes were produced.

The Kit:

Tamiya's Zero comes in a top opening box, with a single bag containing all the sprues. The parts had no flash and there werent's that many, so that meant it would be a short build.

There're a total of five decal options included:

1) Lieutenant Commander Shigeru Itaya, Akagi Aircraft Carrier Fighter Group, Hawaii, December 8th 1941.

2) Warrant Officer Yoshiro Hashuguchi, 3rd Air Group, Kendari Base, Celebes Island, March 1942.

3) Petty Officer 1st Class Saburo Sakai,Tainan Air Group, Denpasar Base, Bali Island, February 1942.

4) Warrant Officer Tetsuzo Iwamoto, 253rd Air Group, Tobera Base, Rabaul, January 1944.

5) 261st Air Group, Kagoshima Base, February 1944.

Construction:

I began the kit by painting all the cockpit parts with Interior Green/Revell 48 (wrong green, but I don't want to buy another one). Details were picked out in black. After the cockpit's paint was dry, I glued all the pieces together. I then glued the cockpit to one side of the fuselage and trapped it with the other half. 

The fuselage halves were left to dry, and while that was happening, I glued the wings together. Before gluing the wings to the fuselage, I decided to test fit them first, and discovered there would be a gap, so I added a spreader bar under the cockpit to eliminate it. The bar didn´t eliminate the entire gap, so I added some CA on it to finish the work. I then glued the engine and cowling in place, and glued at the same time the horizontal stabilizers.

Colours and Markings:

I wanted to paint my aircraft as Saburo Sakai's machine, that meant painting it in the early Japanese Pacific War colour. After searching a lot, I came to the conclusion that using RLM 02 would put me in the approximately correct colour, so I painted the entire aircraft with Revell 45 (RLM 02). After the paint was dry, I painted the blue markings of Sakai's aircraft instead of using the decals. After that, I glossed the aircraft to apply the decals. The decals performed well after being sunk in hot water. After all of them were applied, I matt varnished the entire aircraft.

Final Construction:

I painted the landing gear struts in black, the landing gear doors in RLM 02, the wheel wells with blue, and attached them all into their corresponding place. After that, the aircraft was finished.

Conclusions:

Tamiya's kit is a good alternative to the Hasegawa kit, in spite of the raised panel lines.

Airfix A05130 Curtiss P-40B Warhawk (George Welch)

Kit#: A05130.

Price: 19$

Decals: Two options.

Notes: Great kit, everything fits properly. The propeller spins!

History:

From the kit's instructions: "The P-40B, in its various incarnations, served as the United States Army Air Force throughout the Second World War, fighting in Europe, across Asia and in the deserts of North Africa. The first model to see active service, the P-40B proved to be an effective and tough low level fighter.

While not as maneuvrable as the Japanese Mitsubishi Zero, or as fast as the German Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-40B still proved to be a tough opponent. Pilots liked the fact that it could often get them home after sustaining heavy damage, as well as being able to inflict it with its armament of six machineguns.

The P-40B became synonymous with the shark mouth motif, due to its use with 112 Squadron and the American Volunteer Group in China. Today the P-40B continues to fly in the United Kingdom as well as its homeland of the United States of America."

The Kit:

The model comes inside a single big bag, with the clear parts being inside it and separately bagged. Parts are moulded in a light grey, soft plastic, and don´t have any flash or any imperfections/short shot parts. 

The instructions come in the shape of a small full colour booklet with the painting schemes being at the end of them. Each step of the instructions has a red remark which shows you the pieces you've already glued in place.

There're two decal options, one is for the aircraft of 2nd Leautenant George Welch on Infamy Day (December 7th 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour), and the second one is for an aircraft in service with the American Volunteer Group, its pilot being Flight Leader Robert Smith. The decals are printed by Cartograf, so they shoudn't give the modeller any issues when applying them.

Construction:

I began by painting all the cockpit piece on their sprues with Revell 48 (Interior Gree), with black boxes for the different instruments on the cockpit. Once that was dry, I glued the cockpit together. The finished item is suitably busy, and doesn't need any aftermarket resin, aside from, maybe, photoetch seatbelts. After that, the cockpit was glued to the fuselage, and began working on the radiator intake. After building that part, I glued the fuselage together and let it set while I worked on the wings.

Before building the wings, I glued the fuselage fillets, and then glued the landing gear wells into the lower wing, after that I glued the top wings in place. With the wings complete, I glued them to the fuselage, which proved to be an excellent fit. I then built up the horizontal stabilizers and glued the elevators and rudder in the neutral position.

Colours and Markings:

I had decided to paint this kit as the Pearl Harbour variant, which is in Olive Drab uppersides and Neutral Grey undersides. These were painted with Revell 66 Olive Grey and Revell 43 Medium Grey. I then coated the model with Revell's gloss varnish, to prepare the aircraft for the decals. Decalling took less than an hour to complete, with all the stencils sinking into the panel lines with the help of some Vallejo decal softener (not very aggressive, I´ve changed that and now I use Micro Sol). After letting the aircraft to dry for 24 hours, I brushed to coats of Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

Landing gear doors were painted fuselage colour with interior green inners, the landing gear struts weren painted in aluminium, and the wheels were painted with aluminium hubs with RLM 66 (Revell 78) tyres. The propeller was painted aluminium and the propeller hub and spinner were painted in Olive Drab. The guns were given a coat of flat black. The last pieces to add were the clear parts, which were first painted with Interior Green, and then Olive Drab.

Conclusions:

This kit is great as an introductory model for modellers who wish to go from 1:72 to 1:48. Its cheapness (but with great quality control), make it possible to build it in large numbers.