The Subject

These are kit markings from a later 1995 release of the Revell A6M5 Zero kit originally released way back in 1963.  The subject in the decals are a later Nakajima built A6M.

The kit instructions refer to these markings as “Hli Tsuhuba Air Corps” but according to Wikipedia should be Hli Tsukuba Air Group, created in 1938 and it existed through war’s end.  The “j on the tail refers to Tsu, the Air Group.  Based on some searching, it appears to be near Tokyo and was part of the Naval Air defense of Japan during the war.

The Model

As already noted, this is a 1995 reboxing of the very old 1963 molding of this kit.  The good news is that it has not been released since, and there are a significant number of much better kits out there.  But hey, a challenge is a challenge.

The kit is quite inaccurate in details so either the modeler ignores this and enjoys the build or fixes some or all of these faults.  I chose to fix what I could without having to sand off all the raised details and rescribe.

So what did I fix?  This variant had 4 wing mounted cannons plus the two machine guns in the fuselage.  The kit only shows 1 in each wing and the raised details reflect this.  I chose to add the other pair because they are so visible but not the panel line details.  Additionally the antenna post is on the rear fuselage of the kit but on a real Zero the post pokes through the rear canopy.  Oh, and I completely ignored the painting instructions in the kit.

Because this was a Nakajima built machine the topside green should be a bit darker and bluer, so I used Tamiya XF-11. The underside should be a “dove gray” so I found a near empty jar of Model Master 1763 Light Gull Gray and used that. Wheel wells were “aotake” so I sprayed silver then misted on a very thin amount of Tamiya X13 Metallic Blue.  The cowling is not black, but is Mr Color Midnight Blue (C71), a very dark blue-black.  

Decals are the kit decals! These actually went on easily enough but I was extremely careful as they looked delicate on the sheet.  I fully expected the upper surface hinomarus to disintegrate  when they hit the water.  Nope!  Just water, no other chemicals to get them to settle onto a gloss surface.

I then removed the masks and added Uschi elastic thread for the antenna wire and called it done.

Summary

This was yet another fun build and frankly I’m quite happy with the results.  It compares nicely with other kits on my shelf.  After sharing this with a friend he decided we should do yet another “Fighting Deuces” duo and he chose the Me-109E + Tempest V combo.  While I finished the Tempest V the 109 was not buildable.  I’ll share that experience in a future post.