OK, so I was going to add this to the Zero GB next month, but I have a bigger/better subject lined up for that. Watch this space.
I can almost hear the gasps of horror now....!
Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Another day, another Zero.
OK, so I was going to add this to the Zero GB next month, but I have a bigger/better subject lined up for that. Watch this space.
I can almost hear the gasps of horror now....!
OK, so I was going to add this to the Zero GB next month, but I have a bigger/better subject lined up for that. Watch this space.
I can almost hear the gasps of horror now....!
Daren
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Not so - it can be built to look very much like a Zero. Go for it.
Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
When I opened the box, I was greeted by a surprise....
NO RIVETS!!!!
My previous experience of Starfix kits (Spitfire and Bf109) showed that the kits were really rather dodgy, at best, with what could only be described as a pox of huge, out of scale rivets all over the airframes, and precious little in the way of actual detail.
Not the case with the Zero at all! It's a very "clean" model, with things such as the control surfaces actually depicted the way they should be. OK, so maybe not with 100% accuracy, but at least I won't have to rescribe the buggers!
Having said that, once I'd had a look at the contents, I realised there was something wrong with the kit. The box describes it as being an A6M-5 model of the Zero. However, the kit has parts which are present on earlier models, such as the oil cooler beneath the cowling (A6M-2) and ailerons which terminate before the wingtips - the -5 model has ailerons which extend right out to the ends of the wings. It also does not have the exhaust pipes that extend from the rear of the cowling, which the -5 does. I'm no expert on the type, of course, but having looked at a few photos of preserved examples, I can see these slight differences almost straight away now.
So, it looks like it will be a -2 version instead.
As it happens, a book on the Zero came through the door today, and on its front cover was this aircraft:
This example was formerly owned by the-then Confederate Air Force, but is now owned by the Pacific Aviation Museum, appropriately located at Ford Island in Hawaii.
My model will end up as this aircraft while in the ownership of the CAF. Hopefully!
NO RIVETS!!!!
My previous experience of Starfix kits (Spitfire and Bf109) showed that the kits were really rather dodgy, at best, with what could only be described as a pox of huge, out of scale rivets all over the airframes, and precious little in the way of actual detail.
Not the case with the Zero at all! It's a very "clean" model, with things such as the control surfaces actually depicted the way they should be. OK, so maybe not with 100% accuracy, but at least I won't have to rescribe the buggers!
Having said that, once I'd had a look at the contents, I realised there was something wrong with the kit. The box describes it as being an A6M-5 model of the Zero. However, the kit has parts which are present on earlier models, such as the oil cooler beneath the cowling (A6M-2) and ailerons which terminate before the wingtips - the -5 model has ailerons which extend right out to the ends of the wings. It also does not have the exhaust pipes that extend from the rear of the cowling, which the -5 does. I'm no expert on the type, of course, but having looked at a few photos of preserved examples, I can see these slight differences almost straight away now.
So, it looks like it will be a -2 version instead.
As it happens, a book on the Zero came through the door today, and on its front cover was this aircraft:
This example was formerly owned by the-then Confederate Air Force, but is now owned by the Pacific Aviation Museum, appropriately located at Ford Island in Hawaii.
My model will end up as this aircraft while in the ownership of the CAF. Hopefully!
Daren
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Getting to grips with putting the wings together:
Daren
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Sweet. I built one of these a hell of a load of years ago and remember it went together without a fight. Most importantly it LOOKED like a Zero unlike their so called 1/48th Spitfire ( of the latter mine lost an argument with an uprated .22 BSA Meteor air rifle 
)
All the best.
Greg
)All the best.
Greg
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Albert Einstein
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Albert Einstein
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rob_van_riel
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
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Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Well, you were poking it with what would scale up to a 10" gun. That's some ack-ackGregers wrote:1/48th Spitfire ( of the latter mine lost an argument with an uprated .22 BSA Meteor air rifle
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Stuart
- Raider of the Lost Ark Royal
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Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Cool - Looks good to me.
I have the Starfix T-38/F-5B in the stash - It doesn't too bad actually.
I have the Starfix T-38/F-5B in the stash - It doesn't too bad actually.
Stuart Templeton I may not be good but I'm slow...
My Blog: https://stuartsscalemodels.blogspot.com/
My Blog: https://stuartsscalemodels.blogspot.com/
Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
A couple of layers of light grey paint on it....
Amazingly, that canopy does look rather nice. It looks clear, and the frames are all where they should be. I don't **think** it's after-market, anyway....!
Amazingly, that canopy does look rather nice. It looks clear, and the frames are all where they should be. I don't **think** it's after-market, anyway....!
Daren
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Almost there....
Undercarriage on, canopy on, prop on. Decals next.
Undercarriage on, canopy on, prop on. Decals next.
Daren
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
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ShaunW
- NOT the sheep
- Posts: 26180
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Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
I've just returned from a week's hols and therefore missed the start of this. I was led to believe that all Starfix's offerings were pants but not so this Zero kit it would seem. It even looks like one you know 
Doing - Tamiya 1/35th Universal Carrier.
Work is the curse of the modelling classes!
IPMS#12300
Work is the curse of the modelling classes!
IPMS#12300
Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
It's not that bad, is it?? I think I should have left this one for the Zero GB after all.
That said, I haven't got any of the correct style of Hinomarus for this one, so it'll have to wait until a sheet arrives from Hannants.
That said, I haven't got any of the correct style of Hinomarus for this one, so it'll have to wait until a sheet arrives from Hannants.
Daren
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
I was watching the old Toho Studios film Zero Pilot earlier, and I had a brainwave for how to fix my decal problem.
I'll just do the model like the one in the film!
If you haven't seen it, Zero Pilot tells the story of the career of Zero ace Saburo Sakai, using some rather large-scale models for its combat sequences (and some of them are really good!).
The Zeros in the film are all painted in a dark green colour, with the white-edged Hinomarus on the wings and fuselage. Sakai's aircraft is no exception, and the last five minutes or so of the film feature Sakai flying one particular aircraft marked "V-128". In this aircraft, he is wounded while attacked a formation of American dive-bombers, and only just makes it back to base despite being blinded in one eye and paralysed down his left side.
So, problem solved! Now I just need to repaint the beast....!
I'll just do the model like the one in the film!
If you haven't seen it, Zero Pilot tells the story of the career of Zero ace Saburo Sakai, using some rather large-scale models for its combat sequences (and some of them are really good!).
The Zeros in the film are all painted in a dark green colour, with the white-edged Hinomarus on the wings and fuselage. Sakai's aircraft is no exception, and the last five minutes or so of the film feature Sakai flying one particular aircraft marked "V-128". In this aircraft, he is wounded while attacked a formation of American dive-bombers, and only just makes it back to base despite being blinded in one eye and paralysed down his left side.
So, problem solved! Now I just need to repaint the beast....!
Daren
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
Half-assed Spitfire builder!
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gnomemeansgnome
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
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- Joined: July 16th, 2013, 4:03 pm
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Re: Starfix Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero
Oh no...now a morbid sense of curiousity would prompt me to seek out one of these kits. I must be losing my mind.
Ego no habeo consilium.
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models