1/48 Tamiya Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero 

by Jean-Luc Formery

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Hello everyone! This is my first contribution to the ARC site. I'm 38 years old and returned to the modelling hobby a few years ago after a very long break (the usual story). I'm French and I'm living near the German border (there was a lot of action here during WW II).

The kit I submit is Tamiya's 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero in the classical grey Japanese Imperial Navy paint scheme. I used the kit's decals to represent the plane of Lt Commander Shigeru Itaya from the Aircraft Carrier Akagi on December 7th 1941 during the Pearl Harbor attack.

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The Tamiya kit is a good alternative to the Hasegawa offering. Yes it is older, has a mix of recessed and engraved panel lines (!?) and is probably less detailed. But it is almost 1/3 the price of the newer kit. In fact I bought the A6M2, A6M3 and A6M5 Tamiya versions for almost the price of one Hasegawa kit!

The kit was build out of the box. The fit was very good and the only work was to engrave the recessed panel lines. I personally did so because I HATE recessed panel lines on my model kits. I assume everyone as his own little "grain de folie" when building models, this is mine!

I used Tamiya's acrylic colors for the model and gave some panels a slightly different shade of grey using pastel powder. I think this gives the model a more realistic look... in my opinion!

I hope you like the result...

Jean-Luc

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Photos and text © by Jean-Luc formery