1/32 Doyusha Mitsubishi 

A6M2 Zero

by Steve Negley

--------------------

 

I had to send away to Japan to get this kit because it's not available here in the States for some reason. It's a shame to, because it's a great kit and the only one available in this scale of the A6M2. I built this kit basically out of the box, the only trouble I had with the fit was where the wing roots run into the fuselage. The problem is that's there is to much plastic on the fuselage root area so when the wings are mated to the fuselage the wings don't have the right amount of dihedral. I carefully sanded away the right amount of plastic with a sanding block and the dihedral problem was fixed. The only other detailing I did was to the cockpit, for the most part the interior is pretty nice and with some extra work it turned out really nice. I added a scratch built instrument panel using Waldron instruments and bezels, a Waldron buckle set for the lap and shoulder harnesses, and scratch built the throttle quadrant and other interior devices.
I've always wanted to model a Pearl Harbor Zero and to my amazement the kit came with 5 different schemes of decals to do this. The decal quality, I thought, was excellent. This particular Zero flew off the IJN carrier Hiryu with the first wave of aircraft that attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. The aircraft and the Hiryu were both lost some 6 months later at the Battle of Midway. 
Steve

Click on images below to see larger images

Photos and text © by Steve Negley