Zotz Decals

1/32 or 1/48 A6M5 'Gekitsuio' Aircraft decal sheet
1/32 decal sheet  product #   ZTZ32/032      Price  US$ 17.00
1/48 decal sheet  product #   ZTZ48/034      Price  US$ 13.00

Review by Steve Bamford on Oct 7 2009 

 

This new decal sheet from Zotz Decals includes markings for 4 A6M5 Zero 'Gekitsuio' Aircraft. 

  • A6M5 flown by Lt. (jg) Sadaaki Akamatsu.  Records have him at 30 probable victories.

  • A6M5c flown by Ensign Saburo Sakai.  He participated in the China war, achieving his first aerial victory in Oct 1938.  His last action occurred in Aug 1945 fighting off a B-32 Dominator over Tokyo Bay.  He said his final tally was 60 destroyed or damaged aircraft.

  • A6M5c flown by Warrant Officer Takeo Tanimizu from Kyushu, Japan in June 1945.  Official record show he had 32 aerial victories. 

  • A6M5 flown by Lt. (jg) Tetsuzo Iwamoto.  Considered the top JNAF "Gekitsuio" with more than 80 aerial victories.

Click on images below to see larger images

The 2 pages of instructions are clear and include 3 color views of the aircraft.  The decals are printed on 1 decal sheet on the 1/48 decal sample I have before me.  These aircraft are all Dark Green 2 (IJN) on top and Light Gray (IJN) on the underside.  Prop spinners are either Red, Red brown or Gloss Aluminum depending on the aircraft with black noses......the instruction sheet shows all this.  Recommended kits in 1/32 scale are either the 1/32 Tamiya A6M5 Zero or the 1/32 Hasegawa A6M5c Zero.

The Zero is the best known aircraft used by the Japanese forces during WW2.  This sheet brings together some of the high scoring Japanese Aces from WW2 and the Zero on this sheet flown by Lt. (jg) Tetsuzo Iwamoto with all the pink Cherry Blossom kill markings is particularly interesting.  Another winning decal sheet from Zotz Decals

You can order this decal sheet from the Zotz Decals website.

Steve Bamford

I would like to thank Zotz Decals for providing me with this review sample.

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford