I'm rolling out a Rufe! Ok, I know this GB technically ended on 8-15 as that is the anniversary of the end of WW2 in the Pacific; however, much like those isolated Japanese soldiers who did not know the war had ended, I have kept on fighting to finish my 2nd entry. So I present to you my Tamiya A6M2-N. My original thought was to do a war weary or even crashed aircraft abandoned on some south pacific island, so I beat this one up pretty bad. However, after the die was cast, I realized I had never done a diorama let alone one that involves water. So, I just decided to practice my chipping and weather techniques ...
Now I realize a plane that lands and takes off from water would probably not get this beat up, but it was a $12 model and I wanted to play around and have some fun. Also, the instructions say this particular a/c was in service from 1942 to 1944 . If that can be believed, I think an a/c that served in theatre for 3 years can be excused from showing some wear and tear. Now I debated whether or not I should beat up the meat balls, but I heard somewhere that the national insignia on j-aircraft represent the emperor and were re-touched often (good enough for me). I did try to simulate this by painted over them with Tamiya Flat Red, but the effect all but disappeared after flat coating it -- so much for that idea. So hear it is. Hope you like. Just made a few modifications. Scratch build new cowl guns and added seat belts and a clear lens for the gunsight. I also refined and rescribed the spinner.
