1/32 Tamiya A6M 5

[Paul]

Well I snuck one under the radar. I have been diddling with this for about a week or so.
Even though this is a high tech Tamiya kit I guess I find it ironic that the high price tag doesn't reflect the quantity of sprues or parts. I was fortunate, though, to get this kit at a fairly reasonable price.

Some of the parts are still small and fiddly and I personally don't care for retracting LG or any of the neat things that made me go nuts when I was a kid. How could they produce a kit that didn't have all the neat features that would appease any 12 year old? Now there are tiny bendy pieces of wire that you have to find a way to assemble on parts that you have no dexterity in handling let alone see.

The engine is not that bad and it fits quite well





The fuse went together pretty well too.







I did manage to get a close resemblance to Aotaki blue


and here is where I ran into an issue. Everything closes up pretty good but then I have this leading edge problem on the center line. Not unrepairable but but annoying just the same.

[Stikpusher]

But... It's Tamiya... And costs more than the average annual income in many Third World Countries... How is this possible?


Seriously though, aside from the fit problem it looks pretty nifty so far...

[BorgR3mc0]

I remember when that kit was first released (2000, has it been 15 years!?) it was the all new wonder kit. Best they ever did. Interesting to see that even über kits have their problems.

[Stikpusher]

How is this possible?

It's not. This is user error. This kit - while not as good as the newer Tamiya kits - is still miles ahead of most other kits. It fits like a glove.

I was being facetious. Obviously there is a problem. And knowing the builders previous work I am doubting it is him and suspect that there is some slight warpage to the part. It happens. And from the look of things is easily corrected.

[Paul]

Well, well, well. After I did a little looking I came to find out that the reason for the poor fit was that the cockpit was not fully inserted in the fuselage. The reason for that was II had put the machine guns in the wrong slot and the charging handles on the guns made the insert too wide. How I found that out was simple, if the charging handles are in the wrong place the canopy won't fit either.

I feel like such an Einstein.

[LyleW]

Well, now you can't say, "I've never done that before!" Welcome to the club.

[mustang1989]

Sounds like you've got it figured out. Lookin' forward to the pics....

[Paul]

I'll get them up as soon as I get a few details ironed out. Until then there is a B-29 that is beckoning.

[Paul]

I am not going to be able to go any further until I finish some of these shelf goons I have just glaring at me. I decided to finish some of the most recent, the Zero and the mosquito.

For the zero I finally got to the undercarriage and tacked the glazing with liqui-tape so I could shoot the color over all. Something about the dark colors is they really show where the holidays are. I am sure glad I didn't try this in 48. This stuff is tiny enough in it's own right, I would never be able to get that close with my eyes the way they are.













A good thing about these test pics is you find out where you need to do your touch ups. In my case it's the whole model.