Sweet 1/144 Mitsubishi A6M2B Zero

SWEET 1:144 MITSUBISHI A6M2B ZERO
'INBOX Review'
Alternative Scale

Reviewer: Jon Hudak (rec.models.scale)

Kit no. 7(?) Sweet 1:144 Zero Fighter A6M2b

History:

The Japanese Zero is really an airplane that needs no introduction as it is so well known. It was the mount of many a Japanese ace such as Saburo Sakai and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa as well and a lot of these aces had cut their teeth during the China War before the outbreak of WW2. The A6M2b or Type 21 Zero is what I think of as "the clean Zero" in that it was the embodiment of all the major criteria that were called for in a modern Japanese fighter and that is lightness, agility and speed. It also had tremendous range and was quite the "fuel miser" of its day. During the early part of WW2 the Zero basically dominated the skies against its Allied opponents and we had to develop tactics to fight it as our early planes couldn't match its agility. You were told to never engage a Zero in a dogfight and for good reason. Eventually with newly learned tactics it was also discovered that a few well placed spurts from the good ole' fifty cals was all that was needed to bring it down as these early Zeros lacked armor plate and self sealing fuel tanks. With the arrival of such warbirds as the Corsair and Hellcat coupled with the high losses of skilled Japanese pilots the death knell for the Zero was tolling in the distance.

Instructions:

Although there is literally zero (no pun intended, I couldn't wait to do that)! English in the instructions for the construction sequence, you won't be lost with assembly as there are nice well illustrated diagrams that are even numbered for clarity. With just four assembly steps I can't see this project taking long at all. A cute addition are the little cartoon characters of what appears to be a little girl and a cat for good fun. It's your choice on whether you want the wingtips up or down and the drop tank is up to you. I kind of think a Zero looks naked without one myself. I can't read Japanese (yet) but it looks like mounting the antennae will depend on which version you build as some aircraft are shown with it and some without in the decal markings guide. As it was common practice to remove the often troublesome radios to save weight either way you really can't be wrong.

Decals and markings:

Living up to their name, Sweet have gone so far as to provide markings for eleven different aircraft. Remarkable! All airplanes are in the gray-green early war scheme with blue-black cowls. Markings depict airplanes from the 3rd and Fourth Flying Groups, Kanoya and Tainan. The decals are printed in Italy by Cartograph and look excellent. No aftermarket sheets needed here! Now here is where some English comes into play as below each colored representation is a description of which flying group, location as well as the month and year that the aircraft participated in. Ex. 3rd Flying Group, Celebes, Ambon, Apr. 1942. and so on. Placement for common markings is easily discernible with multiple views of the aircraft (again in color) and English notation for Decal A, B and D, etc. A small addendum sheet is provided for some apparent last minute corrections to the main sheet and you are even provided with a bunch of odd gray stripes which are for the framing on the canopy. Sweet is to be commended for this as I imagine trying to mask or paint the tiny canopy frames would be a real challenge! Just make sure your paint is a close match to the decals for this one.

The Kit:

I never knew what all the rage was about with these Sweet kits until I bought their FM-2 Wildcat set. Boy, what a treat! For something so small it is hard to believe how much detail can be packed in. This marks the fourth aircraft in the Sweet series of kits including the Hurricane, Macchi C.200, FM-2 Wildcat and now the Zero. As a fan of the Zero when I first heard that their next release was going to be a Zero I could hardly wait. I managed to pick one up at a local show a couple of months back and was finally relieved to finally get my hands on one. Inside the box you'll find three sprues, one small clear one for the clear parts and two in light gray plastic that will enable you to build not one but two complete aircraft! Yep, you read it right, two aircraft. For something so small the level of detail is astounding featuring recessed panel lines, lovely wheel well detail and landing gear that can only be described as exquisite for this scale. In fact there are areas on this kit that rival the detail I've s een on 1:72 scale kits. The wing is a solid one piece affair which is nice and it comes with separate wing tips which is great for you can pose them either up or down. Even the Sakae 12 engine looks well represented and you even get separate wheels and a drop tank. The canopies are nice and clear and the framing is nicely depicted.

Accuracy:

I'm not one for dimensions and such but I'm sure Sweet did their homework like they did with the engineering of this kit so I'd bet it's pretty much spot on. It surely captures the look of the Zero correctly and looks highly accurate.

Conclusions:

I can't say enough good things about this kit, the moldings are superb, the folding wingtips a nice added touch, the numerous options with the decal sheet and the high quality overall make this kit a true winner. If you've been thinking about trying one of these kits do it, you won't be disappointed. With a Macchi C.200, Hurricane, Wildcat and now a Zero in their fold, my only problem is the tortuous wait to see what they pop out next! Could I beg and ask/guess for an early war P40 or Spitfire?

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