Hasegawa 1/72 A6M2B Zero Type 21 Tainan Flying Group Houkoku

HASEGAWA 1:72 A6M2B ZERO TYPE 21 HOUKOKO

Reviewer: Jon Hudak (jphudak@aol.com)
Kit Review submitted: 6 January 2004

Kit Details:

Kit: Hasegawa 1:72 A6M2b Zero Fighter Type 21 Tainan Flying Group Houkoko
Kit No. Ap157/52057
Price: $14.25
Decals: Aftermarket: Techmod
Reviewer: Jon Hudak jphudak@aol.com

Aircraft History:

The Zero Type 21 or A6M2 was the continuation in the development of the Zero, following the Type 11 model. The Type 21 introduced the addition of 20” folding wingtips for clearance on the aircraft carriers’ elevators. The engine used in this type was the Sakae 12 engine of some 950 horsepower. The Type 21 is infamous for being in use in the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7th 1941 and was also the type of which legendary WW2 Japanese ace Saburo Sakai flew. It was the embodiment of all those things necessitated in the Zero from the beginning, excellent range, manoeuvrability, and speed. Although the type was superseded by later versions such as the type 32,22 and 52,some still soldiered on into the later and final years of the war.

The Kit:

In the early 1990s Hasegawa retooled their 1:72 line of Zero kits to produce the excellent versions we now have today. My particular kit dates from 1998.Inside there are four sprues molded in the familiar gray plastic and a separate single clear one for the canopy. There are 53 parts in all and as usual the ones not needed for this version are indicated on the sprue maps. Quality overall is excellent with nice recessed panel lines and crisp moldings with no flash. There are some nice detailed areas such as in the wheelwells also. After building the older tooling of the type 32,this kit was really a breath of fresh air!

Instructions:

The instruction sheet is the familiar A4 style sheet we’ve come to expect in Hasegawa kits with twelve assembly steps all nicely laid out and easy to follow.

Kit Decals:

As is a common practice with Hasegawa kits, there is a separate insert for the markings so as to not have to reprint out an entire set of instructions for each new version that comes out. Makes sense. Markings are for two aircraft both from the Tainan flying group from December 1941 in the Philippines. The first one from the 13th Squadron 1st fleet and the second from the 33rd Squadron,3rd fleet. Both aircraft are in Japanese Navy Gray with blue-black cowls.

Construction:

After the parts had been washed in soapy water, rinsed, and allowed to dry, I started with, of all places....the cockpit! Where else? Anyway, I airbrushed all of the interior pieces which consist of the cockpit floor, seat, stick, bulkhead, instrument panel, and fuselage interior halves with Tamiya acrylic XF71 IJN Cockpit Green. I'm starting to like some of these acrylic paints as they give off hardly any odours compared to some enamels. With that dry I then assembled the cockpit and brushed on some lacquer based glosscote for the instrument panel which at full strength attacked the surface of the acrylic paint a bit. I then applied the decals for the instrument panel and port side console. Next time I’ll brush on some Future and be done with it. I then added some lap belts from a True Details set and with the cockpit done I then trapped it between the two fuselage halves. I then attached the instrument panel to the center fuselage insert piece and glued this to the fuselage next. Make sure you properly align the instrument panel when attaching it to the insert piece so that the little assembly fits into the fuselage correctly. Nothing difficult, but something to keep your eyes open for.

Once the fuselage assembly was dry I then glued on the horizontal stabilizers and then added the completed wing section. Next time I’ll shave off the alignment pins on the wings as these gave me some trouble. The wings had a gap all the way around on the trailing edges that had to be filled in with liquid glue and some Gunze Mr.Surfacer 500.It just made for a lot of extra unnecessary work. With the drop tank glued together and the airframe complete I now went to work on the seams using a combination of Squadron putty, Gunze Mr.Surfacer 500,and their Mr.Dissolve liquid putty.

Somewhere in between I’d assembled the cowling, painting it’s interior in flat black. The engine was painted this color as well as the landing gear. You see, I like to get the most mileage out of my paints when using the airbrush and will do as many things as I can that get painted the same color per kit in a painting session. If I remember them all that is! Although I have several I’ve been sticking with my old standby from Paasche, the “Mighty H”! I’ve had this particular airbrush for about 15 years and it’s well made, easy to use and reliable. The engine was then given a dry brushing with steel and the cap was painted gray and then it along with the prop assembly was put together. I once read a review where the guy said something like “most Hasegawa kits go together great but always have one little issue spot.” I can agree with this. Construction for the most part was trouble free, but I did have a little trouble blending in that aft cowl insert piece. The wing root join on one side had a rather large gap and another one on the belly of the plane where the rear of the wing assembly meets the fuselage, but nothing a few sessions of puttying and sanding couldn't take care of.

I like to “prime” seam areas with some brush applied silver or aluminium paint to double check for any potential flaws. It works good but don’t forget to lightly hit these areas with the old wet ‘n’ dry before you spray your coat of paint, else they’ll show through! With all seams done I painted the decking areas beneath where the canopy would attach in the proper colors and attached the little DF loop antenna only. I then spent some quality time and masked the pre-futured canopy with Tamiya tape and attached it with some non-fogging super glue for clear parts. When this was dry I used some Elmers white glue to fill in any gaps. With the drop tank added on it was now ready for painting.

Painting:

First I sprayed the canopy area with more of the XF-71 for the “inside” of the framing. I got a little adventurous and sprayed some of the seam areas (and a good part of the airplane :-)with this color as well. As it turned out there were a couple of areas I’d missed that would need retouching. Haste makes waste! A little more filling and sanding and now she was ready! As on my previous Zero I would also spray this one with Tamiya XF-12 J.N.Gray.

With everything fixed I then sprayed the whole airframe and gear doors with the aforementioned color and when done I sprayed the cowling with the recommended mix of Gunze Blue and Black with a little bit of their flat base thrown in for good measure for that proper “Japanese cowling color". After a couple of “issues” with paint and seams and some retouching, the darn thing was finally wearing it’s final coat of paint! All paints were thinned with the manufacturers thinners also. With the paint dry I then airbrushed on a coat of Testor’s Glosscote so as to provide a smooth surface for the decals.

Aftermarket Decals:

This would mark my first time at using aftermarket decals. The airframe was already done and I’d found out that my local model club would be having a special Pearl Harbor commemorative. I obtained some Tech Mod decals and used sheet #72041 which I had gotten through Squadron. The sheet has markings for three different aircraft, Saburo Sakai’s, Lt. Commander Shigeru Itaya’s from carrier Akagi Dec. 7th 1941, both in overall J.N. Gray and another from the Konoike Kotukai 1944 in the late war scheme of green over gray with yellow leading edge wing bands. I naturally chose Itaya’s Pearl Harbor markings. I am not used to decals this thin! While placing the wrap-around fuselage band, I tore a small hole in it as well as one of the yellow horizontal tail bands. You astute readers may have noticed the one photo where the tail band falls a little short and does not go all the way to the edge of the fin. Had I started by placing the bottom set of bands first, to basically set the guidelines, then the top bands and then the numbers in between, I think I would’ve got it right. Another lesson learned!

I had started with the top bands which came out good then the numbers, then the bottom bands. However by using Tamiya’s flat yellow acrylic paint thinned down a bit with some of their thinner, I was able to get a near perfect match. You can hardly tell and if I never told you, I bet you’d be hard pressed to notice it really. This was done by hand. Another thing that didn't help me was in the fact that I used Micro Sol exclusively on the majority of the decals when in fact I believe the “red label” Sol is to be used if the “blue label” Set can’t handle it. Any approvals to this? I used the kit’s markings for the Hinomarus and while for the most part the decals came out pretty good, some of the carrier film can be seen on some of them. I also managed to fumble the port wing upper hinomaru by not being able to get a wrinkle out of it. I'd been using the red label Micro-Sol stuff and had left the model sit for about 15 minutes in between applications and I think this may have “dried it out” or something. After multiple apps with the Sol I got it better than it was but there were still a couple of small wrinkles. It's not too noticeable and a bit of pastel dust hides it somewhat, but I know it’s there. The next day I wiped the decaled areas down with a damp cloth and then shot on another coat of Testor’s Glosscote which was followed up the next day with their Dullcote. Maybe Techmod decals respond better with no setting solutions at all?

Jon's A6M2B, the subject of this review is in the foreground, neatly paired
with his recent A6M3C Zero built and reviewed on SMAKR

Final Assembly:

With the model almost done, the masking tape was then pulled off the canopy and it held up rather well and any areas needing “chipped” were done so with a sharpened toothpick and the glass polished with some Bare Metal Foil plastic polish. I then painted the gear wells and stuff with Tamiya Flat Aluminium followed by a 4:1 mixture of Tamiya clear blue to 1 part clear green. These look a lot better than my last ones and I like how they turned out. The rest of the small parts were then added on such as the antenna mast which just snapped into place through the hole in the canopy. I painted this the red-brown color. Landing gear were built up as assemblies from the instructions and glued in with 5 minute epoxy. I wasn't happy with the landing gear as the gears themselves don’t make contact with the doors like they should. Perhaps a filing down of the axles before gluing the assemblies together next time? The other smaller gear doors were harder to place on this kit and I think if I’d left the drop tank off til now, they would have been easier to attach.

Somewhere in between here I’d sprayed the prop blades, the backs in flat black and the fronts in aluminium along with the spinner. I used some SNJ rubbing powder to shine up the prop blade faces and spinner and it worked nicely. The only problem is you can't put decals on them unless you put a clear coat over them. I being a chicken left my blade stripes off being afraid of a possible reaction of the clear coat over the SNJ. With the engine and cowling attached I decided to try my hand at some weathering again. I used a sharp pin first to clean out the panel lines more and used a sharpened pencil to highlight the panel lines for a subtle effect.

Although it's hard to see in the pictures you can see it a little bit in the one close up picture. The good thing about the pencil method is that if you screw up, just like in school you can erase it! It’s almost just right with the lines being darkened slightly, but not too dark like they would be if a heavy wash had been applied. Sometimes this can look a bit overdone I think, but I'd like to try it maybe on my next model and see how it comes out. Some ground pastels were applied with a paint brush, just kind of “tamping” it on around the guns, ejector chutes and on the fuselage sides just aft of the cowling. I then painted the wingtip and navigation lights in Tamiya clear blue and red colors over a Model Master Chrome Silver base. Finally with everything else done and attached I made an aerial from stretched sprue, attaching it with the tiniest drop of super glue at either end. When dry the ends were snipped off and I waved a burnt out match underneath it and like magic the slack went right out the window and poof! it was taught and tight.

Conclusion:

This kit while not exactly 100% trouble free, went together rather well despite a couple of minor fit problems. It's nothing that can’t be handled by a modeller with a couple of kits under his or her belt though. Besides where would the challenge be if a kit just simply “fell together”, right? This kit was built right out of the box with the exception of the aftermarket decals and still looks great with no fancy add-ons. Speaking of add-ons, parts C34, the external balance counterweights are kind of in limbo and still at this point have not been attached. I tried once and they just are hard to get to stick on. From what I’ve read, these were only on the first 326 Zeros and were reportedly later replaced by internal balance weights. Besides I’m sure they’re easy to knock off anyway! A lot of pictures of Pearl Harbor era Zeros I've seen didn't have them so that's why I left them off. I'll have to do some more checking, ah the pleasures/pains of modelling!

For me, it’s hard to say exactly what my favorite part of modelling is, but I love seeing a kit just “come together” and materialize before you, making the transition from a tree of unpainted plastic pieces into a finished miniature version of the original. With some experience garnered from the last one I built, I used that and some new techniques on this one and bested my last output so I’m making progress, and progress is always good. I think Hasegawa have the 1:72 Zero market cornered and that these are the best kits in this scale. They’re really excellent little kits and Hasegawa currently offer the Type 21, 52, and the Rufe floatplane version which just cries out to be set in a water base/diorama. They used to make the Type 11 which you’ll have to look for at shows or on the dusty back shelves of your favorite hobby shop. The Type 22 is not listed in their current catalog, but is available as a current kit and I sometimes see it at the local shops. I've already started my Type 52 so look forward for a review to come down the road of that one too. If you haven't built or own one of these kits, by all means go out and get one and start building!

References:

Zero in Action....Squadron Signal Publications Warbird History Zero....Motorbooks International Mitsubishi A6M Zero.....Mushroom Model Publications

web hosting • domain names
web design • online games