Airfix 1/72 A6M2 Zero

AIRFIX 1:72 MITSUBISHI A6M2 ZERO

Reviewer: Tim Beales (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 27 January 2003

Kit Details:

MITSUBISHI A6M2 ZERO by AIRFIX in 1/72 scale

The Aircraft:

The Mitsubishi Zero was the main Japanese fighter of WW2, and was used extensively in SE Asia and in the Pacific. Against the ancient European colonial air forces, and in surprise attacks against the US, it was initially all-powerful and earned a fearsome reputation. Eventually, the US developed aircraft that could out-fight the zero, and after 1944, the losses became catastrophic. The A6M2 was one of the earlier versions, but remained in use until the end of the war.

Kit Parts:

This is a 1990s nostalgic reissue of one of the oldest of all Airfix aircraft kits dating back to 40 years ago. There are 35 parts that are cast in Airfix's trademark light grey, pliable polystyrene. The overall quality is good, but the parts themselves are very simple.

Instructions:

The instruction sheet is composed of six (!) A4-sized instruction sheets. The first two sides comprise a short history and some aircraft specifications followed by general modelling instructions in 12 languages. The construction stages are overkill, and are spread over five sections over the next three sheets, with the rear sheet showing a simple painting guide for an unidentified zero.

Construction of the kit:

Step 1 is to cement the two fuselages halves together, remembering to pinch an arrestor hook at the rear of the airplane in between one of the guide pins and its locating hole. The fuselage is a single unit with an integrated tail fin. The two tail planes are also added at this stage. There are no painting guides given at all as to interior colours, except the shelf unit behind the pilot, which is recommended to be painted H56 (aluminium).

Step 2 is to cement the two upper wing sections onto the single piece lower wing. Once in place these leave a groove for the fuselage to fit into. The surface detail on the wings and fuselage is OK, with nice panelling, but all ailerons and rudders are cast solid, and are not moveable.

Step 3 is to install the engine housing, in which the propeller shaft passes through a single-piece engine and cowling unit, and is locked in place by a plastic collar. The propeller can be made moveable if you so wish. A front filter unit also attaches to the bottom of the engine housing at this stage.

Step 4 is to attach the fuselage into the slot between the two upper wings and glue it directly onto the lower wing. Then, the engine unit is mated onto the front of the fuselage, and the pilot is fixed onto two pins that protrude out of the inner sides of the two fuselages. The fit of all these parts is OK, with minor filler needed here and there around all the joints. Airfix also recommend fixing the clear plastic one-piece canopy and an aerial at this stage. I left the latter part until last, as it is easy to break off when fitting the undercarriage.

The final stage is to fix the wheels onto their one-piece undercarriage legs. These then glue onto the outer undercarriage doors, and the whole assembly fits into a hole in the underside of the top wing via the undercarriage leg. Also to be fitted are two inner undercarriage doors, which slot into a recess on the fuselage side. Then, a second air filter for the engine that fits beneath the cowling, a drop tank that comes in two matching halves and slots into a hole in the lower middle fuselage, and the single tail wheel unit in the rear of the fuselage are fitted.

I improvised and used some broad stretched sprue to make two exhaust pipes that located onto the lower engine cowling as shown on the box art, and used some thinner stretched sprue to make a pitot on the port wing. And that was it!

Decals:

One set of decals is supplied for an unidentified zero that is absolutely unusable. The suggested dark green paint scheme clearly shows through the decal red: horrible, nasty, and cheap. I find that this happened an awful lot when Airfix kits went to France.

To get round this, I decorated my zero using a David Monday profile of a zero from Manila in 1944, which has basically the same paint scheme as the one suggested by Airfix: dark green top (H116), light grey bottom (H28) and yellow wing leading edges (H24). In addition, the Monday profile has a black engine housing and spinner. Airfix also suggest painting the drop tank and the propellers as aluminium.

For insurance, I used Fantasy Printshop white backing patches to protect the Japanese red roundels, and improvised the Monday white tail lettering by using white letters and numerals from a Modeldecal sheet.

Accuracy:

The dimensions of the zero were: span = 39 feet 5 ins, length = 29 feet 9 ins. In 1/72 metric scale, these would be 16.7 cm and12.6 cm, respectively. My model measures 16.6 cm in span and 12.8 cm in length, and it looks every inch a zero.

Overall:

A prehistoric kit, so there is no point in going on and complaining about things that used to be the norm in modelling forty years ago.

On the minus side, there is no internal detail at all, with the cockpit simply being a big hole, and the decals are simply awful. If you were into Zero's, or wanted a definitive model, then you simply would not look at this kit.

On the plus side, the fit of the parts is pretty good, and you can do this kit all up in a day! If you are not fussy, and want a zero in your collection, or are a beginner, then it is still a good kit to do. It is also very, very cheap.

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