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Bill Koppos
119 articles

Zero from Zuikaku….

April 8, 2013 · in Aviation · · 7 · 2K

Just finished, 's venerable A6M2. This is the newest boxing, Zero "Super Ace" that features a resin figure, of Testuzo Iwamoto, supposedly the 2nd highest scorer of the IJN. This guy flew from China to War's end. 3 planes he flew are doable from the decal sheet, including one from Carrier Zuikaku at Pearl harbor. The extreme number of kits poured from these molds is showing, flash is coming in, and the seam lines on the cowl are getting bad. The split line on the fuselage where they made the short-tailed prototype is showing, too. But a nice model is possible still from it, just needs a little more TLC. I used Model Master IJN Grey despite getting flak from the Japanese color gurus, because it was in my paint drawer, and I think it looks right. This particular bottle layed on so smooth and glossy no gloss coat was needed to decal it. Time saved! The Iwamoto figger was painted up with Vallejos, and a 1/48 Japanese Carrier deck filched from my kid. Once again have a good chuckle at my figure painting, he looks better in 1/48 from 3 feet away. Happy Monday!

Reader reactions:
2  Awesome

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


7 responses

  1. Amazing looking Zeke!

  2. Nice-lookin' build, Bill...very nice detail work.

  3. That's a beautiful Type 0, Bill! I agree that your grey looks the part and do not believe that the IJN achieved uniformity among the various greys and grey greens on the aircraft used at Pearl. Your figure looks very realistic to me and I'd have trouble focusing on it any closer than 3 feet anyway!

    • Hey Erik we missed you at the old M-con, your pile of 1/48 goodies was absent. Yeah notice that even in this small sequence of pics three different shades are noticeable, depending on the lights and flash. Grayish-Greenish indeed. We'll never know.

  4. said on April 9, 2013

    Ya done it again BK... very pretty bird! Knowing as much as I do about Japanese A/C (less than I know about brain surgery- and I ain't no brain surgeon), I hope that the color is accurate as it makes a stunning scheme with the red & white. Fine looking build on an older, less than state-of-the-art kit too. Figure is much better than I could do, and the gloss on the goggles is a great touch.

  5. The usual boring Koppos-Build-To-The-Same-Standard-of-Excellence. 🙂

  6. Beautiful build Bill, bravo!

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