Last of the Breed...1/48 Mitsubishi A6M8 Type 54, IJN
19/2023
Next Zero by my dad. Hasegawa kit oob, added Eduard seatbelts and EZ Line for the antenna wire. Painted with Gunze H59 IJN Green and Tamiya XF-12 JN Grey. The yellow wing leading edges are painted.
Build thread here
https://imodeler.com/groups/the-empire-of-japan-1919-1946/forum/topic/last-of-the-breed-1-48-mitsubishi-a6m8-type-54-64-ijn/
Last produced Zero type. Two A6M5c were converted and fitted with the stronger Kinsei engine to replace the no longer produced Sakae engine in April 1945. The M8 never made it to serial production. At least one of the two prototypes fell into US hands.
Added also pics showing the A6M8 together with the first one, the A6M1.
Excellent job, Reinhard!
Nice gem of a build. The Japanese were very good at streamlining radials, it looks good with the big Kinsei.
Another beauty!
Really nice result, Reinhard @grimreaper
Thanks for the build thread.
A great looking pair. Nice work!
Very nice, a great comparison with the A6M1.
Reinhard Spreitzhofer (@grimreaper)
This looks great, and I especially like the comparison photos with the Mitsubishi prototype. A year or so ago I built a Hasegawa model in 1/48 of the A6M-1 12shi. I chose to build the very first example and my prototype Zero has the tail markings of "AM-1". Besides the slightly different markings, it also has a slightly different horizontal tail section and engine cowling with the different oil cooler setup.
This is a great idea to build the first and the last example of the A6M. I have a completed model of the 1/48 scale Fine Molds Ki-14 which was the prototype of the A5M "Claude", considered by some to be the grand father of the A6M. It would be neat to include it along with this pair of Zeros as you have done. If I can locate a model of the A6M-8 54/64 as you are posting here, this is something that I would like to do.
Thank you again for your continued support with our Empire of Japan group, and thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks a lot @lgardner!
The A5M, didn´t think about that to add it to the pics. A longer time ago my dad built the Fine Molds A5M, model still exists. Well, but when the Reppu is finished I can do predecessor and successor pics 😀
Reinhard Spreitzhofer (@grimreaper)
Outstanding news ! I look forward to seeing this. Thanks again for everything.