HI all, it's been a long time since I've posted here, but don't worry (!) I have been building. I actually have a handful of models on the go, which is not something I like doing. Anyway, I've been working on the old Hasegawa A6M3 (two actually) in order to clear out my Zero collection in anticipation of the new Eduard Zeros.

Surprisingly, I didn't take any photos of the cockpit before I closed up the fuselage, but since the detail isn't memorable, nothing much was lost. As with all Hasegawa Zero kits, one must be careful with the fit of the gun troughs to eliminate as much sanding and filling as possible. The oil cooler is a separate piece as in the A6M2 kit, but this time it fit much better, as did the wings to fuselage.

I used a chunk of clear sprue for the wingtip lights as the clear parts didn't fit very well (this is something I'm working on improving my skills on), and added a rod on the left side .

10 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Next up I painted silver (LP-11) and a red oxide primer (4 parts hull red to one part red), for chipping, but I don't think I will be chipping this plane much. Perhaps a bit of abrasion of the green camo and maybe some of the olive grey, but I'll decide later on when all the paint is on. The primer looks garish in the photos but it is a lot more subdued in person.

9 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Finally I was able to start on the painting of the exterior. I used a variety of colours for the marbling and then used MRP Mitsubishi Olive grey for the top coat. Honestly, after the top green camo, I doubt that the marbling will be visible at all. The MRP paint was sprayed at about 8-10 psi, and the final result was a very smooth finish.

9 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Next up were the leading edge bands (also masked) and the no walk lines and tail code. I decided to only paint the "UI" in red (they were painted this way in japan) and leave the "157" to be painted later. When the field green was sprayed, the code was sprayed over and to improve the visibility of the code, the 157 was painted over in white.

I ordered a set of Eduard A6M2 masks, as I didn't want to use the thick Hasegawa ones. For the most part, the A6M2 masks were also applicable to the A6M3. The carrier film was very thin and adhered perfectly to the paint (no glossing before decals), and after they were dried I scraped off the carrier film with a toothpick.

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.

And finally, the field applied camo. I was a bit nervous spraying this, as it could ruin the look of the model. I played around with pressures and MAC valve settings and found a perfect setting after spraying my mule from the A6M2 build. I can imagine how the field camo was painted, but replicating it in scale would be tricky. Obviously the guy who painted these was working with a narrower spray pattern and was trying to cover as much of the airframe as possible, but not worrying about leaving spots unpainted. This is similar to how I painted my Ki-44, in that there would be regular back and forth spray patterns, with the spray deviating around parts of the airframe, existing markings, and the phyical limitations of spraying the plane. I didnt want this to look like a giant sprayed this plane, I wanted to make i look like someone did id wo started fresh and probably got tired as the day wore on.

I sprayed with the crown cap removed and about 15mm from the surface of the model. This resulted in 1-3mm wide spray patterns which i think look scale enough. Next up are the wings, and I have been thinkin thinking about how these were painted, probably starting with the wing tips and moving inwards, with spray patterns changing at the wing tips, and then around the hinomaru and then near the yellow bands and back towards the rear/inner parts of the wings.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Might have been a while since you last posted, but what a re-entry you made, my friend @wkubacki! What a superb build of the not bad Hasegawa kit! Almost done and looking forward to it!
Thanks for yet another entry to our Empire of Japan Group!

Thank you very much guys. I was meaning to post up more regularly but I didn’t have the time. These early SWPA Zeros remind me of the varied camo on army planes, and it’s that variety that draws me towards them.

Merry Christmas everyone, I’ll probably get back with more updates after Boxing Day.

@lgardner For the most part, I tried to paint the camo in a back and forth motion, as I think that would be the most effective way that the actual plane would get the most coverage from the least amount to spray. When the space got tight, the pattern would change to follow it, or the pattern would get random, and I think that would reflect the frustration/tiredness/wanting to move on of the crewman who was painting them.

For the propellor blades I used my tried and true Mr Color Super Metallic line of paints. It was either SM206 super chrome silver or SM208 Duralumin. I thin the paints about 70-80% with Mr Color Rapid thinner and spray them on quite Willy-nilly. Because they are so thin you don’t get a lot of build up of paint (reducing the chances of runs) and the rapid thinner allows the paint to dry very quickly , also reducing the chances of runs. In fact, you can spray it on in heavy coats and it always seems to come out nice and shiny