Karel Struna's 1/48th scale Fine Molds Reppu

Karel Struna has very kindly shared these images of his magnificent Mitsubishi A7M2 Reppu (烈風 - violent or furious wind) 'Sam' built from the 1/48th scale Fine Molds kit.

Karel found this to be a great kit with everything fitting like a glove and almost no filler needed. He only had to fix a couple of tiny gaps here and there. The barrels for the 20mm Type 99 Mk.2 cannon were substituted for RB Model items. The antenna wire is EZ-line. 

Gunze (GSI Creos) paints were used for the colours. The upper surface colour is C124 Dark Green (Mitsubishi) whilst for the under surface colour he chose C58 Orange Yellow, leaving the wheel bays and covers in natural aluminium.  The Hinomaru were sprayed on using masks. A very subtle amount of weathering was also applied as Karel surmised that these machines were brand new and did not see operational service. 

He found the size of 'Sam' simply stunning, a true beast compared to the A6M, Ki-43 or even Ki-84. Additional historical details about Reppu were published with John Haas' scratchbuilt model in October 2014. With special thanks to Karel for sharing these images of his superb model here. 

Image credits: All © 2016 Karel Struna