Scott Jamieson has very kindly shared these images of his Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero model made from the excellent 1/72 Tamiya kit.
Scott's extra work on the model included drilling out the cowling gun muzzles and exhausts, adding brake lines and landing gear indicator rods. In the cockpit he drilled out lightening holes in the seat and added the seat adjustment bungee cord. He used EZ Line for the antenna wire.
Scott painted the model with a lightened mix of Model Master SAC Bomber Tan guided by the information at this blog and j-aircraft.com. He notes that the photos make the colour appear more greenish than it actually is.
Scott's model represents the Zero flown by Lt Fusata Iida from the carrier Soryu during the attack against Pearl Harbor. Lt Iida was a Buntaicho (division leader) in the second wave attack and led nine Zeros in a succession of low-level strafing attacks against the PBYs and facilities at NAS Kanehoe Bay during which his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and began streaming fuel.
Lt(jg) Iyozi Fujita was leading the second three-plane Shotai (flight or element) in Lt Iida's formation: "We were flying in formation, Iida's plane near mine. I was his senior wingman. Iiida turned and saluted me, then pointed to his mouth and shook his head. This meant he had no more fuel. His plane had been hit. Then he pointed to himself and then straight down. Then he waved goodbye, made a quick sharp turn and disappeared into the black smoke on the ground." Lt Iida's Zero was then seen by USN personnel to make a run towards an aircraft hangar but was hit again by anti-aircraft fire. It missed the hangar, rolled inverted and crashed at a shallow angle into the lower slope of Puu Hawaiiloa, a hill in the centre of the station.
With special thanks to Scott for sharing these images of his model.
With special thanks to Scott for sharing these images of his model.
Image credit: All photos © Scott Jamieson
8 comments:
Nicely done model, especially for the scale. Thanks for sharing! It's fascinating to me how the grey-green colors really change drastically depending on the light source and conditions. I saw this first hand with my recently finished Babs, in some conditions, it's really green, while in others (especially bright light), it's a much cooler grey tone. It isn't lost on me that the actual paints had a similar effect, and quite possibly offered a large range of usefulness depending on the situation.
Dan
Hi Scott,
That's a very sharp looking model you made. Appreciate that you touched on the added details from the build. I've heard that is a wonderful kit and goes together well and your selection of colors and decals look the part. Very nice and as usual, Nick put together another interesting article with historical notes serving as a back story.
Thanks!
Jim
Very nice model and article - thanks Scott and Nick! -
Nice work, Scott. Thanks for sharing, Scott & Nick.
Thank you Gentlemen for the kind words !
A beautiful rendition! I'm working on some of these myself. I sure wish I could see a better image of the base on which this kit is mounted.
Warren
Well Done Sir !
Additional thanks for Iyozi Fujita's account of Lt.Iid's final battle
It is a piece of hardwood already painted black and sealed with a clear coat. It was obtained from Walgreens. They are used to mount photographs. A friend works there, and she gave a couple to me, after the pictures had to be removed due to an error in mounting them. The deck section was a purchased download from Scale Model Scenery.com. Put it on a flash drive and had it printed out at Staples onto some thick paper. I then cut it to size and attached it with spray glue. The IJN ensign was printed off of the internet, sized, trimmed and glued on with white glue. The info was created on my computer in Libre Office and printed out. That also was attached with white glue.
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