Hat tip to Sergio Teixeira for kindly alerting me to these four new Fine Molds A6M5 kits, two in 1/48 scale due for release in July and August respectively and two in 1/72 scale due for release in October. Fine Molds are also re-releasing some older kits including 1/48 Ohka and Hayabusa as well as 1/48 and 1/72 A7M2.
Other details of the 1/48 Nakajima A6M5a Model 52 Koh kit (box art in heading image above) can be seen here. And for the Mitsubishi built A6M5 Model 52 Koh (box art above) here.
The 1/72 kits are an interesting early production Mitsubishi A6M5 with the Model 32 type cowling without thrust exhausts, with three markings options, further details of which can be found here and a Mitsubishi-built mid production A6M5 with four markings options which is shown here. The 1/72 kits do not appear to have the same innovative parts break down as the recent 1/48 kits but are similar to the special magazine issue A6M5 kit released some years ago.
Image credit: All © 2025 Fine Molds via HLJ
3 comments:
Thanks Nick, I'm happy to give my little contribution to the blog. I just noticed the box art of both 1/48 releases are true masterpieces and would look great framed.
A personal thinking
It's interesting to see how interpretations differ depending on the manufacturer. Let me explain: Fine Molds (from Japan) offers in their superb early and mid-production A6M5 kits, two schemes dedicated to Iwamoto Tetsuzo :
- An "early" A6M5 for 53-102 with 66 victories on the fuselage
- A "mid-production" A6M5 the 53-104 with 18 victories on the fuselage.
Lifelike (also from Japan) offers these 2 subjects in their decal sheet 48-061 http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2024/01/lifelike-decals-48-061-mitsubishi-a6m.html but in a different way:
- An A6M3 Type 22 53-102 with 60 kills on the fuselage
- An "early" A6M5 53-104 with 18, 60, and 70 kills on the fuselage
Neither aircraft has a white or yellow diagonal stripe around the fuselage (IMHO, due to his status at this period, Iwamoto was probably Shotaicho).
Is one version more likely than the other?
Unless photos emerge one day, I think both versions (Fine Molds & Lifelike) are possible.
Nick, thank you for this very interesting article :)
Thanks for the heads up, Sergio and Nick. In these perilous times, one must pre-order to get a kit before they are gone.
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