Hasegawa's 1/48 scale
A6M2 Zero Type 21

by Garfield Ingram

Hasegawa's 1/48 scale A6M2 Zero is available online from Squadron.com

This is the Hasegawa kit built fairly straight-up. I added iginition wires to the engine along with the odd photo-etch and resin bits from various after-market sources. The model was painted with Tamiya IJN grey. I found the base colour rather pea-green which is a long way from the neutral pearl grey that I have been used to. I decided to lighten the paint using white to a ratio of about three parts grey to one part white. Light weathering was applied using pre-shading and Mig washes. As you can see in the shot of the wing, an attempt was made to keep the weathering washes darker, close in to the fuselage and gun bays. It is my experience that panel lines are dirtiest around guns and the engine whilst being almost none existant, the further outboard you go. The cowl is actually a very dark blue which I mixed up, having no reference at all.

The decals in the Hasegawa kit are in a word, disgusting (as usual). The reds are closer to dark pink and the whites are yellow. The reds were printed on a base of white which comes up short all around the perimeter of each marking. This leaves you with a darker red surround and is simply unacceptable. To be fair, I haven't seen a very recent Hasegawa kit but I hope they will get serious about the decals they include in their kits. Companies like Tamiya and Eduard have left them far behind in this regard.

I decided to paint my markings on using the kit decals for only the small black Japanese characters and the tail numbers.

All in all, this is an excellent kit despite the decals.

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2010 by Garfield Ingram
Page Created 4 March, 2010
Last Updated 4 March, 2010

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