Zero Fighter model 52 part-1

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Great thanks to Mr. Mario for checking my English text.




Introduction

 Zero fighter is fairly special and symbolic aircraft for Japanese people. It is my personal opinion however most Japanese modelers may agree with me. Therefore I built this model with passion as a reminder of WWII during which many young Japanese pilots fought and died at the controls of Zero.


First impression

 Let me briefly compare this kit to Hasegawa issue of model 52. The top picture is Tamiya and bottom is Hasegawa. Some modelers say that Tamiya fuselage is too deep but comparing rear fuselage of both kits we'll find out the same measurement. Hasegawa's rear fuselage is a little shorter than Tamiya's.

The canopy is the main point of difference between Tamiya and Hasegawa. Tamiya rectified Hasegawa's inaccuracies i.e. canopy is too wide at upper portion resulting in the steep angles of the side windows. Hasegawa canopy is taller than Tamiya by 1mm and that's why Hasegawa fuselage looks slim to some modelers.

Both cowlings are slightly different and therefore a matter of personal preference. Tamiya's main wing is excellent. Distinct washout (see this photo) of Zero is perfectly represented and the airfoil is accurate. The airfoils on both kits are a little different therefore it will be difficult to mate Hasegawa "52-hei" wing to Tamiya fuselage and build 52-hei model.



Tamiya is on the top, Hasegawa on the bottom. Especially, the curve at the arrow is different. Hasegawa looks like somewhat cartoonish since it's canopy is large and fuselage is short.


My conlusion is that Tamiya kit is more accurate however Hasegawa kit is remains an excellent choice.


Cockpit

 The cockpit was built basically out of the box. Zero was designed with consideration of weight saving so I sanded some parts to make them look more realistic.



The cockpit upper edge is rather devoid of details so I added Evergreen plastic rod (0.4 x 0.5mm) to represent the stringers.
The seat mounting braces were thinned as well as the edges and back of the seat. The seat pulley string was made from 0.3mm solder. Foot holding straps were added to the rudder pedals.



Interior color

 Fortunatelly, the original Nakajima-built Zero cockpit can be found in Imperial War Museum collection. Its color is rather brownish gray green, but my acquaintance who is a collector of wwII Japanese aircraft relics said that the paint of this period changed to brownish tone due to aging. So my guess was that the original Nakajima-Zero cockpit color might be medium gray green and not so brownish. I also took into consideration Saiun (Myrt) cockpit in the Smithsonian collection. Same as Zero this plane was built by Nakajima for IJNAF. This color is not brownish even today.

Anyway, I mixed my interior color from Mr.color #303 FS34102 and #127 Nakajima interior in the ratio 3:1 and added small quantity of #22 dark earth.


The fuselage color under the canopy

 It's darker than the pilot seat but lighter than cowling in photos of captured aircraft of Nakajima model 52 in Saipan or other original photos (see reference-4 or 10). The existing original parts and Imperial War Museum Zero are dark gray. These absolute evidences show that the color of this portion was dark gray. Tamiya's instruction calls out interior green but this is inaccurate. Canopy inner frame was also painted dark gray on IWM Zero.

In addition, model 21 or 32 were also painted dark gray. There is a original color photo of model 32 in ref.-26, the color was faded dark gray, not light gray or interior green.


Cockpit

 Kit throttle lever is combined with gun trigger so I separated them with etched saw. Some levers were made from small metal balls and stretched sprue. Hasegawa Zero's instrument decals were punched out and applied on the instrument panel. Then I applied Future to them.



The gun control box below the instrument panel was painted dark green. It was not black.
The left side. The seat was painted #340 field green. Instrument were manufactured and painted at subcontractors. All were painted in slightly different shade of green.

Electrical distribution panel of existing original parts was not black but dark green. Please note the dark silver gun trigger on the front of the throttle lever.
Aaviation radio and Kruesi Radio Direction Finder were dark green.



The fuselage guns



Tamiya is on the left, Hasegawa on the right.
I filled the bottom of the slots with sprue.

After I finished I realized it was a waste of time since the job is not visible.
I installed bulkheads in the rear fuselage. They were reinforcement and protection of dust.



The instrument panel again

I learned from my friend that the aviation watch (upper row 2nd column from the left) and the gyrocompass( the bottom row far left) were dropped out from the model 52-kou instrument panel and control stick was tied with a string through the hole of this instrument when aircraft was parked so the paint on the edge of this hole was removed sometimes.

Please notice that IWM Nakajima Zero 52 lacks two instruments and other captured 52 model on Saipan lacked only aviation watch (ref.-16 etc). Two front instruments on the left console were dropped off from both of IWM and Saipan aircraft.



Since I had two full kits I modified the instrument panel. I had no Hasegawa decals left so I used two sets of Tamiya decals. The string was made from 0.2mm lead wire.
The cable from the trim handle, the gun selector lever (above the trim handle) and the throttle cables were added.



The Sakae engine



I installed 28 spark plug cables made from 0.3mm solder wire.
The engine was finished. The late model Zero engine looked unpainted. So I simply used #8 silver + #2 black.



The color of wheel wells and the inside of the landing gear cover

 Let me mention Mitsubishi built Zero first. Both the wheel wells and the inside of landing gear covers were painted under surface color (i.e. light gray) from model 11 through 63. Many books or kit instructions incorrectly state Aotake (clear blue). When you carefully check original photos you can easily notice this and also existing original parts are sufficient evidences of this fact. Aotake looks very dark in the monochrome photo.

As far as Nakajima built Zero is concerned thing are more complicated. I checked a lot of original photos and judging from brightness I concluded that many aircraft did not have inside of the landing gear covers painted in Aotake (for example, ref.-2 page51, ref.-8 page108, ref-10 page31). I think these were painted light gray (someone say that latest Zero (after 52-hei?) were left unpainted to simplify the manufacturing process but it is not confirmed). On the other hand, some Nakajima Zero's gear cover seemed to be painted Aotake ( for example, Nakajima built 21 and Saipan captured 52) judging from original monochrome photos.

The wheel wells and the crescent moon shaped wheel cover of IWM Zero were painted Aotake. (The main landing gear cover of IWM aircraft was painted light gray, but it possibly was taken from Mitsubishi built Zero.) On the other hand, light gray painted wheel wells on Nakajima built Zeros seem to exist. I checked a lot of original photos but I couldn't make any conclusion due to the poor lightning of the gear bay and wheel cover areas.

I would conclude that the most of Nakajima built Zero 52 had wheel wells and small wheel cover painted in Aotake and the main landing gear cover in light gray but were some exceptions.

There are other variations in painting of the landing gear. There are two types of weight indication at the center of gear cover. One is red/blue and another is red/blue/red (most of color instruction are red/yellow/blue, but existing record shows red/blue/red). Also there are variations in the name plate on the upper gear leg (position / size / with or without), the color of torque link (silver / black). The "U" shaped wheel cover link is made of chrome molybdenum steel and painted black.


Guns again

 I used Fine Molds brass parts from Fw-190 fuselage guns set. However the muzzles of Zero 7.7mm guns are different. I scratch-built them using combination of 1.0mm, 0.8mm and 0.6mm brass tubes glued with metal-primer.



Kit parts is on the left, scratch-built parts in the center and Fine Molds parts on the right.
Guns are temporarily installed in the upper fuselage panel.

This is the gunstock of 7.7mm gun. The mold of the lever was cut off and PE lever was added. The lever head was made using super glue putty.
These are the trial pieces of lever heads made from super glue putty. Key point was to adjust the putty viscosity.



Gluing of the fuselage

 Lately, I prefer to use super glue for this kind of work. Well, I know liquid type cement is better in long-term strength, but adhesive line of liquid cement shows sink line after a few weeks or months (even after completion!) and I truly hate this. Super glue is rather weak for sheer force, but problem is rectified by reinforcements installation.

Before gluing fuselage halves, I checked the fit of fuselage and wind shield. The width of wind shield was slightly larger so I inserted the 0.14mm plastic sheet.



The reinforcements were installed into adhesive portions.
After gluing I lightly sanded the surface.



Wing data

 The airfoil and numerical data of it is in reference-14 page 47. I think it was copied from original drawings. I calculated wing data from this and show them as follows. All of the numerical data in this table are 1:48 scale.

rib no.chordthicknesschord thickness ratioangle of attackcurvature diameter of leading edgedistance from wing root
0153.9mm7.7mm14.3%2.0‹ƒÓ2.2mm2.6mm
1242.4mm6.0mm14.2%2.0‹ƒÓ1.7mm51.6mm
2133.4mm3.7mm11.1%1.0‹ƒÓ0.9mm90.1mm
2626.5mm2.4mm9.0%-0.5‹??112.0mm


Traced drawings are as follows




The rib-01 is located inside of fuselage. The rib-12 is the border of flap and aileron for model 52. The rib-26 is hinge line of model 21 wing tip. From the root to the middle of wing, chord thickness ratio is almost constant (of course, chord is decreasing so the thickness is decreasing) and the angle of incidence is constant. From the middle to wing tip, thickness markedly decreases and wing tip features the wash-out (twist). That is the feature of a miracle wing that gave Zero its high performance.

Please note the curvature diameter of leading edge. The diameters are unexpectedly small (i.e. the leading edge is sharp). Most of modelers neglect this fact. I sometimes saw Zero with Hurricane-like wing leading edges. Tamiya kit well depict this feature.

The dihedral of Zero is 5.71 degrees. This value is on the center of wing spar. The maximum thickness is at 30% of the chord.


The wash-out

 Let me make some comments on it. There is no wash-out on the "inner wing" (as call the wing portion from the root to rib nr.12), there was a -2.5 degrees wash-out as sine curve on the "outer wing" (i.e. from rib nr.12 to the wing tip),. That is to say, the line of leading edge is straight at inner wing and drops on the sine curve on the outer wing. The trailing edge of the inner wing (i.e. flap) is straight and outer wing (i.e. aileron) is sine curve.

The airfoil shape of the outer wing changes little by little to drop down to the leading edge. As the result, the lower surface of rib nr. 26 is almost flat (see above figure of blue rib-26 airfoil ; the red airfoil is similarity of rib-01to -12 airfoil). So the leading edge sine curve is noticeable for double effect of twist and airfoil. On the other side, the trailing edge sine curve is only of twist so it isn't noticeable and it looks like as if the trailing edge is bent at the border of flap and aileron when I see photos of actual aircraft.

This wash-out is easy to describe in words, but it's not easy to design and build in reality. The cross section shape of four flanges (upper/lower front/rear) are changed in 3D and each change is different.



This photo of Planes of Fame's Zero 52 (in ref.-25) shows a width reduction. Notice the highlight of port wing. Also notice the wing tip.
When you use your ruler you'll understand the bend (ref.-6).



Correcting the wing tip

 One of few problems with the Tamiya kit is the wing tip which drops down, in other words, from the front view, the wing tip's upper outline is curved down and the lower is straight.


Construction of the wing



The carbon fiber spar was glued onto the lower wing part to maintain the correct dihedral. The inside of flap and upper panel of flap were filled with super glue putty to reinforce the structure in preparation for riveting.
The depressed areas appeared after the surface was sanded.

The wall of gear bay was thinned and the holes were drilled out. The location and the size of holes were not completely clear from my references.
The wing was finished. The wing tip was corrected. I bent upper and lower wing parts by hands and lifted the wing tip up by 1mm.



Dents in the surface

 I tried to depict dents of the surface along rivet lines. Some modelesr use a rotary tool, others use sanding paper or hand-made knife. I used the chisel (carving knife). At first, I drew lines with pencil. Next, I held the chisel vertically and scratched the surface with it. Then the surface was sanded with 600 grit sand paper.



This is the chisel I used.



Riveting the lower wing

 Before riveting, I clarified all of the rivet lines according to photographs of the real aircraft. Then I found out that there were some inaccuracies in the published drawings, for example ref.-18 or -4 etc. Therefore refer my model when you engrave rivets on your model.



The location of this hatch was wrong. I filled it with the Black super glue and rescribed.


I engraved 12 double-lines of rivets on the lower surface of main wing fuel tank, but later I found out that there were 11 of them, not 12. The photo shows 12 lines, I corrected it later.



I used #1 (0.3mm) beading tool mainly, #4 for fasteners and #0 for main fuel tank. The gray putty on the flap is correction of my error. I think the rib in this location does exist but was not riveted to the surface panel.



Riveting the upper wing

 Before riveting, I corrected kit panel lines a little bit. I widened the panel of wing gun base and shortened the length of the panel which is located inside and behind the wing gun base.

I could see more rivet lines at the upper flap of photos of POF's Zero. But I omitted them because it might look too "crowded" after I have engraved all the rivet lines.



I finished the upper wing. To maintain the spacing of the parallel double-rivet lines I used a guide made from plastic sheet.


This is the original kit. Please compare the panel lines.
The navigation light was made from colored acrylic material.





Red circle shows my error caused by inaccurate drawing in ref.-18. The line should be the same as on the upper wing.



Detail considerations

 There are some variations of the panel and rivet lines. POF's Zero doesn't feature panel lines shown in blue here but has yellow panel lines and there so are rivet lines marked here in purple. NASM's Nakajima Zero 52 (ref.-18) corresponds to the Tamiya kit (i.e. features "blue" panel lines without "yellow" ones). Zero 52-hei in ref.-18 features "green" rivet lines.






SBS Model's Resin seat

 SBS Model sent me excellent resin pilot seat in return for information of Ki-44 cockpit. (They might be preparing ....?)
Unfortunately, it was after completion of my Zero, so the seat wasn't used for my model. Instead, I introduce SBS resin seat here. Please check their site.

SBS Model




This seat is very good quality.




Photo Page




References


1 The famous aircraft in the world No.5 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Model 11-21 (new edition) Bubrindo
2 The famous aircraft in the world No.9 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Model 22-63 Bubrindo
3 The famous aircraft in the world No.55 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Model 11-21 Bubrindo
4 The famous aircraft in the world No.56 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Model 22-63 Bubrindo
5 The famous aircraft in the world (old edition) June,1974 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Model 11-22 Bubrindo
6 The famous aircraft in the world (old edition) October 1974 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Model 52-63 Bubrindo
7 Koku-fun illustrated No.42 Color & Markings of Japan Army and Navy Aircraft Bubrindo
8 Koku-fun illustrated No.53 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Bubrindo
9 Koku-fun illustrated No.93 Veterans Bubrindo
10 Koku-fun illustrated No.96 Photo History IJN 302 Kokutai Bubrindo
11 Koku-fun illustrated No.109 Umiwashi to tomoni (With the sea eagles) Bubrindo
12 Koku-fun August 2008 Bubrindo
13 Model Art separate volume No.272 Paintings & Markings of IJN Fighter Model Art
14 Model Art separate volume No.323 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Model 11/21 Model Art
15 Model Art separate volume No.378 Pearl Harbor Attack Unit Model Art
16 Model Art separate volume No.510 Paintings & Markings of IJN Fighter (new edition) Model Art
17 Model Art separate volume No.518 Type Zero Carrier Fighter Modeling Guide Model Art
18 Aero-detail 7 Mitsubishi Type Zero Carrier Fighter Dainippon-kaiga
19 Battlefield Photo Album of IJN Kokutai Dainippon-kaiga
20 Fighting Zero Bungei-shunju
21 Photo album of Japan Military Aircraft Kojinsha
22 Mechanism of Military Aircraft No.5 Zero Fighter Kojinsha
23 Photo Album of IJN Aircraft in WWII Delta-shuppan
24 A6M ZERO in action Aircraft Number 59 Squadron/Signal Publications
25 WARBIRD Legends MBI Publishing Company
26 U.S.NAVY FIGHTERS OF WWII MBI Publishing Company
27 Existing Zero Fighter Picture Book Ei-shuppan
28 DVD Zero 52 High Vision Master Wack
29 Indestructible Zero Fighter Kojinsha







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