1/144 Sweet A6M2b Zero

Gallery Article by Raphael L. Marbella, MD on June 12 2010

Philippines Independence Day 2010

 

     Another 1/144 scale bird I recently finished. Except for building a seat and control column/panel made of plastic card and wire, this was built out of the box. Paint used were mix of Tamiya and Gunze acryllics. Even though the kit instructions were written in Japanese, build was fairly straightforward. History professor and fellow IPMS Philippines member Aaron Ronquillo translated that this particular bird was from the 381st Kokutai that was based in Mindanao Island in the Philippines in 1944.

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   Since I haven't come across any photos of the original aircraft, I took artistic liberty in the amount of weathering used. This was done primarily by using hairspray instead of the more popular salt technique on Japanese aircraft modeling. My premise there was because of the very small scale, I probably would have better control on the amount of paint chipping/wear I wanted. Aside from that, I also used oil wash and dot filtering on selected areas of the kit.

Thank you to all the fellow modelers out there for all the constant inspirations you guys give to the hobby. Happy Modeling everyone!

"Doc Raphy... IPMS Philippines (Bert Anido)"

Raphael L. Marbella, MD

Photos and text © by Raphael L. Marbella, MD