Revell 1/32 A6M5 Zero

[kfutter]

Howdy folks,

I thought I might post one of my older builds, but one I'm still proud of. This was only my second major 1/32 scale build after returning to the hobby in 2007. It's a rebuild of the ancient Revell 1/32 A6M5 Zero kit that I'd built in my mid-20s, say around 1991 or so. I was looking at it in the display cabinet one day, and thought, I should really chuck that out. But then it occurred to me that perhaps I should repaint it. That soon snowballed into a complete rebuild, taking more than 2 years to complete.

Here's what it looked like in September 2007:





And after disassembly:





And after 2 years' work:





I scratch-built most of the cockpit (including the seat), rebuilt the cowl flaps, reshaped the spinner (it's actually too pointy now), and scratch-built the flaps and a replacement aileron (after I broke one irreparably during disassembly). The main landing gear and drop tank were robbed from a Doyusha A6M2 kit, and the main wheel bays are a combination of CMK resin (leg troughs) and Evergreen styrene (wheel bays). The gun barrels are from Master Model.



The tail wheel assembly is the CMK resin unit, as is the detail inside the exposed fuselage hatch. Most of the markings were airbrushed on, with dry transfer stencils from Hobbydecal, and the tail code from the decal sheet provided with the AJ-Press Zero book. The whole model was rescribed too.







It's not the best model you'll ever see, but I'm still quite proud of the work I put into it, and would actually love to tackle a project like this again. And plan to!

Thanks everyone for looking.

Kev

[hrtpaul]

That looks outstanding Kev. You've really brought the old girl back to life. I've got a few F-4's that I built as a kid that I'd like to do the same thing to. Hope they come out half as good as your Zero mate. Well done

[kfutter]

Thanks Paul!

Kev

[Graeme H]

Nice return to service from a good D check

[kfutter]

Thanks Graeme. This still remains one of my most satisfying builds.

Kev

[tor lives]

Nice recovery Kev!!!
Good to see that the model kit refurb revolution is growing!!!!
Never throw out a model, (it's either a refurb-in-waiting or spare parts for the next one ).
TOR

[kfutter]

Thanks Ray. I've rebuilt a couple of other models since this one, and have on the shelf-of-doom a Monogram P-40 undergoing the same treatment. I'll get back to it some day!

Kev

[Adam the Akrodude]

Sensational and inspiring work there Kev - the ultimate refurb! Given the amount of work put in, one can see why you are so proud of the end result and rightly so!

Another great example of why one should hang onto old models.

Cheers

Adam

[kfutter]

Thanks Adam. I even managed to win a couple of awards with this one!

Kev

[Wedgetail]

Absolutely great restoration job Kev. A definite example why older kits deserve more than binning.

Wayne