1:48 A6M2 Zero

The Zero Model 21 and its long greenhouse

The Mitsubishi A6M2 entered the fighting over the Pacific as a carrier fighter with a range that nobody expected at the time. It bought that with low weight and a slender airframe. The pilot sat under unusually long glazing made up of flat panes set into wafer-thin frames, and it is precisely those frames that give the most work on a 1:48 model. The Model 21 is recognized by its rounded wingtips, which the later machines had clipped for a higher speed in a dive.

Paint bleeding under the edge of the film

The most common mishap on glazing is paint that gets under the edge of a mask and spreads the frame into the clear area. The cause tends to be always the same: the film does hold, but its edge is not pressed down into the groove of the frame. Once it is applied, therefore, run the blunt tip of a toothpick along every edge so that the material closes exactly in the groove. Then make the first pass genuinely thin, only strong enough to seal the edge; the covering coat comes on top of that.

Putting it right once it has happened

A dried overrun can be removed without repairing the whole finish. First scrape it off in layers with a piece of wood cut into a wedge; soft wood will not scratch clear glazing. Clean the rest with a cotton swab lightly moistened in the paint maker's thinner and always draw it away from the frame, never along it.

Set contents

Two films for the canopy, that is the outer and the inner face, and one set for the national insignia. The die-cut shapes follow the plastic model of the same type in 1:48 scale. Paints and glues are not enclosed.