1:35 A6M2 Zero Fighter w/Interior of the Engine and Weapons

Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero in 1:35 scale (Border Model) — with the interior of the engine and the armament

An entirely new injection-molded kit from Border Model in the unusual 1:35 scale. And that scale is the whole point of the thing: 1:35 is the domain of ground vehicles and figures, as aircraft are traditionally made in 1:32, 1:48 or 1:72. Border did it deliberately: this Zero can be placed in a single diorama with tanks, vehicles and figures in 1:35 without anything falling out of scale. That is the main reason this kit exists and the main reason to buy it. That it is no accident is confirmed by the fact that Border also offers, for the same aircraft in 1:35, an add-on set with a carrier deck and bridge.

The second pillar is the interior. The designation with the interior of the engine and the armament means that the kit has a finely rendered Nakajima Sakae radial engine, a well-worked cockpit and internal areas that can be exposed, so the model can be displayed with the panels open to show what is inside. On top of that there are clear parts with an optionally open or closed canopy, stores (bombs, a drop tank), photo-etched parts and decals for three variants. The surface has fine engraved panel lines and rivets.

The real subject

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was the legendary Japanese carrier fighter and, at the start of the war, a shock to the Allies: unbeatably agile and with an enormous range that nobody expected from a carrier machine. That performance, however, was bought with a hard compromise that needs saying out loud: the designers saved every kilogram, so the Zero had no armor for the pilot and no self-sealing fuel tanks. The result was cruel: it often caught fire after the first solid hit. The A6M2 version is an early one, that is exactly the machine that took off from the decks of Japanese aircraft carriers in the first months of the war in the Pacific.

Building and painting tips

A kit with a full interior is built differently from an ordinary aircraft: finish and paint the engine, the cockpit and the exposed areas before you close the fuselage and the covers, because after that you cannot reach them. Decide in advance what you will leave exposed; if you want the aircraft closed up, you save yourself a lot of work. Grade the engine in shades of metal rather than one color: metals of differing darkness, a wash into the recesses, a dry brush on the edges. Use thin cement for plastic and unify the surface with a primer. The photo-etched parts are small, so glue them with super glue. Gloss varnish before the decals, matte varnish after them. And because this is 1:35: think about the base right away, because adding a mechanic figure or a vehicle parked alongside the aircraft is here, for the first time, completely natural.

Who the model is for

• Diorama builders — an aircraft that finally matches tanks and figures in 1:35
• Modelers who want to display the engine and the internal armament, not just a smooth surface
• Anyone interested in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and the early years of the war in the Pacific
• Armor builders who want to try an aircraft without changing the scale of their collection
• Intermediate to advanced modelers: a full interior and photo-etch call for a plan of the sequence

The model is supplied unassembled and unpainted. Glue, paints and accessories are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.