Painting the Zero

Continuing with the Aifix A6M2, I masked and painted the remaining control surfaces Tamiya Flat White:

For the overall gray color, I used a custom mix of Tamiya paints (15 parts Flat White + 1 part Khaki + 1 part RLM Gray). These were thinned with Gunze Mr. Color Thinner. I don't have an exact ration, but it's probably in the area of 75% - 80% thinner, so that the coats go on translucently. 

The result is a nice variation in color, without looking too worn. The color gradients are more visible to the naked eye than to the camera, I'm afraid.

From here, I coated the model overall with Micro Gloss to prep for decals. After drying overnight, I started applying the decals. I went with an aircraft from the carrier Kaga. Decals are from the Aeromaster sheet "Tora, Tora, Tora Part I." I'm finding that I'm getting some wrinkling of the tail and fin stripes, even after applying Microsol. So that's a bit frustrating.

I'm letting what I've done so far dry, and I'll return to it in a few days.

Pre-shading a Zero

I've been building the Airfix 1/72 scale A6M2 Zero. A nice kit in general.

The common criticism of Airfix's recent run of 1/72 planes is that the panel lines are overly pronounced. It's true, the lines on this kit are deeper and wider than some other manufacturers, and I certainly wouldn't want them any more than what they are. But it's not a flaw so extreme that I wouldn't build it. I also have their Curtiss Hawk 81A "Flying Tiger" kit, and the same applies there.

I've completed major construction on the Zero. I've opted not to go with the kit-provided paint scheme of green over IJN gray. I'll be doing an over all Ameiro Gray plane from the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Because this model will be a single color overall, I want to introduce some variation in the color to create a better scale effect. A single uniform coat of one color will make a model look toylike. If the eye sees variations in color, it accepts the model as a more convincing representation of the real thing. To achieve this effect, I'll be using a pre-shading process. Since the Zeros at Pearl Harbor were new aircraft, I'm not using pre-shading to portray weathering or faded paint, but only as a way of breaking up the monotony of a single color paint scheme.

There has been much written on various online forums about the exact color of overall gray Zeros. I have no intention to rehash all that. Suffice it to say the color is a light warm grey leaning toward a khaki shade. One of the Japanese names for this color translates as "caramel color."

One of the most common practices for pre-shading plane models is to prime gray, and airbrush the panel lines black. IMO, that works fine for cooler color schemes (blues and blue-grays, etc), but would probably clash with the warmer brown-earth tones I'm going for here. So I set out to do something different.

The model was already primed with Mr. Surfacer 1200, applied by airbrushe. Then  I airbrushed the entire model with Tamiya Flat Brown.

I didn't worry too much about getting completely uniform coverage, the variations in color can only help the overall effect.

Next, I carefully lightened the interior of each panel with Tamiya Flat White.

This requires some precise airbrush work, but my new Iwata HP C Plus was up to the task.

You can also in the pictures above, that I masked off  the control surfaces on the tail planes and painted them solid white. All the cloth covered surfaces on the wings and tail/rudder will be similarly colored solid white. The cloth surfaces on these planes looked noticeably different from the metal surfaces, and should give them a lighter tone on the completed model.

You can also see here that I missed the flaps on the underside, inboard of the aileron. Those will get a shading too, when I come back to it.

From here I will apply very thin coats of the final color. provided I get it right, all the light-dark variations that you see here should show through, giving an interesting variety of tones.