Mitsubishi A6M2 'Zeke'

Beginning of the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeke, my first Tamiya model kit 

Cockpit installed, very nice Tamiya ! 

Wings and tail plane attachment fitted pretty well, just a quick wipe with some Perfect Plastic Putty. final Grey primer before I start on the final colour scheme. 

 

 

Went with a Vallejo dark slate grey pre-shade before finishing with a ... 

Tamiya IJN Grey/Green XF-76 which came out pretty well. 

This one is finished. Must say that the AK Ultra Matt varnish gives an excellent flat, almost chalky finish (but it is smooth to the touch), very impressed, if you want that sun beaten, absolutely no sheen flat finish this definitely delivers. The usual water based issues when spraying, will initially bead when spraying, but lots of light coats and allow to dry off initially will give a good result, apparently will self levelling when brushing but I didn't try.  

 

Did have to fake the plane numbers to make it a Shokaku plane, 'edited' the supplied Zuikaku (E11 )decals into E1 decals (wrong numbers though) and only used one of the white fuselage bands. 

Seem to have the streaking working nicely but some chipping may be my next experiment. 

 

 

Thus ends my first Tamiya kit, everything went together with no fitment issues, nice.