Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe
This is Hasegawa's offering of Nakajima's seaplane version of the venerable Zero. As is quite common today, Hasegawa add new sprues to go along with core sprues in order to facilitate numerous versions of the same aircraft. This particular effort, JT69, is almost a complete rework of their very popular Zero line. In fact, only a couple of the sprues in this kit are common to their other versions.
New to the "Rufe" are the large centreline float, outrigger floats, underwing bombs, boarding ladder, lower wing and complete fuselage. A nicely detailed handling trolley is also included.
Construction was straightforward and the only flaw was a slight gap where the lower wing meets the rear bottom fuselage. This was cleaned up with a tiny amount of putty. The cockpit is typical of Hasegawa's Zero series and is quite complete with raised detail throughout. The only addition I made was to add lap belts and a shoulder harness from lead foil. The interior and the inside of the canopy frames were painted chromate yellow, and if I had it to do over, I would have made the mix a lot browner. The yellow simply doesn't match up to Nakajima's interior colour. I simply wasn't paying enough attention when mixing it. I painted the instrument faces black and then dry-brushed everything silver. Finally, a drop of clear gloss was applied to each instrument.
The completed cockpit was then glued into the fuselage and the two fuselage halves cemented together. The fuselage halves fit together very well and joint is seamless after Tenax and steel-wool. The wings were next. Hasegawa give explicit instructions on which panels to fill on the wing for this version. The wings mate up well with the fuselage with the exception of the small fit problem I encountered (caused?) at the back of the joint. If you're going to add the bomb racks and bombs, you will have to open up the corresponding holes for them in the lower wing. I liked the look of the plane without any ordnance, so I left them off.
The engine is acceptable, considering the view one has of it through the cowling. It comes in four parts and fits snugly onto the front of the fuselage. I left it off till all painting and decaling were done.
The main float was next and the fit here was excellent as well. You will have to add some weight to the front of the float to prevent tail-sitting. I just added a few fishing leads wrapped in tissue that was soaked in white glue. This way, as I beat the model about in my usual clumsy fashion, I don't have to worry about the weights rattling around. The outrigger floats went together well too. As with the rest of the plane, Tenax and steel wool took care of the seams. After I had gotten the main float glued and polished, I realized that I'd forgotten to drill out the holes for the boarding ladder. This was a bit of a bummer, because I think the ladder would have nicely complimented the handling trolley. I knew there was a reason to follow the instruction sheet more closely.
The trolley is a 10-piece affair that goes together without any problem and is a real gem. I think it really sets off the finished plane nicely. This was painted overall flat black and semi-gloss black was used for the rubber tires.
The clear parts were masked with Parafilm M which worked just great as usual. The rear fuselage was painted white and then the two white ID bands were masked. IJN gray was the main coat and went on without any problems. The cowling was painted interior black, as were the back of the prop blades. The decals were next and with the help of some Solvaset, went on great. This was the first time I had ever used this product and was amazed at the number they did on the decals. I had thought Micro-sol was pretty good, but this stuff is awesome. Never again will I dread dealing with kit decals!
After the decals had set for a few days, I flat-coated the entire plane and applied panel lines with a mechanical pencil filled with 2B lead. Finally a coat of semi-gloss was applied and after this dried, I added stretched sprue from the tail to the tip of the antennae. The completed model looks pretty good and nicely fits in with any Pacific warplane collection.
Hasegawa provide markings for two aircraft. The one I did in overall gray, and the one depicted on the excellent boxtop painting, which is at the top of the page. This was going to be my first choice even though I hate the yellow leading edges. I managed to get the yellow on ok, it goes over the light gray styrene quite well, but I handled the wings so much masking off the yellow panels that they both broke along the leading edge seam. In my disgust, I opted for the simpler gray scheme. Hasegawa also include a whole slew of extra numbers so anyone with comprehensive reference materials can take their pick of aircraft to do. I'd like to do another of this aircraft in the green/gray scheme. That lightening bolt on the side really brightens up a rather dull scheme.
Testors ModelMaster paints were used throughout, Tenax and Humbrol cement hold it all together and good old white glue was used to attach the clear parts. I recommend this kit to anyone without hesitation.