Captured A6M5

Quick build, no crazy add-ons - OOB except for Vac Canopy. 

 

Subs built and ready 

Dead Design vac canopy rear fit is not good for the Tamiya kit, so we'll set it aside for maybe another mold. It IS designed for the Fine Molds kit, so maybe I'll get one. 

So I ran with kit supplied rear canopy and windscreen - fantastic fit. I will still use the Dead design sliding section. 

Tamiya's blend per instructions for the Aotake blue-green - Oh, and I stumbled on my 'lost ' pair of Master Model Type 99 20mm canons so I stuck them in the wings.  

Promptly snapped a leg trying to force it in place.... TEST FIT TEST FIT TEST FIT. OY! 

Stripped down and as she appeared later in life in the US. This particular airframe, 4340, had quite the life and several schemes. She was originally assigned to 261 Kōkūtai, captured on Saipan at Aslito airfield by US Marinesin December 1944. She along with other captures were shipped to the US aboard the carrier USS Copahee, where she was stripped of her colors and given a clownish fictitious scheme. She was displayed at Eglin in Florida, and Wright Field Ohio. She was then remarked like this. (Strangely still carrying the US Star and Bar on both lower wings. She has since been repainted, and now hangs from the ceiling at the National Air & Space Museum in DC.