Hi all - I'm another DeAgostini Zero noob :-)

Tripped over the site yesterday and today organised to buy all 17 issues to date and join the sub for the remainder - woot!!

I thought it was heaven when Tamiya released their awesome 1/32 kits - so when I saw this thing I nearly fainted!!

I'm going to wait until I have the complete kit before even starting construction - so in the meantime I'll look into various possibilities for super detailing.

Has anyone had any leads on whether anyone like Eduard or Aires or CMK might do anything for this machine?

Thanks guys - yeah, I'll throw up some progress posts when I get it under way.

My plan is to clad the leading edges, and fuselage from frame aft of the seat forward, as well as the top third from there back to the rear fuse join (might also do underwings out to just past the tanks). Cladding that area will make the detailing in the cockpit and area behind the firewall look all the more impressive - ie. by partially hiding it (wink + smile).

I have some personal ideas about "colouring to scale" - so look forward to hearing what u guys think when u see it.

Welcome to the group.

I am sure that you will love this build as it will give you the opportunity to build something special.

Aftermarket companies tend not to look at these kits as they can't get a complete one all at once to do anything with in reguards extra detailing.

That aside, the parts in this build are so well detailed that you don't need to add any more detailing although you may want to consider the fact that some builders (me included have already altered the kit in reguard to the wing ribs to make it look more authentic. just check out the forum and the builders logs for this.

Pictures of the finished model seem to show control wires and there are lots of wires to be added to the engine, but you may have to consider adding wiring to the cockpit and wings.

There's lots of help here, and if this had been a Luftwaffe subject I could possibly help with original technical manuals and handbooks which would help us even more, but to date I have not found any handbooks for the Zero.

I am contacting Mitsubishi to see if I can get something out of them.

Once again, Welcome and happy building

James

Ok, the backorder of Issues 1 thru 17 have arrived and there's an email that 18 is on it's way.

I've sent an email to the Aussie distributor asking how to get instructions for the backorder Issues - and in the meantime have audited the parts using Tomick's official build diary as reference. Looks like I'm missing some parts from stage 43 - ie. the aluminium parts are all there but it looks like the baggy with Undercarriage upper leg bits and spring and screws etc. was left out. Have asked the distributor about that as well.

Meantime I've found all sorts of scale goodies on line like miniature springs (for detailing the machine guns and scratchbuilding undercarriage uplock mechanisms), 1/16 spark plugs, various scale hydraulic and electrical fittings, miniature coloured lenses (for the lights on top of the control panel in cockpit) and tiny slot and phillips head screws to replace the cast ones on pretty much all the panels.

Also on the list now is a bloody big articulated magnifying glass - it's a right barstool that when I was young and silly (er) and could easily handle and see 0.7mm screws (0.3mm shank) and things this sort of kit wasn't available - but now I'm an old barstool and have a kit like this my &^%$#* eyes are shot!!