One of the first things you'll notice when you open the box on this kit (if you're like me) is the extensive history of the aircraft included in the instructions. This is *not* your typical one or two paragraph blurb! Very interesting - take the time to read it, you won't regret it.
The next thing you'll notice is that there are really not all that many parts in this kit. If, like me, you break a kit apart into subassemblies, you could have this kit together in a weekend (barring glue and paint drying time.) Typical of Tamiya, there were no fit problems, and the only spot I found that could use some putty is where the underwing floats meet the wing (and not much there,) and the intake in the main float (which is a little trickier.)
The cockpit is not intensely detailed - there is plenty of moulded in detail on the fuselage sides and in the cockpit floor and left wall (A9) but the instrument panel is depicted with a decal on a flat panel. If you use the closed canopy, this is no problem. If you use the open canopy, you may want to scratch build (or use aftermarket) instruments, as you will lose some "depth."
Detail mavens may also want to cut off the machine gun
breeches (represented with plastic blocks - lacking detail) and
find some aftermarket breeches or do some assembly and scribing
to add detail to the ones in the kit. (Again, this will be more
important if you choose to leave the canopy open.)
There has been much debate on interior colors - from straight
greens, to the transparent blue-green "aotake," to tan, grey, or black. For this kit, I decided (since the cockpit was so
small) to try a suggestion I ran across on rec.models.scale. The
interior walls of the fuselage were painted with Gunze metallic
blue-green. The actual cockpit walls and floor (A-9, 11, 12, and
13) were painted a light "interior" green mix. The seat
was painted bare metal (per kit instructions.) When assembled,
this kept the "aotake-ish" blue green of the cockpit
walls from overpowering the rest of the interior, and still added
some visual interest. Is it "historically correct?" Well - dig up a Rufe and prove me wrong. I like
it. <g>
At this point, I modified the assembly sequence slightly. Steps
1b (the underwing bombs and boarding ladder,) 2 (engine, prop,
and cowling,) 3 (beaching "cart") and 4 (floats) can
all be built simultaneously. I waited to attach the underwing
bombs to the racks until after painting (painting the racks
fuselage color,) painting the bombs and the engine (in step 2,
moulded in one piece) in the same dark metallic grey metalizer.
Part A-20 (a retaining "cup" for the back of the prop
shaft) isn't really needed, and you can leave it off if you want
your prop to move. The bulge in the middle of the shaft is
sufficient to trap it between the engine and the transmission housing.
Be sure to remember to weight the front of the main float (step
4.) Modelling clay, plus some small metal bits, were more than
sufficient (and greatly added to the weight of this tiny kit!) If
you don't, you can use the clear stand (transparent part 5) to
hold the model upright, but I'm not a big fan of stands.
The main float body gives the only "difficult" area of
this kit. There's an opening in the front, about a quarter inch
deep (an intake of some sort, it appears.) The main float's seam
shows up very well here. Be careful filling the seam with putty
(or your medium of choice.) Sandpaper held around the back end of
a small paintbrush can help clean out excess putty and sand it
smooth.
Since I was going to build a grey aircraft (with black cowl), I
modified step 5 again. I painted the cowl black, inserted the
engine, and set it aside to dry. I then put the fuselage halves
together, and slipped the cockpit "tub" in. The
fuselage halves fit very well, and didn't need any sanding to get
rid of seams. This was allowed to dry, with all the other
subassemblies.
I decided not to put the pilot in the cockpit (step 6.) Instead,
I used the standing pilot figure to give more of a sense of scale
(and add more color when he's "standing" next to the
plane.) I glued the wings together while waiting for the fuselage
to dry. Don't forget to leave the antenna off (part A-14)- why
they show it in this step, then tell you not to put it on, is
beyond me. <g>
From this point on, the rest of the kit fairly falls together.
Mate the fuselage with the wing and tailplanes, glue the floats
to their attachments (the wing floats should "lean" -
they're farther out on the bottom than at the attachment point,
but due to the moulding, it's hard to get wrong.) Don't glue the
cowl on yet.
Be careful with the wing counterbalances (part A-18.) They're
small, and easy to lose.
At this point, I chose to use the closed canopy. I painted the
area it would cover in a slightly darker shade of grey, fixed the
antenna, and masked and glued the canopy to the fuselage.
PAINTING
Tamiya gives you the choice of several different aircraft (six,
actually) - three in an early, overall grey scheme, and three in
a later grey and green scheme. (They also give you a seperate
sheet with two color plates, showing one side view of each
scheme.) All of them have the dark cowl, which is why I left it
off until after painting.I chose an aircraft from the Yokosuka
Air Fleet, flight test department, Air Tech. Institute. I used
Tamiya acrylics to paint it in its overall grey scheme, and Gunze
Aqueous flat black on the cowl. The propeller was given a coat of
Aluminum metalizer, with the blade backs painted (after sealing)
with Gunze red-brown. Once the paint was dry, the cowl and
propeller were attached to the model, as were the bombs and bomb
racks.
DECALS
Now comes the only really "weak" part of this kit - the
decals. Tamiya's decals were thick (about paper-sheet thick,
which might not sound like much
until you look at other kits) and somewhat stiff. Some coaxing
was required to get them to fit down to the fuselage sides. The
wing hinoramus were not a problem. Suprisingly, the red
"warning" stripes on the main float snuggled down very
easily.
My decal problems may have been from the fact that the aircraft I
was modelling required the white-outlined hinoramus. The wing
markings (no outline) also fit down very well. You may still want
to look into an aftermarket set of markings, however, as they are
still thick enough to soften if not wipe out detail.
Once the markings were sealed and dried, a little careful work
with a new X-Acto knife along the panel lines "broke"
the decals, allowing the lines to continue.
CONCLUSION
All in all, this is not a very difficult kit, and a good looking
kit of an unusual subject. The price (I paid US$14 for mine) is
right, too. If you've been away from the hobby for a while, or if
you want to try something other than Monogram (but don't want to
sink $35 into a new kit) this is a great introduction to Tamiya's
kits. If you're an "old hand," this kit still gives
room for added detail in the cockpit and other areas. Either way,
it builds up into a very nice looking representation of a
little known member of the Zero family.