Mitsubishi A6M2 Reisen Type 0 Carrier Fighter “Zero” by Tamiya

1/48 scale
Kit No. 61016
Retail: $24.99
Decals: Five versions, including Japanese ace Saburo Sakai, and the plane of Lt. Cmdr. Shigeru Itaya, leader of fighter group from IJN carrier Akagi during the attack on Pearl Harbor
Comments: Engraved panel lines, detailed cockpit, optional position canopy, optional position landing gear, seated and standing pilot figures, color plate suitable for framing

History

The Mitsubishi A6M Reisen (Zero) took part in every major action to which the Imperial Japanese Navy was committed for the duration of the Pacific War, from the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, to the effort to fight off waves of B-29 bombers from the Marianas Islands, to the desperate Kamikaze attacks against the U.S. Navy in the final months of the conflict. Its extreme maneuverability and exceptional range accorded the Zero legendary, almost mythic status in the early months of the war, and to this day it remains an iconic symbol of Japanese air power.

During the first six months after Pearl Harbor, the Zero had virtual air superiority throughout the Pacific, but from 1943 on, as the Allies began introducing more modern, capable fighters, in time the Zero was outclassed in terms of speed, armament, and armor protection. Losses began to mount as the conflict wore on. Often outnumbered, the IJN’s force of Zeros in various parts of the Pacific Theatre slowly withered as the need for more planes and a pipeline of trained pilots began to outstrip what Japan was capable of producing.

Aside from deficiencies in industrial capacity, no branch of the Japanese military had planned on a prolonged war in which a constant stream of new aviators would have to emerge from flight schools. Japan began the war with a formidable cadre of extremely capable pilots trained to a very high degree and blooded in combat in Manchuria and China, but it had taken years to produce them. The attack at Pearl Harbor was intended to be a single, decisive knock-out blow; when it failed to produce that result, a war of attrition ensued for which Japan was ill-prepared.

The Zero was forced to bear the brunt of every major engagement requiring air power for the entire war, in part because of teething difficulties experienced by fighters intended to replace it, Mitsubishi’s A7M Reppu and J2M Raiden designs. More Zeros were built than any other type of Japanese aircraft.

Mitsubishi’s A6M originated with the issuance of the Imperial Japanese Naval Staff on May 19, 1937 of a preliminary specification for a Navy Experimental 12-Shi Carrier Fighter intended to replace the Type 96 A5M Claude fighter (also a Mitsubishi design) which had recently become operational. The new specification far exceeded the A5M’s performance, and included the following:
• Maximum speed of 311 mph at 13,125 ft. (270 kt and 4,000 meters)
• Rate of climb achieving 9,840 ft. (3000 meters) in 9 minutes, 30 seconds
• Endurance of 1.5 to 2 hours at “normal rated power” or 6 to 8 hours at economical cruising speed with drop tanks
• Armament of two 20mm cannon and two 7.7mm machine guns, with provision for two 132 lb./60 kg bombs
• Radio and direction finding equipment
• Take off run of less than 230ft./70 meters with a 31mph/27 knot headwind
• Maneuverability at least equal to the A5M

The first prototype took its maiden flight on April 1, 1939 with test pilot Katsuzo Shima at the controls. During the test flight program the two-bladed variable speed propeller was upgraded to a three-bladed constant speed unit, and all requirements were met or exceeded with the exception of speed. Mitsubishi’s installation of more powerful Nakajima NK1C Sakae 12 radial engines beginning with the third prototype cured the speed deficiency with the flight of the first A6M2 prototype on December 28, 1939, exceeding the Navy’s most optimistic expectations.

Military trials progressed rapidly, ending in July 1940, followed by the Navy’s decision on July 21st to assign fifteen A6M2’s to the 12th Combined Naval Air Corps (12th Rengo Kokutai) for actual combat trials in China. On July31, the A6M2 went into production as Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 11. On September 13, 1940, the A6M2’s of the 12th Rengo Kokutai drew first blood in China, going on to destroy 99 Chinese aircraft for the loss of two of their own to ground fire. By the end of September 1941 they were redeployed for the impending war with the Allies.

When the Pacific War broke out, the Japanese Navy had a total of 521 carrier fighters of which 328 were A6M2’s equipping most of its front-line units. In December 1941 they spearheaded the two-pronged attack against U.S. military bases in Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, virtually eliminating any effective American aerial opposition within two hours. Despite their inferior numbers, Zeros of the Combined Fleet rapidly achieved victory at Wake Island, Darwin and Ceylon as the Allies reeled under the surprise attack.

Japanese expansion was not effectively blunted until the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 7-8, 1942, completely disrupting Japan’s plans to invade Australia, and was not stopped outright until the Battle of Midway a month later, when U.S. naval forces sank four Japanese aircraft carriers, inflicting a loss of not merely the vessels, but hundreds of irreplaceable aircraft and skilled aviators. From mid-1942 on, the Zero would increasingly take on a defensive role in the Pacific, fighting battles in which its lack of armor protection and self-sealing fuel tanks would prove extremely costly.

A series of modifications ensued starting with the A6M3, which had a larger 1,130hp Sakae 21 engine at the expense of reduced fuel capacity in its fuselage tank (28 liters or 8.4 Imperial gallons less than the A6M2), which resulted in losses during the Guadalcanal Campaign not from enemy action, but simply lack of range. But the A6M’s two most critical deficiencies – insufficient armament and lack of armor and fuel tank protection – would not be effectively addressed until the Spring of 1944 with the introduction of the A6M5b. By that time, the Zero was no match for the new wave of Allied fighters, chief among them the Grumman Hellcat, Vought Corsair and Spitfire Mk. V.

The Zero, which had dominated the skies in the early phases of the war, was blasted from the skies by U.S. Navy Hellcats during the June 1944 Battle of the Philippine Sea, the aerial portion of which came to be known as “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot” due to the disproportionate losses inflicted on Japanese naval air power. A large number of Zeros, carrying bombs that replaced their center line drop tanks, were expended in Kamikaze attacks during the Battle of Leyte Gulf that September. Five Zeros sank the escort carrier St. Lo and damaged three others during the battle, helping to cement the fearsome reputation of the Kamikaze warriors, and so impressing the Americans with the Japanese determination to face certain death rather than surrender, that the U.S. high command began to weigh the likely cost in American lives of an invasion of the Japanese home islands very carefully indeed.

The A6M Reisen “Zero” ended the war as a once formidable but obsolete fighter that could not be phased out of production due to the agonizing snail’s pace at which its successors, Mitsubishi’s J2M Raiden and A7M Reppu were being developed. Raiden production in particular never ramped up sufficiently to get more than a small number deployed to the Philippines for the end game there, for they were urgently needed for the defense of the home islands against the American B-29 raids. Nonetheless, the A6M Zero remains the definitive symbol of Japanese air power during the Pacific War, a respected and dangerous adversary even after its deficiencies were revealed.

The Kit

Tamiya’s A6M2 Zero is injection molded in grey plastic and consists of 59 parts, including five clear parts for the gunsight and the two versions provided for the canopy (open or closed). The kit, a 2002 re-issue of Tamiya’s original 1973 Tamiya mold, is not new by any means, but it remains desirable and competitive today as it is crisply molded with engraved panel lines and shows every indication of the quality that Tamiya is known for.

There is clear engraved detail on the canopy framing (both versions, the single piece and the multi-part canopy should modelers wish to depict it open) and a detailed cockpit with raised relief for the cockpit floor detail and the side instrument panels. After seeing this, it is disappointing that only a decal is provided for the main instrument panel. The cowling is divided into two halves, which modelers will regard as either an enticing challenge or an irritant, based on how they feel about having to break out their putty of choice for some seam hiding.

The cockpit assembly includes a clear part for the gunsight, and a bucket seat bearing raised detail representing seat straps. This seat is OK, but it may not be accurate – Ultracast makes a bucket seat with straps for the Zero that features a perforated seat back, something the Zero’s designers would have incorporated to save weight, highlighting one of the plane’s key defects, lack of adequate armor protection for the pilot.

There are subtle stressed fabric effects on all control surfaces, and a crisply detailed radial engine face, complemented by boxed in wheel wells for the main landing gear featuring nicely raised detail in the well interiors. Finally, there are a pair of detailed pilot figures, one sitting, one standing, providing modelers a choice of display options.

Markings

The kit includes markings for five different aircraft, as follows:
1) Aircraft of Warrant Officer Yoshiro Hashiguchi of the 3rd Air Corps, based at Kendari, Celebes Island, west of New Guinea, March 1942. Paint scheme of Light Grey overall with a Black cowling and Silver spinner.
2) Aircraft of Petty Officer First Class Saburo Sakai (Japan’s third ranking ace of the Pacific War with an estimated 64 victories) of the Tainan Air Corps, based at Denpasar, Bali, February 1942. Paint scheme of Light Grey overall with a Black cowling and Silver spinner.
3) Aircraft of Warrant Officer Tetsuzo Iwamoto of the 253rd Air Corps, based at Rabaul, January 1944. Paint scheme of Mitsubishi Dark Green over Light Grey with a Black cowling and Silver spinner.
4) Aircraft of the 261st Air Corps (Tiger Corps) based at Kagoshima, Japan, February 1944. Paint scheme of Mitsubishi Dark Green over Light Green, with a Black cowling and Red spinner.
5) Aircraft of Lt. Commander Shigeru Itaya, Flying Corps Commander, Fighter Unit of IJN aircraft carrier Akagi, December 7, 1941 (Leader of Pearl Harbor Attack). Paint scheme of Light Grey overall with a Black cowling and Silver spinner.

Conclusion

This is an excellent yet simple kit of the early production version of the Japanese Zero. It is still sold and still available today, molded in such crisp detail and featuring such ease of construction that it is still a desirable kit of an historic aircraft, nearly five decades after its initial release.

Reference

Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War by R.J. Francillon; Copyright 1970, Putnam & Company; London.