Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe....
This time is a Rufe, American code name for hydro version of the famous A6M2 as "zeke" or "zero" was the code name for the normal version...extraordinary machine with a superb aerodynamic design, exploit to maximum the very limited power of their engine. This and the inevitable high drag brought by pontoons handicapped its performance.
But a zero is a zero in any way...I don't know why, but I have just this A6M in 1/72 scale...I have 3 or 4 kits in 1/48 resting in its boxes.
This is the Hasegawa kit, and as all Hasegawa of 80's kits in this scale, is a simple and easy to assemble engineered parts with frugal interior details...but one can do a fine models indeed.
Its a great pleasure to look the model from any angle and enjoy the cleanness of the Zero lines, no doubts a flying machine that is among the most beautiful aircraft ever produced.
Ki-61-ii prototipe or A serie....
This is the Fine Molds 1/72 kit...may be the most expensive kit even bought in my entirely life. An absolute non sense...I bought it at beginning of nineties just because I could do it ...the box contains a typical Hasegawa 1/72 kit, i.e. bright and brittle plastic with a few recessed lines, but with two set of fuselage halves...the usual set for Ki-61 and the other imitating a stressed material...not bad really, and a little set of metal parts: propellers, undercarriage, and an huge spinner absolutely out of proportions...but the soft metal permits to clean the excess with easy. At that time, the addition of metal parts to plastic kits was in its infancy and Fine Molds asserts its products as it was an enormous contribution.
The building process was like with any Hasegawa kit...smooth and easy. I had the temptation to paint the model with highly polished natural metal finish, but I thought Japan industry was, in the final stages of the war, in the worst conditions to test new machines, so, I'd decide for opaque and dirty NMF.
Well, each time I saw my Fine Molds Ki-61 in the shelf my heart is squeezed and a guilty feeling comes over me...ooh, damn arrogance!!
Me-262 another one....
This is the 1/72 Hasegawa kit...simple, easy to build and a marvelous final model.
Me-262 is a perennial attraction to me -and for my generation too. Moreover, the myriad of paint schemes it wore is an extra motivation to build a lot of Me-262 along modelers life. This model, yellow 7 flown by Heinz Arnold, is a classic among them. I enjoy every moment of this project specially, of course, the paint process.
RWD-8...the polskie touring
This is another kit in 1/72 by the small polish company PZW. A very good kit, easy to build, good level of details for this scale. This is the classical kind of kits that one couldn't resist the temptation to add some scratch. Very attractive final subject instead the boring green finish. I think that a natural metal finish should enhance the final result and, perhaps, to become an eye catcher in any model showroom, taking advantage of the unusual wing profile and the slimness of the fuselage.
