"I've been thinking, which is something a man should never do" Those words were spoken by Dean Jagger, in the 1949 Film "Twelve O'Clock High". And my thought that day was I should go in ebay and search "Tamiya Zero" and while browsing through all the new tooled Zero kits, I happened across this vintage box. The price was good as was the shipping, and upon clicking the link I discovered that the item was located in British Columbia, one province over from where I am. As I mentioned the price and shipping were really good less than the cost of a new tooled kit. I decided that this one might be fun to see where Tamiya first got it's start and too see how far the company has progressed.
The A6M3 (Model 32)was designed with clipped wings, a rounded top of the Cowling, and improved engine. The Clipped wings got it the Allied codename "Hamp". The design was to enable the Zero to roll faster, with an improved engine this new Zero variant had mixed reviews from her pilots. Though the plane did roll better the engine was lacking in enough power to really do any significant difference, so the clipped wings on later A6M3's were rounded (Model 33), and on the A6M5 (Model 52) shortened so they didn't need to be folded, as was the design on the A6M2b (Model 21). The "Hamp" was one of the first of the Zero's to be painted Green on top of the Sky Grey/Green Camouflage. This was usually random splotches or squiggly lines quickly painted on by the ground crews, until a universal Green top, and Grey/Green underside was chosen.
It's very interesting when a company comes out with a brand new tooling of and old kit, which is probably why many modellers get such a thrill out of seeing what new tooled kit is going to be released from Airfix. Certainly the new tooled Airfix Zero leaves their older kit in the dust. I've tried doing some research on this kit and I think (don't quote me) that Tamiya released this kit in 1964, which is the same year as the Airfix Zero, but let's just say the 60's. For 2 kits form the 60's Tamiya was still rocking the market, and it's surprisingly a much superior kit, though the two do feature some similarities.
Regardless of the year this kit was released I'm not sure if this kit is a second release from the 70' or ever 80's. Opening the box I got a whiff of that old model kit smell, yeah I took a minute to savour it. Over the years is sat in storage quite a few of the pieces had rattled off the sprues, but the bag was still stapled shut, with a nice blue A6M3 HAMP banner on the top. The detail is pretty nice, and Tamiya got a lot of the kit quite accurate. It even includes a Pilot figure and display stand. Though there's no cockpit interior only two pegs, reminiscent of the Airfix kit. The thing that really surprised me was that Tamiya had built the landing flaps to be movable. Pretty cool for an old kit. 3 Markings are included and the decals look to be in excellent condition with the exception of 1 Hinomaru that had a piece of plastic slightly dent it.
I do plan on building this kit, even though some would call it an atrocity for building a vintage kit, but I really can't wait. I don't have a new tooled A6M3 yet but I really want to have both completed sitting on the shelf. Again showing where they've come from, to where they are now, producing one of the best Zero kits in the industry. I'm going to build it straight our of the box, I'm thinking it would be nice to build it with the Green splotches. Oh and the landing flaps down.
Darn more kits to buy....
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