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| The following Japanese famous hobby stores are written in English and can
ship to oversea! |
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| Finemolds 1/72 |
| Mitsubishi A6M2B Zero Fighter Type 21 "Supreme Zero" |
Work Date : October, 2007 - February, 2008
Click on the images above and below for enlargements.
| About "Supreme Zero" |
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The trial product of this model kit from Finemolds was on show at the Shizuoka
Hobby Show in May 2007. It was 1/72 scale model, but surpassed 1/48 scale
model in the detail, and approached the Tamiya 1/32 scale product which
is known as the top quality zero fighter model kit. Japanese model fans
were surprised at this super detailed model and looked forward to the official
release announcement.
But the outlook for the marketable was still vague in those days. Finemolds
said... If this model is produced on a commercial basis, the prices may
exceed 5,000 yen for a high quality. It was about 5 times prices of Hasegawa
1/72 Zero fighter kit. If this kit is released for this price, they could
foresee that it was never sell.
 Therefore they resorted to clever schemes. It was a collaborative project with the Japanese hobby magazine "Monthly Model Graphix".The model kit parts were divided in two and became the supplements to the November and December, 2007 issue. This scheme can materialize sharp reduction in prices, and can achieve in only two months the amount of the shipment in which it takes ten years or more normally. The price of those issues were 1,580 yen that were about 2 times of usual issue (780 yen). The catch copy was "Supreme Zero". It became a sensational topic of the Japanese hobby scene in the end of 2007.
As a result, this project seems to have succeeded. It actually happened
that Monthly Model Graphix November and December, 2007 issue were sold
out immediately in the Internet book stores of the Amazon.co.jp etc.
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| Kit Review |
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Engine, body, cockpit parts, and decal were bundled with November issue.
Wings and clear parts were bundled with December issue. The reproduction
of engine and cockpit are superb in particular. In 1/72 scales, this is
the first product that copied these detail completely. And this product
becomes beauty finished product even if not painting because those parts
are molded from gray green, silver, dark gray, cockpit green and clear
colored plastic.
3 type body marking can be chosen from the decal. "NAP1/C Tetsuzo
Iwamoto A.C. IJN Carrier Zuikaku Div.5, December, 1941", "NAP1/C
Saburo Sakai A.C. IJN Tainan NAC, August, 1942", and "263rd NAC,
from 1943 - 44". |
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| Step by Step Report |
I chose the body marking "NAP1/C Tetsuzo Iwamoto A.C. IJN Carrier
Zuikaku Div.5, December, 1941". This model has enough detail untouched
out of the box, but I added still more details to mainly the engine and
a cockpit areas. Furthermore, I made the display base of flight deck, carrier
crew figures, and a few accessories. |
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Reference Data
Related Page in this site
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