Time to take a 180 degree turn

 I've been working on a plastic scale model of the Japanese Zero fighter of WWII fame.

The Tamiya kit is in 1/48 scale and is my first scale kit in many years.

You get to detail the cockpit first. Here are the parts spray painted in Cockpit Green. In the next photo, you will see them detailed and installed into the fuselage.

Your are looking down into the pilot's "office." The super-tiny switches, buttons, and other controls are picked out in various colors. Those brown and tan striped things on the seat are the lap seat belts with staples bent to simulate buckles. The control stick is in place. I found a nice photo of the interior of the full-size Zero online at the Smithsonian.

Above are the various parts that need to be painted next. The dummy radial engine, two more parts, and the propeller. The nose cowling was painted semi-gloss black. A local expert in plastic scale helped me figure out the best way to spray paint the cowling. I took it to him at the local hobby shop and he corrected my problem.

Today, I used Tamiya Fine Gray primer and primed the fuselage. That stuff is great! The cowling has the engine installed and the propeller is ready for gluing to the engine shaft.

Alas! There are more parts to paint and get ready. The thing that is really daunting is the canopy framing which I will hand-paint after conferring with Brian.

Here's a shot of the dummy radial engine which I detailed first and then installed in the cowling.

The cylinder cooling fins are picked out in Gun Metal and the spark plugs are done in flat aluminum.

All this hand painting was done to simulate the Nakajima Sakae radial air-cooled engine of 14 cylinders.

That's all for this lad. Next up is the airbrush painting of the fuselage followed by the decals and, oh yes, the landing gear and that daunting canopy.