Hey all, as the title states, im looking for suggestions on a 1/48 kit of the type 21 zero. Tamiya has one kit that caught my eye and you cant go wrong with its price.

http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=TAM61016

Has anyone out there built this kit? Im looking forward to any and all suggestions and insight.

Thanks!

The Tamiya kit is a good, reasonably detailed, simple build and like you said, the price can't be beat. It has a mix of raised and recessed panel lines, which I would argue is actually more realistic. Downfalls are the clunkiness and omission of some of the details, such as the inner gear door actuators and the cockpit. Overall it builds up very nicely and at the end of the day, it looks like a Zero. My modeling philosophy is a bit different from most, as I would rather have a well detailed - if not entirely accurate - kit, as long as it looks the part.

Personally I prefer the Hasegawa kit. It's much more pricey, especially with Hasegawa's outrageous price hikes of late, but it can still be found at shows and online for much cheaper than current retail. It has much more refined details overall, and the fit is a bit better too. If you're only going to build one, I'd go with the Hasegawa kit.

Happy Modeling,

-Vince

Just finished the Tamiya A6M3 type 32 very Similar the only difference is the type 32 has squared off wing tips. Not to many problems and well priced.

See my photos

Martin