During Christmas sales, I bumped into a couple of Airfix models in one of our grocery stores and being such a week willed individual when it comes to plastic, I just had to buy a couple of them. And one of those was this beginner kit Zero A6M2b.
Now, regardless of it being advertised as a beginner kit, it still came with a good amount of parts and good detail on them.
The inside of the cockpit had some good detail, but overall it was simple, but with a closed canopy it should be enough.
The outside was good on panel lines. As usual, Airfix doesn’t skimp out on those and makes them really prominent. Although a bit more rivet detail wouldn’t have hurt anybody.
For two big negatives, I would mention the one piece canopy and the small amount of decals.
First one is something many people wouldn’t like as most modellers would go with an open one.
The second one is really just a bit weird from Airfix, as a lot of their kits come with crazy amount of decals. So much that one has to set aside a whole day to get through all of them.
The pilot is not going to win any beauty contest either, but at least he is not a freak of nature as the one which came with their Spitfire MkIa.
Can’t really say anything specific about the build, really.
This might sound like a bad thing, but I think one needs these kits, which just go together without a problem and just helps one zone out and enjoy a simple kit.
So how does this compare to the Academy one?
You should be the judge.
I would say the Academy one is nicer in terms of detail, but on the other hand the small amount of features Arifix has, are more prominent.
Perhaps, it’s the colors, or that there is a big gap in time between the two and my skills got better during over the years, but I like the Airfix one more.
I Really should get a nice Tamiya one at this point in 1/48 scale.
But let’s not beat around the bush and get to the build part in a form of a YouTube video of course.
My very first video in fact. Took me a while to get it together but I think the end result is decent.
And of course, high quality images can be found in the gallery.
Enjoy!