April/May A6M-2 Zero Update

Texas Flying Legend’s Museum
by Chuck Cravens

Update

The renovation of the A6M-2b Zero, Last Samurai, is accelerating as everything comes together.  We will revisit the replica fuselage guns, now completed and ready for final finish.  We will also see skins being made and the structure work pretty much completed.

The last section of the update will show skins going on the structure, but the first items are the guns and tail hook.

Guns and Tail Hook

Skins

Once the skins have been drilled and dimpled , the inside surfaces are given a coat of protective paint.

The original Japanese protective coating was called aotake and was considered by many to be superior in protective qualities to our zinc chromate primers.  The fact that Japanese wrecks in jungle areas frequently exhibit less corrosion than Allied wrecks bears this out. Thepaint used here is a modern epoxy colored to match the unique hue of aotake.

Airframe Structure

 

A square tube is affixed to the fixture for alignment of the horizontal. Hunter works on attaching the right side horizontal frame.

 

This is a section of the horizontal tip.

Skins Going On

The aft fuselage repair on the Zero is getting closer to completion each day!

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1 Response
  1. Steve foxon

    Wow that’s bloody awsome coming on very nicely indeed keep the good work up I will watch the progress of this super build .

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