Building Hasegawa's 1/72nd Scale A6M2-N 'Rufe' Type 2 Fighter Seaplane. by Michael Kendix

Background

Manufactured by Nakajima, the Rufe's design was based upon the early A6M2 Zero series, although some significant changes were made to accommodate the floatplane's requirements. An excellent review of the Rufe's history by Paul D. Alexander can be found online. The wing is similar to the Zero A6M2 Type 21 though not identical: for example, it lacks the folding wing tips. The modifications to the fuselage included a different shaped tail rudder and a stability fin below the horizontal tail surfaces on the fuselage's underside. In addition, the oil cooler was moved to a hole in the front of the main central float's pylon: the pylon also contained a fuel tank.

As I surfed the web looking for build-ups of the 1/72nd scale Hasegawa Rufe, I found few examples. Thus, I was forced to forge ahead alone – not a comfortable position for someone like myself who knows relatively little about Japanese World War Two aeroplanes. I received a lot of help with questions from various people and utilized some fine web sources.

The Kit

The kit's contents are typical of recent Hasegawa products. All the parts are well molded and the exterior components contain finely engraved panel lines. There are four main sprues and a sprue containing the canopy. The canopy is the same, although a little thick if you are considering incorporating extra cockpit detail. I planned to use the Hawkeye resin interior, which is really designed for an A6M5, however, I reasoned that in 1/72nd scale, few people will notice the difference; they would have to be extremely knowledgeable about Japanese World War Two aeroplanes and have wonderful close vision eyesight. In any event, this model won't be entering any major competitions, so it's only built to suit myself. I also used a Falcon vacuform canopy. The early Zero canopy is the same as the Rufe, so that was helpful.

The kit contains decals for two aeroplanes. The first is an overall 'grey' (perhaps not really grey but see below for a more detailed discussion of that issue) – Keizo Yamazaki's 'NI-II8', which also appears on the box art and in the colour profiles' section of the Osprey publication 'Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45.' The second is a 'Green over grey' scheme for the 802nd Flying Group 'NI-II9'. I selected the former because I have yet to build an overall-grey model. As far as I can tell, the overall grey of these Rufe's was not really grey but rather a greyish-green that sometimes weathered to attain a bronzed hue, known as 'Hairyokushoku.' Using the j-aircraft.com web site and with help from Francois Weill, I finally formed an idea of what the colour should look like. Whether this turned out to be correct is another matter. Regardless, any errors are my own responsibility.

The Cockpit Interior

The kit's cockpit interior is decent. If you have a closed canopy, all you really need is a set of seatbelts and the rest cannot really be seen through the rather thick kit canopy. As I mentioned, I used the Hawkeye resin interior. It is not accurate for this model but as I could not find a picture or diagram of a Rufe's interior, I left it alone. I began by thinning the fuselage walls: using sandpaper and the wonderful Dremel Minimite. Every so often, I held the fuselage piece up to a lamp to test the translucence of the surface. When it looked fairly uniform in this respect, I stopped sanding and glued on the resin sidewalls. The detail in the Hawkeye set is first rate: the only extra detail added was some photoetch seatbelts. I sprayed the interior with Testors Light Green, and added a few instrument and other details with a tiny brush. When that was dry, I gave it a burnt umber oil wash - oil paint mixed with Turpenoid to push the colour towards my guess at Nakajima green. Finally, I dry-brushed the entire sub-assembly with some Pale Green.

Fuselage and Flying Surfaces

I closed the fuselage without gluing on the seat component, which was added later. The fuselage needed no putty. I glued it together with Pro-Weld and sanded it with #30503 fine sanding stick until the seams disappeared. I glued on the instrument panel and the seat, putting them in place through the hole in the underside of the fuselage sub-assembly. I glued on the wings: first the single, large underside piece and then the top port and starboard pieces. Next, I glued on the horizontal tailpieces, ensuring that everything was straight and in alignment. Again, the fine sanding stick took care of almost all the seams. I filled the remaining hair-like seams with White Out correction fluid.

Floats

I found assembling and attaching the floats to be the trickiest part of this kit. As suggested in the instructions, I filled the front of the central float with tiny metal part ball weights, to prevent the model from sitting on its tail, and cemented the weights into the float by pouring 'Super Thin' CA glue onto them. The float halves did not fit as well and I had to do a fair amount of sanding, which removed some of the panel lines. Re-scribing was the order of the day: a task for which I have little talent and even less inclination. Nevertheless, I did my best. I found assembling the small side floats more straightforward and I only needed the fine sanding stick and some White Out. I decided to attach the central float prior to painting. If I had chosen the green over grey scheme, I would have left the float off until the main part of the model was painted.

Painting

First, I sprayed the control surfaces with a medium blue-end grey. I mixed a mid-grey with some mid-green to create the Hairyokushoku colour. I masked off the flying surfaces and sprayed on the grey-green color, then I hand brushed a few panels with a slightly lightened shade of the base colour. I left it to dry for a day or so before spraying a clear coat of Testors Flat. Again, another day for drying and then I used a burnt umber oil wash over the entire kit. I did several of these oil washes, each time darkening the colour and giving the surface a bronze hue: the wash also soaked into the panel lines.

I painted the cowl 'Scale Black', the spinner silver, and the front and rear of the propeller blades, silver and brown, respectively.

Other stuff

I ruined one of the Falcon canopies but eventually managed to cut the other one from its plastic backing. I used decal paper sprayed with the base colour and the oil wash for the canopy framing. The dolly was easy to assemble. I sprayed it with Scale Black and highlighted it with a medium grey. When everything was dry, I added the side floats, and painted the red and blue lights on the wing tips. I added the wing gun, which I made from plastic rod because the kit part was misshaped and I could not file away its molding seam. I had some difficulty with decal silvering because I had not laid down a sufficient amount of Future floor polish. However, I managed to eliminate most of the silvering with a pin and some Solvaset. Finally, I added the control wire using 0.005-inch straight wire from Small Parts.

Conclusion

This is a great kit that builds into a really excellent model. Perhaps it is not for a complete beginner because of the floats but it is certainly not a difficult kit. Highly recommended.

Acknowledgements

Francois Weill was most helpful with information about the Rufe's origin and colours. Folks on the j-aircraft.com web board were helpful in answering my questions. All remaining mistakes are my own: hopefully I didn't make too many glaring errors. Greg Springer also helped with information about the cockpit interior, although I was unable to make any of the changes.

References

• Shigeru Nohara and Don Greer. 'A6M Zero In Action: Aircraft Number 59.' Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrolton, Texas. 1983.

• Henry Sakhaida. 'Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45: Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 22.' Osprey Publishing, London, UK