The Zero's Engine Build and Painting

For as much effort as I put into the engine for the Zero, I thought it should have it's own thread. Plus, I have a bunch of pictures to use, so here it is!

The engine looked a bit vanilla out of the box even for me, so I thought, "Why not detail it?"

Here are the little bit of stretched sprue I used to add the pushrods.

Added pushrods and tapped some holes for the ignition wires.

You don't even know how much sprue I stretched to get enough and a consistent width. It was a lot.

Once I had a length and width I liked, I folded over some tape to cut them apart. Otherwise, when I would cut the little piece off, it would ping into oblivion.

Added the little pieces in between the pistons.

Front and rear piston sections.

Bwah! Wires, wires, wires.

Primed. As you can tell, this was done way before the Hanomag was complete. I never did get through models quickly.

Sprayed with Model Master Acryl Gun Metal.

Painted pushrods and top of the pistons with Tamiya Flat Aluminum. I brush painted Tamiya and didn't have too much problem. I thinned it with Tamiya thinner and added a drop of Flow-Aid.

All buttoned up.

You've probably seen the wires move around a lot. That's because they did. Getting the wires to where they needed to be was an absolute pain. I modified my approach a few times along the way.

Some wires continue to be fiddly and may need to be re-glued. I have since discovered that the wires going over the top of the rods will be a problem when sliding the cowl on. I suppose we shall see!