I recently picked up an example of one of the earliest Airfix Zero kits, possibly from its first year of issue in 1959 with the original shield-shaped base. On examination I discovered a very cleanly molded kit in a duck egg green plastic with a mix of delicately inscribed and raised surface detail. I was mildly surprised to find no dreaded rivets or overdone fabric sacking - they must have come later when the kit was "improved". The biggest surprise was when I test fitted it together (as you do). The later issues are a somewhat "iffy" fit to say the least, after all the mold is nearly fifty years old, but this one went together almost without glue, each piece clicking positively into place. The canopy is not great but at least the frames can be seen.
It just goes to show that if you want to get maximum enjoyment from a retro-build you need to find one of the earliest examples of the kit!
In terms of accuracy it is probably in the "superior recognition model" category. There is no engine, no interior and the pilot has two pairs of very large buttons on his jacket. Cowling flaps are molded, heavily, in the open position, an Airfix tradition. Interestingly the undercarriage has a boxed-in effect as the recess for the one-piece lower wing is solid. A drop tank is included which looks undersized and there is a "working" arrestor hook!
Halcyon days are conjured up by this simple model, although I have stronger memories of building the Frog example. They were flown over the "jungle canopy" of the freshly mown lawn during those long worry-free school summer holidays when we were too poor to go abroad and climate change had not been invented. Always predatory and often in pairs, courtesy of the inspiration provided by the Fleetway Publications Air Ace Picture Library, the Zeros would pounce on "Battler Britton" in his lone Hurricane (Airfix Mk.IV complete with rockets and European camouflage & markings). Ah, the smell of new mown grass and Airfix polystyrene in the morning . . .
With one exception (the Sakai special edition in the Aircraft of the Aces series - see above) the Airfix Zero has always offered the same spurious "Army-style" tail insignia in the kit, even in the most recent issue of a few years ago. Roy Cross later painted new artwork with that iconic image of a trio of Zeros diving through sunlit clouds spitting fire. He depicted the unique replacement cooling louvres fitted to the Chinese captured example P-5016 when damage was repaired. In our days of Zero ignorance these louvres were once believed to represent the pre-production version!
The special edition box art included a pretty good likeness of Saburo Sakai too!
Image credits: Airfix & Roy Cross
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