This book is part of a series of highly specialized coverages of specific World War II aircraft types and is intended for serious scale modelers who work in 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32 scale. This book covers the Mitsubishi A6M-5 Zero 52 fighter and serves mainly as a reference for specific details of this particular aircraft type. There is little text other than the captions for photos and drawings, and only covers a few specific aircraft that have survived in museums throughout the world. In this case, the planes in the Imperial War Museum in England, and the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California are shown. The Chino airplane may still be flyable, and I recall seeing it flying years ago. One of the photos of it also shows the museum’s P-51D and North American O-47A in the background.

The book has excellent information for the serious modeler, and detail drawings and photos of specific parts of the plane. An excellent color drawing of the instrument panel is provided, as well as closeup photos of specific parts not normally seen in references of this type. Some of these drawings are from actual Mitsubishi technical manuals. The drawings are of a specific A6M5 captured on Saipan towards the end of the war, and photos of it also appear in standard Navy and Army recognition manuals published towards the end of the war.

Recommendation

This highly specialized work would be a worthy addition to any modeler’s library and would be extremely useful in constructing models of this aircraft. For the price, it is an excellent bargain. Highly recommended.