JC Wings JCW-72-ZERO-001

JC Wings JCW-72-ZERO-001 is a 1/72 scale diecast model of the Mitsubishi A6M5 Type 0 Model 52 “Rei-sen”, #53-104. Pilot Ittō-hikō-heisō (Flight Petty Officer 1st Class) Tetsuzo Iwamoto, 253rd Kōkūtai (253 Ku: 253rd Air Group), Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service (IJNAS), 1944.

Tetsuzo Iwamoto

Tetsuzo Iwamoto (1916 – 1955) was the top-scoring ace of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service during WWII.

He scored 14 aerial victories in the Second Sino-Japanese War and flew air cover over the carrier group during the attack on Pearl Harbour. Partook in the Battle of the Coral Sea, served on Rabaul, Truk Atoll, the Philippines and the defence of Japan.

Iwamoto finished the war with the rank of sub-lieutenant and was awarded the Order of the Golden Kite—5th class and the Order of the Rising Sun, Green Paulownia Leaves Medal—7th Class.

The number of aerial victories is subject to deliberation for various reasons. Most sources credit Iwamoto with 80 kills; his war diary claims 202 individual victories, 26 shared, and 22 unconfirmed.

Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen

The Mitsubishi A6M Navy Type 0 carrier fighter Rei-sen (Allied reporting name: Zeke, later Zero) is a Japanese single-engine, single-seat, long-range, carrier-capable monoplane fighter. The maiden flight occurred on April 1, 1930, and the aircraft entered service on July 1, 1940.

The Reisen had exceptional maneuverability and the most extended range of any single-engine fighter of WWII. Production ended in 1945 with some 10,900 airframes built and remained in service until 1945.

It uses a single Nakajima Sakae (NK-1), two-row, 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine driving a three-blade variable-pitch Hamilton Standard propeller.

The armament consisted of two dorsal nose-mount machine guns, one cannon in each wing, and external stores of 60 kg (132 lb) under each wing and 250 kg (550 lb) under the fuselage centerline.