マヌチュリアン・トジョ A Manchurian Tojo

[Charlie_c67]

So to balance out for the defenders a little, I thought I'd break out a copy of Hasegawa's Nakajima Ki44-II 'Tojo'. I'd earmarked this to be a Manchurian machine anyway so this seemed a good time to do it. As you can see from the photo, it's a low part and reasonably simple model so I hope it won't get stuck like some of my other projects have 

Thanks to AKs cockpit pens I've already managed to make some progress!

[DeeBob]

An interesting idea, you don't see a lot of Manchurian markings!

[Charlie_c67]

So all parts are separated and the green internals done. Just need to do the pilot and a splash of black here and there and she can be sewn up!

[jcf]

Evidently between December 1944 and June 1945 the MAF(Manchukuoan Air Force)
received a number of ex-IJAAF Kawasaki Ki-45 and Nakajima Ki-44. They were high
hour airframes. Photos of the Ki-45s exist but none have been found of the Ki-44.

The Eagles of Manchukuo, 1932-1945: An Illustrated History of the Civilian and
Military Aviation; George Eleftheriuo and Kiri Domoto-Eleftheriou; Arawasi 2011.

The book includes a speculative profile of the MAF Ki-44, standard IJAAF of the
period: overall bare metal, IJAAF grey-green on the fabric covered control surfaces
and MAF roundels. Based on photos Ki-45 was IJAAF overall grey-green with
dark-green mottle camouflage scheme and MAF roundels.

One note, the majority of Nakajima built aircraft for the IJAAF had aotake, transparent
blue phenolic lacquer, on internal surfaces and landing gear bays/doors. Cockpits had
a thin coating of dark blue-gray paint over the aotake. The IJAAF paint requirements
were very different from those of the IJNAS.

[NARSES2]

One note, the majority of Nakajima built aircraft for the IJAAF had aotake, transparent
blue phenolic lacquer, on internal surfaces and landing gear bays/doors. Cockpits had
a thin coating of dark blue-gray paint over the aotake. The IJAAF paint requirements
were very different from those of the IJNAS.

Interesting Jon. I must admit I'd always thought that the aotake internal surfaces and bays/doors was purely a IJNAS requirement. Thanks 

[kitbasher]

One note, the majority of Nakajima built aircraft for the IJAAF had aotake, transparent
blue phenolic lacquer, on internal surfaces and landing gear bays/doors. Cockpits had
a thin coating of dark blue-gray paint over the aotake. The IJAAF paint requirements
were very different from those of the IJNAS.

Interesting Jon. I must admit I'd always thought that the aotake internal surfaces and bays/doors was purely a IJNAS requirement. Thanks 

My Indian Ocean Raid builds have caused me to delve into Japanese aircraft colours and Aotake appears to be one of those where you can't really go wrong - a metallic blue-green translucent laquer of various hues and shades according to aircraft and indeed paint manufacturer.  As far as I can see the two principle varieties came from Mitsubishi and Nakajima.  Can't remember which way round but one was more green and the other more blue.

[NARSES2]

One note, the majority of Nakajima built aircraft for the IJAAF had aotake, transparent
blue phenolic lacquer, on internal surfaces and landing gear bays/doors. Cockpits had
a thin coating of dark blue-gray paint over the aotake. The IJAAF paint requirements
were very different from those of the IJNAS.

Interesting Jon. I must admit I'd always thought that the aotake internal surfaces and bays/doors was purely a IJNAS requirement. Thanks 

My Indian Ocean Raid builds have caused me to delve into Japanese aircraft colours and Aotake appears to be one of those where you can't really go wrong - a metallic blue-green translucent laquer of various hues and shades according to aircraft and indeed paint manufacturer.  As far as I can see the two principle varieties came from Mitsubishi and Nakajima.  Can't remember which way round but one was more green and the other more blue.

Both Colourcoats and Xtracolour simply have a colour labeled "Aotake" and both are a lovely shade of metallic blue

[Charlie_c67]

Body zipped up, wings attached and sundries constructed. Downside is I've now got a little PSR to do where the wing root has lipped, hopefully this won't lead to too much loss of detail as it is very fine! Since the cockpit is the usual minimalist Hasegawa office (not that you can see much of it as usual!) I need to make sure the pilot is painted and installed ready for a canopy and undercoat. Bowling along nicely

[jcf]

One note, the majority of Nakajima built aircraft for the IJAAF had aotake, transparent
blue phenolic lacquer, on internal surfaces and landing gear bays/doors. Cockpits had
a thin coating of dark blue-gray paint over the aotake. The IJAAF paint requirements
were very different from those of the IJNAS.

Interesting Jon. I must admit I'd always thought that the aotake internal surfaces and bays/doors was purely a IJNAS requirement. Thanks 

My Indian Ocean Raid builds have caused me to delve into Japanese aircraft colours and Aotake appears to be one of those where you can't really go wrong - a metallic blue-green translucent laquer of various hues and shades according to aircraft and indeed paint manufacturer.  As far as I can see the two principle varieties came from Mitsubishi and Nakajima.  Can't remember which way round but one was more green and the other more blue.

Aotake is a blue tinted transparent phenolic lacquer, it is not a metallic paint and blue when
applied, the colour shifts towards green as it ages: exposure to the air, light etc. Neither
airframe company manufactured aotake. 

[jcf]

One note, the majority of Nakajima built aircraft for the IJAAF had aotake, transparent
blue phenolic lacquer, on internal surfaces and landing gear bays/doors. Cockpits had
a thin coating of dark blue-gray paint over the aotake. The IJAAF paint requirements
were very different from those of the IJNAS.

Interesting Jon. I must admit I'd always thought that the aotake internal surfaces and bays/doors was purely a IJNAS requirement. Thanks 

My Indian Ocean Raid builds have caused me to delve into Japanese aircraft colours and Aotake appears to be one of those where you can't really go wrong - a metallic blue-green translucent laquer of various hues and shades according to aircraft and indeed paint manufacturer.  As far as I can see the two principle varieties came from Mitsubishi and Nakajima.  Can't remember which way round but one was more green and the other more blue.

Both Colourcoats and Xtracolour simply have a colour labeled "Aotake" and both are a lovely shade of metallic blue

They do that to simulate the effect of the transparent lacquer over aluminum. In real life it looks nothing like a metallic paint. The best way to get a more realistic finish is to apply a transparent blue-tinted varnish, Tamiya and GSI Creos have various transparent colours in their "acrylic" lines, over silver or aluminum paint. That said you can make it yourself by tinting your favourite varnish with blue paint, as long as it's compatible, the darker the better as it requires less to get the desired effect and helps to maintain the transparency of the varnish.

As an aside the pieces of Zero skin that I've handled, from an A6M3 Type 32 cockpit, any area that was protected from exposure i.e. under a riveted lap-joint, were very blue, exposed areas had shifted towards green, the more exposed the greater the shift. Both coatings were very thin on the cockpit side of the skin, the alloy number and proof stamps on the aluminum being clearly visible through the coatings. The aotake had already been applied to the sheet metal before it was used to construct the airframe, which is why it is still blue under lap-joints etc.. Curtiss often used a dark blue transparent coating on the sheet metal they used. The green colour of modern construction airliners is a tinted transparent coating in some areas and a removable plastic film in others.