Japanese cockpit color help requested

Hehe. I know that sinking feeling...

A light olive-green, FS34255, I think. I know of no other references out of MrColor...

"Cockpit color

Hi Bill, I can't answer your question per say, but I like your mispelling of instructions. Sometimes I feel like the piece of paper I'm reading in order to figure out my model are "destructions" too!

Try

HTH, Rama Lama Nota Lota Anyth> I don't do a lot of Japanese aircraft and I hope this doesn't start an

Bill, IIRC Aotake was used by the IJN for anti-corrosion purposes, and not the IJAAF. I think I used Floquil's version of interior green for the last IJAAF kit I did. Got the color from one of the Patterson cockpit books (again IIRC). I also agree with checking out j-aircraft.com.

Don McIntyre Clarksville, TN

Thanks all for the color helo.

in article snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com, Don McIntyre at snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote on 2/11/05 8:53 AM:

Aotake was certainly used in IJN aircraft for corrosion control but it was also used in at least "some" army aircraft as well. It was present in the Oscar and possibly in the Frank, both Nakajima aircraft.

MB

Hmmm. So; it could be bamboo, interior green, aotaki, or natural metal......so far. I knew a question about Japanese aircraft colors would raise a discussion :-).

I can see the possibility of an unpainted cockpit as a cost- material- and time-saving tactic. Further, I would guess that, by that stage in the war, anti-corrosion concerns were no longer a factor as they had to realize the new aircraft probably would not survive long enough to worry about corrosion.

"Bill Woodier" wrote in news:YWJPd.26507$uc.22116@trnddc04:

That's the same thing I was wondering about heavy weathering and chipped paint on Japanese aircraft later on in the war. I don't think anything lasted long enough to chip, fade or weather very much.

in article BE343919.6887% snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net, Pip Moss at snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote on 2/12/05 9:52 PM:

I'm not aware of aotake being used in the cockpit of Oscars either, but the example in Mikesh's book show it in the fuselage interior. It was not often found in cockpits unless it was under the top color coat. It was used as an anti-corrosive so I would expect to find it more often in IJN aircraft but it still shows up occasionally in IJA aircraft as well. Unfortunately the sole Ki-84 remaining has been so screwed over, I doubt that any bit of original cockpit color remains.

MB

And, in addition, there's the late-war 'use what you've got' approach as supplies become successively more difficult. It's noteworthy that the IJA types being discussed are Nakajima-built. Nakajima contracted heavily with both the Army and Navy. It's plausible that, if supply of the standard Nakajima green for IJA aircraft had run short temporarily, the factory would prime with what they could get on site, and aotake was a better primer than most, so having it show up in a Ki.43 might not be strange at all. I'll bet nobody has documented a Ki.61 with aotake; Kawasaki was strictly an Army contractor, and would not have had aotake in stock normally. As matters further disintegrated for the Japanese, they dispensed with primer entirely (this is pretty well established), both for the reduction in labor and because it reduced the material requirements. Anyway, as Bill pointed out, corrosion was the least of their worries.

Mark Schynert