Good day,
I am currently building the 1:35 Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” from Border Models. I am now looking into details that are not to well documented: the colors of the wheel wells (some have it blue, others the same as the underside), the arrestor hook and it’s well, the wheel struts, and the inside of the wheel doors. Anyone who can enlighten me on those?
Wow, that sounds like quite a kit!
What paints are you using? Achieving the Aotake colour in Tamiya kits, they recommend a 3:1 ratio of X-13 and X-25. Haven’t tried it myself yet, but that’s what I’m planning to do for my Group Build entry
AK interactive also do a premixed example which looks pretty authentic
I built the Hasegawa 1/48 kit a few years ago. I am certain I followed the kit’s painting diagrams for the particular aircraft that I built. The underside was natural metal, which also applied to the struts, inner gear doors, and gear bays. The strut is also natural metal (aluminum).
I read that the Kates in advance to Pearl Harbor were repainted green over grey… Border also indicates this… It is just that the details have no color call out whatsoever…
my humble opinion is…
As long as its an in-service aircraft, I’d paint the underside bits whatever color would have been applied at the field units.
That seems to have been a pretty standard practice.
If I just had to have some aotake, somewhere, I’d splash a little around under on the innards…and then spray the field applied color over that, so it peeks through here and there.
Again, just my opinion.
This plane will be based on a carrier ( the included deck and island will be built at a later date) and be participating in the attack on Pearl Harbor. So provisional paint jobs are not realistic.
These are some photographs of parts of wreckage from a B5N2 Kate from the IJN Kaga that crashed into the grounds of the Navy Hospital at Pearl Harbour during the attack on Dec 7th 1941. While it crashed in a more intact fashion than the parts would suggest, many navy personnel were keen to get a souvenier.
Note the aotake is reported extensively on the interior surfaces, which suggests that if in doubt you’re probably better off just to apply it.
I’m also seeing separate sources suggesting that the Kate’s were delivered by Nakajima in NMF, which may well have been the case for the exterior. Applying the aotake to the interior panels of an assembled aircraft on a flight deck at sea would’ve been incredibly difficult task. Either way the photos of the salvaged panels of the “Hospital Kate” reveal some pretty rough brushwork and paint that scratches easily from the aluminium skin
I have seen those… There are other reports that the most of the Kates were painted green over olive grey. For a plane with this much impact, it is very scarcely documented…
It’s a rabbit hole, that’s for sure! Darn inconsiderate that militaries should be putting so much focus on fighting their silly wars without due consideration to documenting their artistic decisions for the benefit of folks like us who’ll be obsessing over the colour of a flap interior 85 years on…
Yes, shame on them! Where can we submit our grievances?
That usually goes in File 13, bottom drawer. 
Now there is also the question of which carrier you plan to model. Different carrier Kates wore different schemes at Pearl Harbor. The 5th Carrier division air groups (Shokaku & Zuikaku) were fairly new and wore different schemes than 1st and 2nd carrier Divisions
5th Division, Shokaku Kate’s, overall light gray with upper surface camo mottle
5th Division, Zuikaku
2nd Division, Hiryu
1st Division Kaga
1st Division, Akagi, Fuchida’s Kate, in April ‘42
Here is a good forum that has both color profiles and supporting photos regarding each air group and aircraft type at Pearl Harbor
The carrier in this case is the one Border provided: Akagi…
In that case, these will be helpful
Thanks Carlos… I already found those from your previous post…
Good! The training one is interesting in mentioning that Fuchida’s plane received its upper surface camouflage green during the voyage to Hawaii. I will have to keep that in mind when I get around to building his aircraft.
