Nakajima J1N Gekko interior colour

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

I've recently got myself the Fujimi 1/72 Nakajima J1N, with the upward and downward firing cannons. The instructions pretty much tell you to paint everything internal Aotake. Given previous discussions about Japanese interior colours, I doubt the whole interior would be Aotake. So would any part of the interior (cockpit, wheel wells + doors, inc tail wheel or cowling interiors) be Aotake and would the Nakajima cockpit colour from the AK interactive IJN set be a better bet for the interior?

 

thanks

Mike 

[Nick Millman]

Interior colours of the extant example are a mix of aotake and unpainted for the structure (including cockpit interior, wheel well doors, etc) and green for most of the fittings, matched to Thorpe's N5 with the electrical panels a green matched to Munsell 5 GY 3/4. N5 is a light olive green approximate to FS 34151 (similar to the Mitsubishi Zero cockpit colour) whilst the other green is darker, approximately similar to RAL 6003 or Revell 361 olive green.

 

You'll find some cockpit views of the NASM example here which might help sort out what colours relate to which part of the structure:-

 

NASM Irving

 

Two very good references for modelling Irving are the 1985 NASM/Smithsonian 'Famous Aircraft' book by Robert C Mikesh and Osamu Tagaya and Japanese 'Modeler's Eye' series No.1 published by Dainippon Kaiga Co Ltd in 2001. The latter book was intended to complement the Tamiya kit but is useful as a general reference to the late production Type 11, has colour walk around photos, a great profile section with informative captions and, perhaps best of all, is dual language - Japanese and English.  

 

I covered exterior colours at the blog in November 2009.

 

Nick

[72modeler]

2 hours ago, Nick Millman said:

Interior colours of the extant example are a mix of aotake and unpainted for the structure (including cockpit interior, wheel well doors, etc) and green for most of the fittings, matched to Thorpe's N5 with the electrical panels a green matched to Munsell 5 GY 3/4. N5 is a light olive green approximate to FS 34151 (similar to the Mitsubishi Zero cockpit colour) whilst the other green is darker, approximately similar to RAL 6003 or Revell 361 olive green.

 

You'll find some cockpit views of the NASM example here which might help sort out what colours relate to which part of the structure:-

 

NASM Irving

 

Two very good references for modelling Irving are the 1985 NASM/Smithsonian 'Famous Aircraft' book by Robert C Mikesh and Osamu Tagaya and Japanese 'Modeler's Eye' series No.1 published by Dainippon Kaiga Co Ltd in 2001. The latter book was intended to complement the Tamiya kit but is useful as a general reference to the late production Type 11, has colour walk around photos, a great profile section with informative captions and, perhaps best of all, is dual language - Japanese and English.  

 

I covered exterior colours at the blog in November 2009.

 

Nick

Nick,

 

Thanks for the link to the detail photos- with the Mikesh book, I think I can make an accurate interior. BTW- shameless plug and in no way connected to or compensated by Guideline, but I just got your Combat Colours #9 on the A6M- what a fantastic modeler's reference! Well done, sir!

Mike

[Bpasenelli]

I kick myself for not buying the Mikesh book when it was new, now it's on Amazon at $300. 

[Nick Millman]

4 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Nick,

 

Thanks for the link to the detail photos- with the Mikesh book, I think I can make an accurate interior. BTW- shameless plug and in no way connected to or compensated by Guideline, but I just got your Combat Colours #9 on the A6M- what a fantastic modeler's reference! Well done, sir!

Mike

 

Thank you Mike, that is very kind of you to say so and much appreciated.

 

Nick

[Nick Millman]

1 hour ago, Bpasenelli said:

I kick myself for not buying the Mikesh book when it was new, now it's on Amazon at $300. 

 

Mine still has a price ticket in it from Midland Counties Publications when bought new - £9.95. . . 

 

Nick

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Thanks again Nick, I should be able to sort out the Gekko now.

 

thanks

Mike

[MDriskill]

This exceptionally good modeling article from Hyperscale's archives, using the Tamiya 1/48 kit and the Mikesh book for reference, shows a scale rendition of colors that you may find useful. Note the link to "Part 1," which shows the interior the best.

 

http://hyperscale.com/features/2002/gekkogc_3.htm

Edited April 20, 2017 by MDriskill

[Bpasenelli]

2 hours ago, Nick Millman said:

 

Mine still has a price ticket in it from Midland Counties Publications when bought new - £9.95. . . 

 

Nick

Thanks for rubbing it in 😩Seriously I almost never regret buying good references 

[J.C. Bahr]

$300?!?!... not according to here:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Moonlight-Interceptor-Fighter-Aircraft-National/dp/0874746892/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492812645&sr=8-1&keywords=moonlight+interceptor

[Bpasenelli]

I meant the Japanese Aircraft Interiors book by Robert Mikesh. Still listed at 299. I haven't figured out how to grab the listing

[MDriskill]

13 hours ago, J.C. Bahr said:

$300?!?!... not according to here:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Moonlight-Interceptor-Fighter-Aircraft-National/dp/0874746892/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492812645&sr=8-1&keywords=moonlight+interceptor

 

Ah...I wondered earlier if we were talking about two different books.

 

For whatever my opinion is worth, I HIGHLY recommend "Moonlight Interceptor," especially at that price!  It is the best in the Smithsonian paperback series, and one of the great "all in one" modeling references of all time--history, details, variants, detailed interior and exterior color and markings information, interior detail drawings, and a really fine set of 1/72 GA drawings all together. There is no color printing in the book unfortunately but that's available elsewhere as already mentioned.

[Nick Millman]

49 minutes ago, MDriskill said:

 

Ah...I wondered earlier if we were talking about two different books.

 

For whatever my opinion is worth, I HIGHLY recommend "Moonlight Interceptor," especially at that price!  It is the best in the Smithsonian paperback series, and one of the great "all in one" modeling references of all time--history, details, variants, detailed interior and exterior color and markings information, interior detail drawings, and a really fine set of 1/72 GA drawings all together. There is no color printing in the book unfortunately but that's available elsewhere as already mentioned.

 

I made the same error, thinking that he was referring to the Irving book too. I concur with your recommendation for "Moonlight Interceptor", especially at the prices being shown. However, it does contain two colour photos of the pilot and observer cockpits on page 82, easily missed as they are against the spine and even knowing they are there it always takes me time to find them again. That page seems to "hide" for some reason! 

 

Regarding that Hyperscale model, the colour it has been painted and as it appears in the photos should not be taken as a reference, even for "scale", but especially the prop colour which is more like the red-brown primer paint than the true propeller colour, although it appears similar to how the NASM example appears in colour photos. The original colour of the prop is given in the Irving book as Munsell 10 R 3/2 which is a much darker brown similar to FS 30045 and consistent with IJN prop colour - a dark maroon or chocolate brown which can appear almost black even in colour photos. The cited Tamiya XF-11 should have been ok for the deep black green exterior paint which approximated Thorpe's N1 (although the NASM example had been restored as the greener N2) but looks much lighter and greener in the photos of that model.  

 

Nick

 

 

 

[MDriskill]

5 hours ago, Nick Millman said:

 

I made the same error, thinking that he was referring to the Irving book too. I concur with your recommendation for "Moonlight Interceptor", especially at the prices being shown. However, it does contain two colour photos of the pilot and observer cockpits on page 82, easily missed as they are against the spine and even knowing they are there it always takes me time to find them again. That page seems to "hide" for some reason! 

 

Regarding that Hyperscale model, the colour it has been painted and as it appears in the photos should not be taken as a reference, even for "scale", but especially the prop colour which is more like the red-brown primer paint than the true propeller colour, although it appears similar to how the NASM example appears in colour photos. The original colour of the prop is given in the Irving book as Munsell 10 R 3/2 which is a much darker brown similar to FS 30045 and consistent with IJN prop colour - a dark maroon or chocolate brown which can appear almost black even in colour photos. The cited Tamiya XF-11 should have been ok for the deep black green exterior paint which approximated Thorpe's N1 (although the NASM example had been restored as the greener N2) but looks much lighter and greener in the photos of that model.  

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

Thanks Nick...yes, I found those color shots in "Moonlight Interceptor," about 10 seconds after my previous post! Oh, well.

 

Your comments on the model colors are right on as always--I probably overstated its reliance on the Mikesh technical notes! Still, one of my favorite all-time HS posts, and a striking example of what can be done with a good kit and careful painting.