Gilding The Lily ~ Extra

These additional images show the method by which master modeller Hisao Saitoh paints the markings - they are not decals - on his Ki-48 and other models. The stencils are hand-made by Saitoh-san.

Image credits: ©2010 Hisao Saitoh

Aotake ~ Part Two - The IWM Zero

These splendid photographs of the Imperial War Museum's surviving A6M5 Zero centre section were taken by Ken Francella in the 1980's and come from him via Ken Glass. They need very little commentary, other than to note the difference between the bright, glossy appearance of the Aotake where it was protected from the elements on the original airframe and the areas of exposure and much use, like the wheel wells, where it has deteriorated.

Other paint colours and details on this airframe will be explored in due course - with a few surprises along the way.

By the way, if you are a lurker and plan to take these images to post on another website - with whatever points you wish to make there - the very least you might do, on the grounds of simple courtesy, (and if you cannot bring yourself to ask first for permission for whatever reason) is to mention where they came from and to provide a link. That way we won't have to jump to harsh conclusions about your character which might be quite unjustified. However, even better would be to comment and contribute something here, at the source. One doesn't remove a painting from the walls of an art gallery without permission (at least I hope not) and take it off to the nearest pub for a very public discussion about it with your mates. Imagine how the artist would feel, let alone the gallery owners? But then I suppose, in the wonderful 21st Century, consideration for the feelings of others is not as high on the personal agenda as it once was.

Image credits: ©2010 Ken Francella via Ken Glass

Gilding The Lily ~ Part One

Hot on the heels of Gary Wenko's review of the new AZ 1/48th Kawasaki Ki-48 Lily kit in the IPMS UK JASIG Corner Bulletin #4 come these stunning images of the model as built by Japanese master modeller, researcher and artist Hisao Saitoh. Details to note and enjoy are the overall Hairyokushoku (ash green colour), olive green "snake weave" mottle, the prop colour (and lustre), engine details and the interior colour which is just visible. Superbly achieved and absolutely convincing - as well as a very interesting table top companion for Hasegawa's Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu.

The aircraft depicted is from the 8th Sentai in action over Burma from bases in Thailand with the unit's distinctive "Octopus Eight" tail insignia. All the markings are painted, not decals, using hand-crafted stencils. What a beauty!

More "Gilding the Lily" posts on large scale Ki-48 details to follow.

Image credit: ©2010 Hisao Saitoh via Ken Glass

Aotake - Part One

What Is It?

Following on from previous articles exploring interior colours is this brief diversion, hopefully of interest. There are several proprietory hobby paints available which purport to represent the translucent blueish-green protective coating seen on the interiors of both Army and Navy aircraft which has become well known as 'Aotake' (or aodake, 青竹). However, being essentially opaque metallic colours these paints can only create an approximate impression of the appearance and are often quite garish. Most modern translations describe Aotake as "green bamboo", the Nihon Kokugo Dai Jiten of 1972 defining it principally as "the trunk of raw, green bamboo", but the word "Ao" can be problematic in terms of meaning blue or green.

The niceties of the language were explored in depth in a superb article in the late and lamented Asahi Journal Vol.2 No.4 where two uses of the term were identified and explored, distinguishing between its use to describe a coating and its use to describe a colour. In the article Model Art 272 (Camouflage & Markings of the Imperial Japanese Navy Fighters in WWII) was reported to describe a green-yellow paint colour chip on page 109 in the following terms:-

"Ordinarily it's called aodake colour but actually it is a coating from a family of transparent zabon enamels. There are two branches to it, a blue one and a green one."

This chip is approximately similar in hue to FS 34258 but a little lighter and "metallic" in finish.

Model Art Special 329 (Camouflage & Markings of Imperial Japanese Army Fighters, 1989) went further:-

"Aodake is a crystal that dissolves in alcohol and is used in coatings when assembling steel and the like. (The aodake) used for interior colours was a transparent blue colour of zabon enamel but sometimes there were green ones too. When applied in coats it becomes an ordinary dark blue colour."

The strong dark blue pigment Prussian Blue (sRGB 0, 49, 83, very close to FS 15050 @ 1.14) was used in a similar way and was often referred to as "engineers blue". Aha, that is a rather deep, navy blue.

In Model Art Special 406 (Camouflage & Markings of Imperial Japanese Navy Bombers in WWII, 1993) the two apparent uses of the term were clarified:-

"Aodake used to be considered very similar to the zinc chromate (paint) on American and other military planes but the coatings were not of one type (only). There were Aodake Number One, Aodake Number Two and some other kinds. This light green colour of aodake was widely employed."

Many years ago Don Thorpe was adamant that the term aodake originally referred to the various opaque yellow-green interior paints. In a letter published in 1980 he stated:-

"Now, as to the transparent colors; aoitake is NOT a generic application for the bare metal primers. Aoitake was only referring to the opaque paints. The bare metal primer coating was usually applied at the point of fabrication of the sheet of metal or sub-assembly and was only intended to protect the rather rich mixture of aluminium alloy from the elements until such time as permanent coatings could be applied.

"I have mixed feelings on the subject of colors in this area, although I have encountered both blues and greens. I have also encountered samples of aircraft which had other pieces of metal attached, which when separated showed a bright blue in the previously covered area, and bright green in the previously exposed areas. One theory of this phenomenon is that when exposed to sunlight, fumes, salt air and water, etc., that the colors become fugitive and change hues. I have seen many examples of this in other Japanese aircraft so the theory is not without precedent."

This appraisal is strengthened by the impression of colour given by the term aodake shoku (green bamboo colour) to the Japanese layman, as demonstrated in the Asahi Journal article by the choice of green-yellow and green-olive hues to represent it. Thus was concluded a distinction between aodake as a coating, and aodake shoku as a colour.

In his seminal works on Japanese colours, Don Thorpe gave Munsell 2.5B 4/6 as the colour value for Navy/Army 'Translucent Blue' N16/A18, equating to sRGB 0, 108, 125 and FS 15125 @ 5.37 (so not very close - the FS value is insufficiently green in appearance). And for 'Translucent Green' as Munsell 5BG 3/6, equating to sRGB 0, 84, 82 and FS 34058 @ 10.0 (a poor match, too dark and not green enough).

In his most recent profile on the Ki-44 Shoki fighter, leading Japanese researcher and author Shigeru Nohara comments that:-

"This interior paint commonly called "Aotake" for the corrosion prevention was applied on the Ki-44 production aircraft until mid-1943. The paint was used by the Army and Navy but the name Clear Pale Blue was from the Navy. There are variations for this paint existed such as #1 and #2. Since the colour being translucent the tone after painting also depends on the repetitions of the coating.

The printed chip prvided in the book is approximately similar to FS 34241.

Hobby Paints

As mentioned the aodake coating has been represented by a number of opaque metallic hobby paints. The GSI Creos (known as 'Gunze') Aqueous paint represents this coating with H63 'Metallic Blue-Green' which strongly emphasises a bright blue rather than green. The corresponding 'Mr Color' lacquer paint is C57. In Xtracolor the coating is represented by X355 'Japanese WWII Interior Blue' . Recent tins of this paint appear to be slightly lighter and more silvery than earlier examples. White Ensign Models Colourcoats paint ACJ15 'Aotake' is almost identical in appearance to the Xtracolor paint, perhaps chromatically just a little stronger. In the old AeroMaster Warbird acrylic colours was 1084 'Aotake', very similar to the GSI Creos paints. Lifecolor market an airbrush paint called "Blue Aotake" which has an advertised RGB value of 0, 144, 121 and is a very bright turquoise blue-green with no comparable Munsell or FS equivalents.

Representing Aotake

Correspondent "No Parachute" kindly contributed these images of his 1/32nd scale Hasegawa Ki-44 Shoki (above) painted using his own technique for representing this elusive finish. He begins with a base coat of Mr Color #159 'Super Silver' as "an excellent metallic color having the appearance and durability of actual metal". Then he mixes his own version of the 'green/blue' using Vallejo paints AV #70938 'Transparent Blue' and AV #70937 'Transparent Yellow' (FS 38907) to achieve the very pleasing result shown here. The finish is shown under various lighting conditions but at the time the photographs were taken was not clear coated. "No Parachute" welcomes comments on this finish - as do I.

To be continued . . .

Image credits: ©2010 "No Parachute"; Relics courtesy of Mr. Honma Hiroshi, Hokkaido Museum of Climate, Kutchan.

JASIG Corner Bulletin # 4

I’d like to wish you a very Happy New Year! Thank you for taking the time to complete your JASIG membership form and sending it in. We are well subscribed for 2010 and ready for the show season. There are a number of new kits on the horizon and I’m sure you are anticipating them as eagerly as I.

Absent Friends:

It is with great sadness that I share with you news of the death of one of our strongest supporters, Dennis Earth. Dennis suffered a stroke some time ago and was recovering in a nursing home in Spalding when he was taken to hospital only to have died on Christmas Eve. He was a strong supporter of IPMS (UK), a founding member of the Spalding Model Club, which evolved into IPMS Fenland and a staunch supporter of our own Japanese Aviation Special Interest Group. He has been a keen modeller for many, many years and has served as a judge at the IPMS Nationals. He was personable and always willing to share his insight into modelling and competition and corresponded with anyone who expressed an interest.

2010 Model Show Circuit:

ModelKraft 2010, Milton Keynes, Sunday, 7 February, Stantonbury Leisure Centre

Huddersfield 2010, Sunday, 21 February, Huddersfield Sports Centre

East of England Model Show, Saturday, 6 March, Peterborough Town Hall

Shropshire Model Show, Sunday, 11 April, RAF Museum Cosford

Hendon Scale Model Show, Sunday, 23 May, RAF Museum London

IPMS Salisbury Show, Saturday, 29 May, Wyvern College, Laverstock

I look forward to seeing you there, if you can make it. Be sure to stop by and say hello if you can't participate.

Kit Reviews: AZ Models New Lilys

AZ Models released of two kits of the Kawasaki Ki-48 Type 99 Lily bomber in 1/48 scale. The plastic contents of both kits are identical each offering a common instruction pamphlet, three sprues of injected moulded parts in grey, a clear sprue of transparencies, and a bag of resin bits for the engines and some fuselage internals. The kits differ in their box art and decal options. Strangely enough, the Ki-48-I kit decals are marked Ki-48-IIa and the Ki-48-II kit decals are marked Ki-48-I. The kit box bottom carries the relevant artwork for paint schemes and decal placement. Additional paint schemes are provided in the Osprey AirCam of the Lily. No paint scheme for the interior is provided and Nick and I think it would be the IJA dark grey-blue.

AZ4833 is the kit number for the Kawasaki Ki-48-I Type 99 Sokei, which allows for three decal options: a machine of the 34th Sentai, Thailand, 1943; 75th Sentai, China, 1941; and one of the 90th Sentai, Thailand, 1942.

AZ4831 is the kit number for the Kawasaki Ki-48-II Type 99 Sokei, which provides markings for two aircraft of the 34th Sentai, a China theatre machine of the 1st Chutai from 1943-1944, a 2nd Chutai machine from New Guinea, 1944, and a Hikota Flying School machine.

AZ Model produces an additional photo-etched fret number A4001 to augment their Lily kits. The kits are £59 each from Hannants and the PE fret is a tenner.

Images of the box art, kit sprues, decal sheets and photo-etch are shown above.

Gary

A8V1 Update

Following the blogpost about Kora's A8V1 resin kit, Sidnei Maneta kindly sent these images of 12th Ku 'Dick's operating in China trawled from the web. In addition to showing the tail codes clearly there is a hangar view of an apparently camouflaged example as depicted in Kora's third kit of the type. The cockpit view, although not from a Japanese machine, may assist those struggling with Kora's less than helpful instructions for locating the various bits and pieces included.

The blogpost 'Painting Into A Corner Pt 2 ~ Exploring J3' has been updated to include a copy of the CAL Report originally referred to. I have also taken the opportunity to add the sRGB values to the rendered chips, mentioned in the original text but not actually done (oops)! In addition I have tidied up the text to improve its reading and included some relevant observations translated from Ichiro Hasegawa's article 'The Basic Paint of Zero-Sen'. Hasegawa-san was actually there and saw real Zero fighters up close so his words carry some weight.

One thing I should perhaps add. And that is that I am not promoting a particular agenda in respect of Zero colours but only applying the discipline of colour science to the information already known, adding to it where I can and exploring it as objectively as possible. Unfortunately much modern debate and discussion seems increasingly to fall into vehemently articulated "right" or "wrong" camps. From my own experience such camps are often both "right" and "wrong" - but in different ways - and a big dollop of "don't know for certain" dampens all proceedings. That is not to suggest I lean towards the "don't know for certain so anything goes" camp which seems to be growing apace on modelling fora and is now sometimes vehemently deriding any attempt to bring precision to the subject. From a collective of evidence - and all evidence not just the bits that fit a particular argument - reasonable conclusions may be drawn. But these reasonable conclusions are inevitably subject to individual preference and prejudice and ultimately to individual choice.

Image credit: www via Sidnei Maneta

JASIG Corner Bulletin # 3

That Fokker!

My earlier comment about there being a Fokker D.VIII in Japanese markings, as interpreted from a published black and white photograph proves wrong, despite the translated caption appearing in Vol 6 of the Japanese language Encyclopedia of Japanese Aviation. The aircraft pictured was a sample machine marked to seduce the Dutch military into purchasing the aircraft after the war It was on display at the first aeronautical exhibition in Amsterdam, the Eerste Luchtvaart Tentoostelling Amsterdam (ELTA), in 1919. It was part of a great many aircraft, parts and tooling brought out of Germany to Holland by Anthony Fokker after the war. As history has shown, the Dutch purchased the proven Fokker D.VII and the sample D.VIII was scrapped. I'm informed by Richard Ansell, an accomplished aviation artist living in Japan, that the Kitagawa collection, which contains photos of all of the aircraft sent to Japan as war reparations after the First World War, shows that those aircraft carried only the national markings of origin, not the Hinomaru.

Kit News

Unicraft has been busy. They released two kits in the last couple of months, the Kayaba Katsuodori and the Ki-62. Both are subjects more of a What If? nature. These guys use a really brittle porous resin, but with a bit of work, you can put together a really unusual model, certainly something that isn't mainstream. In 2010 they plan to produce a J4M, Senden, a Ki-119 and also a Ki-88, all paper projects subject matter. Hannants carries most of the line, but Unicraft has their own website and kits can be viewed and purchased directly.

The Ki-62 was to be a kind of super fighter comprising bits of the Ki-43 and Ki-84 with the license built in-line DB601 engine of the Ki-61. No prototype was ever constructed, but it was a paper project. The kit suffers from really brittle resin and they even include a warning slip to that effect. Sadly, no markings are provided in either the Ki-62 or the Kayaba kits.

In the past few weeks, Aki, a Japanese resin kit company, have released a kit in 1/72 scale of the Ki-12, experimental fighter. Influenced and based upon the Dewoitine 510, the Ki-12 failed to meet standard for acceptance into the inventory, being out performed by the Ki-27. I have never before seen such a detailed kit in resin with such quality of fine detail. When I first opened the box I thought it was injection moulded. My kit came directly from Japan, brought in for Scale Model World by Hobby Link Japan. I've made some photos and hope you like what you see.

JMSDF PV-2 Harpoon

Seventeen PV-2 Harpoons were supplied to the JMSDF in January 1955 and given the Japanese serial numbers 4101/4117. One (#4101) subsequently crashed in April 1957 and the remainder were later renumbered 4571/4586. Early on in Japanese service the aircraft were painted dark blue-grey overall with white lettering with all six hinomaru outlined in white. Photos exist of Japanese PV-2's in an all over natural metal sheme too.

The photograph shows Brian Prior's model of the JMSDF Harpoon in 1/72nd scale. Brian commented that the only problem in making the kit was the decals with the Japanese writing. He painted dark sea blue onto paper, put a white decal on it, scanned to Word, adjusted the decal to size, then printed it to decal paper.

Gary

Stick To 109s!

The "previously undiscovered discovery" of a Midway combat report describing Zero fighters as "greenish brown" posted on a well-known forum made me yawn, but the piss take of the Munsell color system that was included in the post made me frown, especially as the originator usually demonstrates and expects objective precision when it comes to matters Luftwaffe.

Here are some more descriptions from actual combat reports at Midway for you:-

"ash gray"

"light tan, very shiny or slick"

"brownish colour"

"ash gray" (again)

"khaki colour"

"ash gray" (yet again)

These are remarkably consistent and the two colour groups may be reconciled quite simply (but that's another story). And from various other combat and intelligence reports, some of which refer to downed aircraft (seen closer up and in slightly less traumatic circumstances):-

"grey"

"very smooth light gray, tinted with blue light green"

"soft pale green"

"pearl gray"

"dove gray"

"bluish silver"

"glossy greenish gray"

"light grey"

"Other Type "O" SSFs have been variously described as being painted "dark green", "brownish green", "shiny jet black", "light brown", "orange" and "silver"" (from a report dated December 1942)

"Zeros were intercepted at Moresby which were completely white except for their National markings"

And a whole stack more, etc., etc. Gosh.

And some translated Japanese descriptions:-

"Grey rat colour" (top illustration)

"Ash colour slightly tinted amber" (bottom illustration)

Brought to you in the interests of balanced reporting and guaranteed free from Munsell values for allergy sufferers ;-)

Image credit: I forget, but email me if you've got a problem.