Nakajima Kate Progress
Comments
5 14 November 2018, 13:38
Björn SvedbergI've started the build of the Nakajima Kate. I'm building the version from the Akagi. Most of the small parts are painted including the cockpit and engine.
14 November 2018, 13:41
Björn SvedbergAnother update. Todays mission was masking and painting the tail of the plane. It went pretty well. Only a few small touch-ups to finish it.
17 November 2018, 19:21
Daniel KlinkRemind of the fact that this particular Plane was nearly in Top condition. AI301 looked nearly new -in fact it was .
Se be careful with the weathering and altering..But i am sure you knew that already
17 November 2018, 20:59
Björn SvedbergThanks Mates! I really appreciate it! 🙂
Thank you for the advice Daniel. As I understand it the green camoflage was painted on for the Pearl Harbor attack, before that it was NMF, so my plan is to go easy on the weathering.
18 November 2018, 10:35
Björn SvedbergTodays Update, I have masked and painted the markings on the underside of the plane, next will be working on the top side.
18 November 2018, 10:36
Daniel KlinkHi Björn, researching and debating about Japanese WWII camos is timeconsuming as anything 🙂
Even with such very good reported and known events and units like Fuchidas B5N2 as the leading aircraft of the first wave of the PH attack.
As far as as one know today clear is that :
Upper surfaces were Dark green sprayd over a pre War NMF overall scheme with the red Tail added the yellow stripes for the commanding and leading aircraft. In no way Fuchidas Pearl Harbour machine carried a Torpedo. It was equipped as a level bomber thats for sure!
Unsure is whether the under surfaces were painted Green Grey (like the Vals) too around November 1941 enroute Pearl Harbour.
Some japanese Historians are quiet sure that all Kates on AKagi for PH had green gray undersurfaces and semigloss darkgreen-gray painted upper surfaces.
All that was left from the pre war scheme was the red Tail and the Training numbers on the underside in Black.
It does not make sense to ride a surprise attack when your machine reflects the light over miles, even if some sources claim that this could have had as side effect, that they coul be easier confused by the defenders as their own mostly NMF planes.
It is definetly not wrong to keep the under surfaces NMF, but in my opinion it is most likely, that they were painted in camoflage color too.
Your paint job looks great anyway. 👍
18 November 2018, 11:44
Björn SvedbergThank you Daniel for the information! 👍 You are obviously very well informed about the matter. Me, I only made a brief search on the internet and then decided to go with the kit-instructions. I also recently viewed the film "Tora! Tora! Tora!", and they also had a different paint scheme from the kit, so I understand that there are many different opinions in the matter. I'm not saying that a movie is a reliable source, but I guess they had some historical advisors attached to the project.
The bare metal on the underside surprised me when I looked at the paint instructions in the kit as my initial thought was that it would be green gray, and that was the reason I did the internet search, but I decided to keep it as it looks nice on the model. 🙂
Thanks again mate!
18 November 2018, 13:19
Roberto RocatWow. It surely looks great. Which RED did you use for the Hinomaru markings? TIA.
18 November 2018, 17:10
Björn SvedbergThank you Miro and Roberto! 🙂
@Roberto, I used red over yellow. The yellow is Tamiya XF-3 and the red is Mr.Color H13. I did this as I thought the H13 in itself was a little too dark for my taste and to have a consistent red color as I did the same with the tail.
18 November 2018, 19:07
Björn SvedbergI've been a busy bee today😉. Main camoflage finished, but still some more masking and painting to do before the painting step is finished.
18 November 2018, 19:51
Björn SvedbergThanks bughunter and Daniel! I had a whole day to spend today so I tried to do as much as I could 🙂.
18 November 2018, 20:10
Bart Goesaertnice paintjob, and no bleeding through at the borders of the yellow... nice
19 November 2018, 07:00
Björn SvedbergThanks Bart! 🙂
I actually had some minor bleed through on the small insignias on the fuselage that I will have to fix.
19 November 2018, 09:13
Miro HeroldBjörn, super Job, but I would preffer less polishing black colour on the cowling.
19 November 2018, 13:45
Björn SvedbergThanks Sören and Miro! 🙂
@Miro, the clear coat on the cowling is only temporary. It is prepared for the decals/weathering. I plan on having the whole top of the plane in a matt/satin finish when it is all done. The bottom of the plane will also be weathered, but will hopefully keep its metal sheen. Next step is to coat the whole plane before weathering. 🙂
19 November 2018, 14:35
Björn SvedbergIt is finished! 🙂 I really liked building and painting this kit. It went together really well without too much putty and sanding and I like the paint scheme.
23 November 2018, 23:07
Daniel KlinkWonderful result Björn 👍 And yes these scheme are very attractive and you did a superb job on it.
ALso the weathering is on spot.. Congrats mate 👍
23 November 2018, 23:18
Björn SvedbergThank you Roberto, Neuling, bughunter and Stephan for your very kind words and encouragement! 🙂
24 November 2018, 20:56
Daniel KlinkWell deserved Björn, well deserved.. Just one thing if you paint japanese planes either army or Navy Air force. The rudders were always sligtly different in color than the fuselage or wingparts. They were made of toned fabric, and mostly manufactured in a blueish light green gray more on the dull and matt side. In combination they always looked different though the same camo colours were added. No weathering effect or something just because of the different material and base color sprayed on.
Only exception were the NMF and light grey tones like the Val and Rufe for example, because the planes were already prepainted delivered with the origin material and color for the rudders etc.
Maybe the camera swallows the difference. I can see it in pic 56 onward but You can use more contrast with these if you like to. 🙂
That is not mentioned as criticism, more as a hint.
Your KAte looks beautiful and perfect as it is👍
24 November 2018, 21:44
Björn SvedbergThanks Daniel! Constructive criticism is always welcome! 👍
The painting instructions in the kit mentions it but I wasn't sure how to interpret it. I did paint the ailerons and elevators on the underside of the plane in green/gray I just did not add any pictures of it in the finished pictures.
It's always nice to know that there in an expert to ask as I'm planning to build more Japanese planes.😉
24 November 2018, 23:43
Daniel KlinkExpert is a number too high but i am happy if i can help. And great idea to put some mor Hinomarus on the shelf.
What could be mistaken in my words above is the thing with the NMF and light grey planes.
The fabric made parts were built in by the manufactures as they were. You see this especially well with the NMF Ki.61, and the nearly white Rufes.
26 November 2018, 11:54
Björn SvedbergThanks for the clarification Daniel! You are the man, in my book anyway! 👍
26 November 2018, 13:48
Miro HeroldI agree with Daniel`s mention about the diferrent ruder coloring. Otherwise a great model.
26 November 2018, 18:06
Album info
Progress pictures of my build of the Nakajima B5N2 from Hasegawa.
