"Right" aotake color
 
Posted By: jay <jayosh@pacbell.net>
Date: Tuesday, 29 June 1999, at 5:11 p.m.
 
hi all,
just went to the air museum in santa monica california. nice place.
they have a restored zero. noticed the aotake in the wheel wells and the
color was a lot lighter than the aeromaster and gunze color i have been using.
it seemed to me that it was more like a light blue tinted varnish over metal than a blue color. guess i gotta do more research. did my eyes deceive me?
 
just wondering
 
Re: "Right" aotake color
 
Posted By: Rob Graham <rgraham111@aol.com>
Date: Tuesday, 29 June 1999, at 10:39 p.m.
 
In Response To: "right" aotake color (jay)
 
jay:
 
I don't know, but the aotake I've seen was green-clear varnish over metal. I'd have to compare it to a hunter green in its darkness and intensity, but it did have a transparent nature to it.
 
Just remember, though, it was a clear varnish that varied A LOT (this seems to be a true consensus here) from green to blue, though I wouldn't be surprised if there may have been a yellow sometimes. I've only seen green, though, and there were some spots I saw what looked like a light clear blue on very weathered skin. Some panels were coated, some not.
 
Choose your color, you can't really be wrong unless you are modeling a particular plane that has been documented. Also, I have pics of the POF Zero that show underside gray in the gear wells in some pics with a metallic green in other (older?) pics. I would not be surprised if the color you saw was a newer restoration color.
 
I want to see Gunze's Malachite Green. It might be a great starting point for what I have seen, though I've only seen old weathered finishes.
 
Random response, but it's a random color... Sorry I can't (and won't try) to give an FS match.
 
Take care,
--Rob
 
Re: "Right" aotake color
 
Posted By: Pete Chalmers <pchalmer@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Wednesday, 30 June 1999, at 8:12 a.m.
 
In Response To: Re: "right" aotake color (Rob Graham)
 
There seems to have been considerable variation.
 
Look at the cockpit photos of the "Oscar" restored in NZ and compare with the "Irving" at NASM - both Nakajima aircraft albeit built at different factories and for different services. The "Oscar" is the greenish and the "Irving" the blueish variation of Aotake.
 
I realize that these are restorations but considerable effort was made to duplicate original coloration.
 
The ModelArt Special on IJNAF Fighters ( #533?) also has some color pics of original A6M panels showing the "blueish" variation. The Tamiya or Gunze Acrylic Aotakes in the bottle are fairly close, BUT: IMHO, the only way to duplicate Aotake succesfully on a model is to use a thin transparent coat over a metallic finish - I use a blend of Tamiya Clear Blue & Green over Floquil Old Silver.
 
Re: "Right" aotake color
 
Posted By: Rob Graham <rgraham111@aol.com>
Date: Thursday, 1 July 1999, at 11:17 a.m.
 
In Response To: Re: "right" aotake color (jay)
 
Jay:
 
In fact, I just saw a piece of electrical conduit that was a a goldenrod color, probably factory anodized as such.This was in a Hayabusa. The rest of the conduit was all aluminum color. It was identified as the anodizing.
 
I think I'd use Tamiya's transparent green with a hint of red to darken it a bit.
 
Take care,
--Rob
 
Re: "Right" aotake color
 
Posted By: Todd <toddl@icehouse.net>
Date: Saturday, 10 July 1999, at 2:33 p.m.
 
In Response To: Re: "right" aotake color (Rob Graham)
 
Jay,
 
I've got an original metal piece, (my uncle was a Seabee), cut from the meatball area. The aotake color on the inside is definitely more of a green, close to FS14109, but a little grayer. And it is semi-transparent, giving it a metallic sheen.
 
Todd

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