1:35 B5N Kate undercarriage wheel bay paint mask Border

The Kate in the unusual 1:35 scale

A masking set prepared for the main landing gear bays of this Japanese carrier bomber. The 1:35 scale is less usual for aircraft, but for this type it matches the plastic kit available.

The subject: a torpedo carrier off the deck

The Nakajima B5N, known to the Allies under the code name Kate, was in 1941 the most modern carrier-borne torpedo bomber in the world. It had retractable landing gear, wings that folded for the hangars and a crew of three made up of a pilot, a navigator and a radio operator with a defensive machine gun. It was these machines that dropped torpedoes on the battleships anchored at Pearl Harbor, and in the following year they played a decisive part in sinking American aircraft carriers in the fighting in the Coral Sea and at Midway. The later form got a stronger radial engine and an increased fuel capacity.

The inner surfaces of Japanese aircraft

Japanese factories protected inner metal surfaces with a translucent lacquer known as aotake. The metal shows through it, so the result looks blue-green and metallic at the same time. You can imitate it by spraying the area silver first and laying a thin coat of a clear blue-green shade over it. Only then close the area off and turn to the outer coat.

Selected uses

• modelers of Japanese naval aviation
• builders who combine aircraft with ship dioramas
• anyone interested in the fighting in the Pacific in 1941 and 1942
• anyone who wants to render the blue-green inner lacquer faithfully