Mid/late war A6M5 (tamiya kit)

[Rob Colvin]

Off hand does any one know if mid/ late war A6M5s had only aotake applied to wheel wells/ cowl interior? I ask only as I have seen some black and white wartime photos and the parts of the gear bay that can be seen appear as silver/natural metal or possibly the same grey that was applied to the lower surfaces of the aircraft......Perhaps I'm seeing what I want to see.....lol

 

Thanks

[coogrfan]

It's my understanding that the same rule of thumb that applies to A6M2/M3's would apply here: Mitsubishi built - underside color; Nakajima built = Aotake. 

 

https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=3332

Edited April 6 by coogrfan

[Juggernut]

Yes, that is correct.  Mitsubishi built aircraft would have J3SP painted wheel wells while the Nakajima built counterpart had aotake in the wheel wells.  
 

You can tell which it would be if you can see the paint demarcation line on the aft fuselage (sweep up from trailing edge of the wing to leading edge of the stab= Nakajima built, if not then Mitsubishi built.  Also the white surround on the Hinonaru is also an indicator; 75mm (thick line) = Mitsubishi built, thin white surround (25mm) is Nakajima.

 

As a bit of information, the Tamiya A6M5 kit is more of a mid-war model (late 1943-early 1944).

[Rob Colvin]

The one I'm looking at is a Mitsubishi build......inside the cowl and flaps Aotake?.....and thanks all!

[Juggernut]

1 hour ago, Rob Colvin said:

The one I'm looking at is a Mitsubishi build......inside the cowl and flaps Aotake?.....and thanks all!

 

Inside the flaps, yes; cowl no.  Inside the cowl is the same shade of blue-black/semi-gloss black (Mitsubishi/Nakajima respectively) as the outside.