Looking for source information on IJN Akagi. Looking for information on interior colors. Also identifying uses of the large drum like object forward of the island. Have started work on the Takom 1/72 scale Akagi flight deck and island kit. Thanks for any help
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I believe it is a rangefinder for gunnery control.
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Hi Herb, welcome aboard!
The color of Imperial Japanese Navy ship interiors is a bit of a mystery since not much documentation has survived.
This wartime Japanese painting seems to suggest a light color (white or gray?) for an aircraft carrier hangar, but colors clearly weren’t the artist’s focus in this rendering.
A tiny bit of the interior of the destroyer Shiranui is visible through the door in this 1942 pic, seems to show white or light gray bulkheads with a dark deck. We do know that he IJN used dark brown linoleum deck covering for interior spaces early in the war.
This postwar image of Yukikaze’s bridge looks darker, but the window sashes and the bit of overhead visible suggest a light gray or white color.
I would recommend painting the interior of your Akagi a very light gray with a dark brown deck.
Good luck with it! 
This is the bridge of Mikasa as she stands now.
I would agree with the white upper interior. The lower could be light gray or even ochre or similar.
Dark brown linoleum decks or green interior floors.
This is a scratchbuilt Akagi bridge in 1/48 scale, l helped with some of the research but I cannot find the reference folder at the moment. I recall spending a lot of time discussing every color detail.
EDIT: The interior was done in light grey as a safe choice.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.717553567037275&type=3
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strong textThank you all for all the help.RTD what little I’ve found confirms your thought that is a range finder. Tim thanks for the help with the paint work. This will be a great help.
I would love to find source material more accurate and comprehensive than Google. I would love to see the “bibliography” used by the builder of that beautiful scratch built 1/48 Akagi. Again thanks guys