Alain Gadbois Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 Hi all! I am wondering what is the shade of the early war light gray on Japanese Zeros. From what I have gathered, it seems to vary between a light olive and a light caramel color. Does anyone have an informed opinion on this? And if possible, a recipe with Tamiya acrylics to represent this colour. Thank you in advance! Alain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 http://www.j-aircraft.com/misc/PAINT.HTM LSP_K2, Out2gtcha and Alain Gadbois 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangManiac Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 I know when it comes to a Zero Nakajima had a different shade more olive color from Mitsubishi more gray. Brady Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggernut Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 Sigh..... There are two schools of thought on this...as Jennings mentions above, is a greenish-grey and the other is an olive-grey. According to researchers on the subject, a close match is FS 16350. Below is a link to the best article on the subject of A6M Zero coloration (all zero's not just the early ones so you won't need to read the entire document if you don't feel like it). A6M Zero Camouflage - Jim Lansdale Another good research treatise is from Nick Millman. He has a PDF document available for sale (not expensive) that thoroughly examines the colors of these early zeroes. If you're interested, you see it here: Painting the Early Zero-Sen - Nick Millman If you want to purchase a copy, you'll have to email him: Nick Millman - Email The main page, Aviation of Japan, where you can find all the above links, is here: Aviation of Japan There is a lot of information on these early zero's but as with almost everything modeling related, nothing's for certain. I am in the "olive-grey" camp when it comes to these early zekes and to add insult to injury, the fabric control surfaces were not the same color as the airframe. Now to compound matters even more, Nakajima built A6M2's were painted a different shade of grey than were Mitsubishi aircraft and their control surface colors were different greys as well. Here's a series of paint mixes by noted Zero researcher, Greg Springer for Model Master and Tamiya paints: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/26077-zero-colors/&do=findComment&comment=220740 dennismcc and Alain Gadbois 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ade rowlands Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 (edited) I came across the AK Real colour range whilst looking for something else and came across these https://ak-interactive.com/product/ijn-j3-hai-iro-grey-10ml/ for the Fabric flying surfaces which were a slightly different colour and https://ak-interactive.com/product/ijn-j3-sp-amber-grey-10ml/ for overall colour https://ak-interactive.com/product/ijn-m3-n-nakajima-interior-green-10ml/ if Nakajima built your Zero https://ak-interactive.com/product/ijn-m3-m-mitsubishi-interior-green-10ml/ If its a Mitsubishi built Zero https://ak-interactive.com/product/s-c-c-14-blue-black/ if its a Mitsubishi built Zero for use on the cowling and deck behind pilot seat and instrument panel shroud. Cowls on Nakajima built ones were just a regular black. The info was confirmed by Nick Millman when I asked him. He's and authority on such things and helped develop the paints with AK. Also published an ebook on painting the early Zeros mentioned above which I bought a few years back and is a good read. Edited August 27, 2019 by ade rowlands Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ringleheim Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 Formula for Tamiya paints: XF-19 (Sky Grey) 105 drops XF-49 (Khaki) 20 drops XF-25 (Lt. Sea Grey) 15 drops Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted August 27, 2019 Author Share Posted August 27, 2019 Thank you very much guys! I will be looking over all this information and making my own little paint samples. Alain LSP_K2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggernut Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 1 hour ago, ringleheim said: Formula for Tamiya paints: XF-19 (Sky Grey) 105 drops XF-49 (Khaki) 20 drops XF-25 (Lt. Sea Grey) 15 drops Good match for the cloth from the Nihau A6M2 but not for the metal airframe.... From Greg Springer's paint mixes from relics in his own collection or generously loaned to him (link above): "Mix matched to a cloth artifact from Zero BII-120, landed on Niihau Island, Dec. 7, 1942. Likely also to match cloth on control surfaces of AI-154 shot down at Ft. Kamehameha and BI-151 crashed at Kaneohe NAS the same day. Mix 2T 105 drops Sky Grey XF-19 15 drops Lt. Sea Grey XF-25 20 drops Khaki XF-49" Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ringleheim Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 19 minutes ago, Juggernut said: Good match for the cloth from the Nihau A6M2 but not for the metal airframe.... From Greg Springer's paint mixes from relics in his own collection or generously loaned to him (link above): "Mix matched to a cloth artifact from Zero BII-120, landed on Niihau Island, Dec. 7, 1942. Likely also to match cloth on control surfaces of AI-154 shot down at Ft. Kamehameha and BI-151 crashed at Kaneohe NAS the same day. Mix 2T 105 drops Sky Grey XF-19 15 drops Lt. Sea Grey XF-25 20 drops Khaki XF-49" Yes, I misread my own notes on that. The information came from the same place yours did the last time one of these threads was floating around. Thanks for catching it. Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now