WW2 Japanese Navy aircraft paints
- Thread starter robert41
- Start date
Matt Wynn
Charter Member
Robert generally the IJN stuck with the off-white for carrier based aircraft, anything land based got greeon or mottled camouflage if i recall....
best bet is to look at images you can find of aircraft of the IJNAF on the Akagi, Amagi, Hiryu and Soryu for a generalisation, then for land based get searching for IJAAF, the carriers had banding patters that were squadron dependant and varied from carrier to carrier if i recall the Akagi had red fuselage bands on white base and yellow bands on the fin... they're a confusing bunch....
best bet is to look at images you can find of aircraft of the IJNAF on the Akagi, Amagi, Hiryu and Soryu for a generalisation, then for land based get searching for IJAAF, the carriers had banding patters that were squadron dependant and varied from carrier to carrier if i recall the Akagi had red fuselage bands on white base and yellow bands on the fin... they're a confusing bunch....
magoo
SOH-CM-2013
I believe the early war standard for a6m2's was a light green that quickly faded under the sun's UV to a slightly greyish off-white, the tone most often remembered.
You may wish to visit the CFS2 forum here. Among others, our member Kelticheart has been cranking out high quality repaints of the Japanese naval force aircraft that participated in the Pearl Harbour attack. There's a lot of historically knowledgeable fellows on those pages, your questions may begin a fruitful dialogue.
You may wish to visit the CFS2 forum here. Among others, our member Kelticheart has been cranking out high quality repaints of the Japanese naval force aircraft that participated in the Pearl Harbour attack. There's a lot of historically knowledgeable fellows on those pages, your questions may begin a fruitful dialogue.
Mick
SOH-CM-2024
There's been a lot of uncertainty about the early war IJN aircraft color over the years. I learned something about it back in my plastic modeling days - alas, I didn't learn it before I painted a bunch of models in a very wrong color...
Decades ago, when I first began modeling, the color was described as a light gray. Some said was quite similar to the gray used on US Navy planes that would later be called Light Gull Gray. Others said it was lighter, almost an off white. A few claimed it had a slight greenish cast.
The latest and most authoritative word seems to be Ian Baker's Aviation History Coloring Books number 36 & 37, Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Colour Schemes, Camouflage & Markings 1937 - 1945, Volumes 1 & 2. According to Baker, the directive that introduced the color we usually call "gray" specified that the planes be painted "dead grass color" which he describes as "medium to light brown or ocher."
I'm not clear about whether that color was retained for the under surfaces when the dark green upper surface color was introduced. It seems likely, but I don't know and Baker isn't clear on that point; or at least, I saw no such clarity in the quick perusal that I had time for this morning.
Baker's books came out back in 1999, but just last week I read something that confirmed his interpretation. In the book First Blue, which is the biography of Roy "Butch" Voris, the WW2 ace who later formed and led the Blue Angels, he and his fellow pilots described the Japanese aircraft they encountered in the first year or two of the war as "brown."
Based on the comments of Baker and Voris, if I was to paint an early WW2 Japanese Navy plane, I would use something like a light to medium tan or beige.
I haven't seen any kind of code, in any of the common color coding systems, to describe the color, and surely the bright Pacific sun made for plenty of variation anyway. Something like the color of the cork in a wine bottle might not be too far off, or maybe something just a tad browner than that. Sort of a "dead grass color."
Anyway, the idea of light gray Japanese Navy planes seems to have gone the way of purple Rufes - nice looking in paintings and profiles, but not representative of the real thing.
Decades ago, when I first began modeling, the color was described as a light gray. Some said was quite similar to the gray used on US Navy planes that would later be called Light Gull Gray. Others said it was lighter, almost an off white. A few claimed it had a slight greenish cast.
The latest and most authoritative word seems to be Ian Baker's Aviation History Coloring Books number 36 & 37, Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Colour Schemes, Camouflage & Markings 1937 - 1945, Volumes 1 & 2. According to Baker, the directive that introduced the color we usually call "gray" specified that the planes be painted "dead grass color" which he describes as "medium to light brown or ocher."
I'm not clear about whether that color was retained for the under surfaces when the dark green upper surface color was introduced. It seems likely, but I don't know and Baker isn't clear on that point; or at least, I saw no such clarity in the quick perusal that I had time for this morning.
Baker's books came out back in 1999, but just last week I read something that confirmed his interpretation. In the book First Blue, which is the biography of Roy "Butch" Voris, the WW2 ace who later formed and led the Blue Angels, he and his fellow pilots described the Japanese aircraft they encountered in the first year or two of the war as "brown."
Based on the comments of Baker and Voris, if I was to paint an early WW2 Japanese Navy plane, I would use something like a light to medium tan or beige.
I haven't seen any kind of code, in any of the common color coding systems, to describe the color, and surely the bright Pacific sun made for plenty of variation anyway. Something like the color of the cork in a wine bottle might not be too far off, or maybe something just a tad browner than that. Sort of a "dead grass color."
Anyway, the idea of light gray Japanese Navy planes seems to have gone the way of purple Rufes - nice looking in paintings and profiles, but not representative of the real thing.
Thanks for the replies everyone. Still very much confused about this. Nothing new for me.
Near as I can find, by 1943, all Japanese Navy aircraft where painted a green on top and a lighter color, greyish, on bottom. Before, some had the green top and some where all greyish in color.
Surprising, there seems to be very little facts and much guess work on the net.
Ill post on the CFS2 forums also.
Near as I can find, by 1943, all Japanese Navy aircraft where painted a green on top and a lighter color, greyish, on bottom. Before, some had the green top and some where all greyish in color.
Surprising, there seems to be very little facts and much guess work on the net.
Ill post on the CFS2 forums also.
You are correct about the transition from gray to green. In fact some of the Pearl Harbor strike aircraft had already been hastily painted in camouflage colors prior to the attack. There's always a certain amount of guesswork involved due to so few surviving color photos of IJN aircraft. And what we do know for sure about "standard" markings and colors will always have exceptions. Check out some of the models at http://hyperscale.com/features.htm . Since modelers are often very nit-picky and tend to find faults it's likely the builders researched the colors and markings prior to construction. Compare their work to color profiles on sites like Wings Palette (http://wp.scn.ru/en/news) and you'll eventually get a feel for what looks "right".