A6M Zero Paint
William Reece
Hasegawa A6M3 Model 32 'Zero' fighter I have come across some challenging
information which is new to me but may be old hat to Nipponophiles. Asahi
Journal Vol.2, No.3 has a very well researched article on A6M paint
schemes. This article documents the color of Mitsubishi built Zeros as
being an exact match for FS 24201. The color was determined from
examination of actual samples of recovered Zero artifacts. Some of these
parts were obtained from new Zeros that crashed at Pearl Harbor. FS 24201
translates to SAC Bomber Tan, very close to RLM 02. The old 'standard' is
FS 36231. The article also states that this color faded to something near
FS 36357 or FS 36495. I wonder what you all think? What if at the next
IPMS contest someone showed up with a Zero in FS 24201? My bet is the
judges would take a dim view of this. I think I've decided how my Zero
will be painted (I'm not telling yet), but what do you think? Food for
thought.
William Reece
Fly Navy!
Chris Douglas
I don't compete, and I love weathering. So assuming that I trust the source
I'd probably go with 36357 or 36495. What was your call?
--
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Chris Douglas - cdou...@origin.ea.com
Production Designer/Animator - Origin Systems, Inc.
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Opinions expressed are my own.
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It is there, in your heart and your mind, in the very depths and
recesses of your being. You have covered it up, escaped, run
away; but it is there. And the mind must experience it like a
purgation by fire. --Krishnamurti.
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C46A
Your posting on the A6M made me go look at my copy of AeroMaster's
"Eagle's of the Rising Sun" and see what they had. Under Color Notes I
found the following that you may find of interest. One on cockpit colors
and the other on Zero colors.
QUOTING FROM EAGLES OF THE RISING SUN by AEROMASTER:
3. Cockpit colors varied by aircraft type. IJAAF fighter colors were
usually Transparent Green-Blue (b), except for the Ki-27, which was dark
blue-gray, close to FS 5164, and the Ki-61 Hein, which was Khaki-Yellow,
close to FS 0400. (Incidentally, the Ki-84 was usually NMF). IJNAF cockpit
colors were painted a solid color and, for the Mitsubishi-built Zero, an
interior green close to FS 4098, probably was applied over color(b). The
Nakajima Zero used an interior green close to FS 4583, and the Kawanishi
N1K2-J Shinden-Kai a "yellow-green" like Humbrol 38, mentioned in Koku-Fan
Illustrated #42. Instrument panels and side consoles of Army fighters are
flat black. In Naval aircraft, only the gauges are black, with instrument
panel and side consoles in the "Cockpit Well" color shown ("EAGLES'
AIRCRAFT' chart). Color chips can be found in the following books: Dark
Blue-Gray (Ki-27)--Model Art #32, 5th page on right; Khaki-Yellow
(Ki-61)--Model Art #329, 7th on right page; Mitsubishi and Nakajima
interior colors--Model Art #378, 7th and 8th chips, respectively.
END QUOTE.
The (b) is sub-section (b) and refers to the transparent green-blue
protective color.
QUOTING AGAIN FROM EAGLES OF THE RISING SUN:
(F), (F'). Varnished Light Gray is a pale gray with an amber tint. Clear
varnish (amber in tint) was painted over the light gray of naval aircraft
for protection from the elements, and discolored in sunlight. The overall
effect is this color, close to FS 6400. Applied to Zeros, the basic
unvarnished "light gray" differed according to manufacturer, and the
appearance of the varnished gray then also differed slightly depending on
the nature of the "light gray" underneath. Mitsubishi light gray is close
to FS 6473 (becoming (f) on varnished Zeros B, C, D, E, I, L), but
Nakajima light gray ((f') when varnished) was more light gray-green and
close to FS 4226. The varnished color thus becomes a relatively dark one
(f'). Thinly overpainting these grays with clear varnish (when applicable)
will make your model more realistic. Note that in Example B, varnish is
applied to the forward half of the fuselage only, up to the fuselage
separation point. In example T (Nakajima Zero 52), varnish is not applied
over the underside light gray.
END QUOTE.
According to new Gunze paints, interior for Mitsubishi Zeros is
approximately 14151 and for Nakajima it's 14257. They may have been
looking at interior parts, and as you can see, the color's are very close.
The answer was in the Eagle's book.I'd get one if you don't have one. It's
well worth having!
Lonnie
Doug Chaltry
Willia...@ncsu.edu says...
>I think I've decided how my Zero
>will be painted (I'm not telling yet), but what do you think? Food for
>thought.
>William Reece
>Fly Navy!
Here's what some of my references have to say about A6M Zero colors:
Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, by René Francillon:
"During the early part of the second Sino-Japanese conflict most
aircraft of the Japanese Navy were left in natural metal finish or were
aluminum doped. Later on, however, most aircraft were painted sky grey
(N8) or were camouflaged in dark green (N1) and tan (N17) on their
upper surfaces, and light grey (A/N2) on their lower surfaces. On the
eve of the Pacific War these two schemes were the most prevalent among
naval combat aircraft but many aircraft were still left in natural
metal finish.
"...For a while carrier-based aircraft retained their sky grey (N8)
finish but with their assignment to land bases becoming increasingly
frequent the ground crews began to apply dark green (N1) blotches on
their upper surfaces and fuselage sides....However, in July 1943 solid
dark green (N1) was adopted as the standard camouflage colour for the
upper surfaces of all naval combat aircraft."
This book does not give FS numbers for the colors. It includes color
chips inside the back cover, which are only marginally useful. N1
(green) looks very much like Tamiya IJN Green, and A/N2 (light grey)
looks very much like Tamiya IJN Grey. N8 (sky grey) has a definate
bluish tint, and the N17 (tan) looks like a very orange-ish brown. (If
anybody with an FS book can compare these chips, that would be great.)
A6M Zero in Action, by Shigeru Nohara:
Not much useful information here. Several of the pictures are labeled
only as "dark green over light grey." This reference states that solid
dark green upper surfaces became standard in April of 1943, not July as
stated above.
Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter, Aero Detail 7, by Shigeru Nohara:
"Japanese naval fighter's standard color scheme was overall silver
until Type 96 carrier fighter. But Zero wore overall gray color scheme
from the first prototype. The reason of this change was that the silver
paint could not resist corrosion by sea spray.
"The gray paint was IJN Official Paint No. "J3", which had rather dark
tone, and equivalent of FS No.36251. In real usage, varnish for surface
protection was applied over this gray, giving somewhat brownish gross
tone. From this impression, this coloring was called inofficially (sic)
"Ame-iro (color of caramel)". All A6M2s, except the first thirty
assigned to 12th NAG, were completed in this "Ame-iro" color scheme."
Regarding Nakajima: "Though the scheme was identical, as the paint
manufacturer was different, the tone of gray differed delicately from
that of Mitsubishi's. As far as judged from black-and-white photos,
Nakajima-built's gray was a little lighter."
Regarding the dark green: "The dark green color was given the paint
number "D1", which was indeed a very blackish tone of green, but,
different from the Army's dark green, slightly tinted with blue. The
tone was a little darker than FS No.34092."
Tora! Tora! Pearl Harbor, by Don Thorpe and Ed Maloney:
"All of the A6M2 Zeros and the D3A1 Vals [at Pearl Harbor] were
uniformly painted in an overall light grey, with black-grey cowlings."
Finally, AeroMaster's decal set, Zero!:
"There were at least three types of green and two types of gray used by
the IJNAF fighters. 1. Mitsubishi type Green (Aeromaster Japanese Green
#9090 is a good match.) 2. Kawanishi type Green (close to the FS 4066
but slightly more green) very close to Humbrol 3 Brunswick Green. 3.
Nakajima type Green. This is very bluish dark green close to Humbrol
149 Dark Matt Green.
"1. Mitsubishi light gray was close to FS 6473, and AMD Warbird color
9051 is a good match. 2. Nakajima gray was a light gray/green color
(AMD Warbird Color 9091). Both of these colors were given a coat of
clear protective varnish, which which resulted in a lighter
undersurface in the case of the Mitsubishi color and a darker one in
the case of the Nakajima gray."
So, what does this all mean? Damned if I know. There does seem to be
much agreement over the fact that no Zeros were bare metal (or silver).
Also that early in the war they were light grey (one of several
choices), but with a yellowish varnish which made them look tan or
brown.
I would really like to hear what a translation of the Famous Airplanes
of the World books on the Zero would have to say about this topic. Any
Japanese readers out there who would care to enlighten us?
One final note on the Suisen, or the Zero floatplane fighter (A6M2-N,
or Rufe): according to Shigeru Nohara, there is no evidence anywhere
of Suisens ever being painted a "lilac" or "violet" type color, as some
model instructions would have you paint them. They were all green
and/or grey.
Sorry for the length of this. Hope somebody finds it useful.
Doug
Cameron Lynch
>William Reece wrote:
>>
>> In doing a significant amount of research before starting my new
>> Hasegawa A6M3 Model 32 'Zero' fighter I have come across some challenging
>> information which is new to me but may be old hat to Nipponophiles. Asahi
>> Journal Vol.2, No.3 has a very well researched article on A6M paint
>> schemes. This article documents the color of Mitsubishi built Zeros as
>> being an exact match for FS 24201. The color was determined from
>> examination of actual samples of recovered Zero artifacts. Some of these
>> parts were obtained from new Zeros that crashed at Pearl Harbor. FS 24201
>> translates to SAC Bomber Tan, very close to RLM 02. The old 'standard' is
>> FS 36231. The article also states that this color faded to something near
>> FS 36357 or FS 36495. I wonder what you all think? What if at the next
>> IPMS contest someone showed up with a Zero in FS 24201? My bet is the
>> will be painted (I'm not telling yet), but what do you think? Food for
>> thought.
>>
>> William Reece
>> Fly Navy!
>
The article in Asahi is VERY well researched and documented, which is why
it shouldn't be ignored. However 24201 is really a nasty color and I
haven't decided whether or not I'll paint my early type Zeros in this
color. Aesthetically I find 36231 so much more appealing. I think that
this is still rather speculative and until I see another researcher come
to the same conclusion I will remain so. If in fact 24201 was the color
then more evidence will come to light, probably quite soon in fact.
Until then if you enter a Zero at a contest painted in 24201 you better
take a copy of Asahi with you and put it next to the model. Good luck.
Cameron Lynch
Burl Burlingame
things about the Zeros examined after the Pearl Harbor attack was the
grey paint itself. Some of the guys who examined the wreckage at the
Hawaii Air Depot tell me that the grey paint was superb quality, and
they tried in vain to duplicate it during the war. (However, the IJN
green colour wasn't too good. Apparently, it chipped if you looked at it
cross-eyed.)