*sigh...

I have too many aircraft on my list and I still need to do a Zero let alone which kit is the best well rounded kit. Plus my daughter loves the Zero.

I still need to get:

A6M2 Zero

Me 262 (one of the very few Jets you will ever see built by me - I only like WWII Luftwaffe jets)

Hurricane

SoCal Dude

I'm about to start building an A6M2 Zero to depict one of the Pearl Harbor attack planes and I was wondering what the right color would be for the fuselage.

Tamiya recommends their AS-29 Grey Green (IJN) so I bought a can but the cap has a decidedly greenish tint to it. Is this correct for this plane or should I use a color with more light grey in it?

If I were you, I'd follow Tamiya's suggestion for the A/C you are portraying, absent historical info to the contrary.  If you want to cut it with a little grey, do it (it's all about what you are going to be happy looking at as it sits in your collection, and, from what I can tell, nobody really knows what it actually looked like, exactly).  I know I've learned from this thread that the colors of IJ a/c varied quite a bit across time and space.   I'll be doing the best research I can for a prticular IJ plane I might build in the future, but, in the end, I'll be painting it to please myself.

Happy scale modelling to you

I like this one, too (thanks pzl66!).  A little darker than the one at the USAFM, but a very nice shade:

pzl66

The USAFM Zero, the photo of which I posted earlier, was found in Papua New Guinea, near the city of Kavieng on New Ireland.  It is believed to have been operated out of Kavieng by the 6th Kokutai, and later by the 253rd Kokutai.  However, it is painted to represent a section leader's aircraft from the aircraft carrier Zuiho during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, March 1943.

One of the several things I've learned from this thread and associated reading (I suddenly feel like I'm on South Park right now, for some reason ...), besides that IJ aircraft colors varied within ranges from place to place and time to time, is that the color of the fabric control surfaces often differed from the color on the metal surfaces, which I think looks way cool, but is also an additional detail to be worked out when building ... I am starting to look forward to painting some IJN A/C.

Good color scheme!

Hans von Hammer

 ...Was reading about it from a resent restoration of an A6M2 that is flight worthy in the USA...

That the Blayde Corporation's Zeke?  Far as I know, she's flyable, but hasn't been flown since '04... Currently based at the Fargo, ND Air Museum... It's practically brand-new too, since most of the parts were fabricated using a (Nakajima built) A6M2-21 as a pattern, and it's engined with a P&W 1830...  

The other US-based A6M2 is the CAF's Zeke, a Dash 21 model, with a P&W mill turning the fan... It's with the SoCal Wing out of Santa Monica, CA.. There's also an A6M5 belonging to the Chino Air Museum, and one in Russia..  Last count, there are three flying (vs flyable) Zekes in the world, but based on what you said and what I dug up, that number could increase by two..

There's the A6M3 Hamp that the Kiwis got too, but I don't know its status, as in if it's flying or just airworthy...

After reading it is the Blayde Zero, though I knew it as the Last Samurai..

Here it is flying in 2011:

Now the story I got (which could be wrong... But could also be right) is that the aircraft cause such a stir (in a very good way) it got the attention of Japanese aeronautical engineers and also a Japanese film crew on it being such an accurate restoration (though only original part is the landing gear, everything else was duplicated from original parts and assembled) of an A6M2 and that it was in flying condition is what made them so excited about the aircraft. 

Now the one from Russia was brought to the USA and is now a part of the Flying Heritage Collection:

A6M3:

HvH,

You're right about the Planes of Fame A6M5.  It looks old, and it is.  It was captured on Saipan in 1944 and still has its original Nakajima Sakae 31 engine.

Looking at that photo you can almost see another feature of the Zero -- its thin skin.  The aluminum would almost crinkle up like tin foil.

There's a nice article on the Zero in the July issue of "Aviation History".

The CAF A6M2 Zeke:

Chino Air Museum's A6M5 Zeke:

Much as I hate to admit it, Chino's Zeke looks better than our Zeke, in that the dulled paint,  subdued hinomaru, and the dents & dings really give it an "operational" look... The other is just too "airshow warbird", knowwhutImean?

 ...Was reading about it from a resent restoration of an A6M2 that is flight worthy in the USA...

That the Blayde Corporation's Zeke?  Far as I know, she's flyable, but hasn't been flown since '04... Currently based at the Fargo, ND Air Museum... It's practically brand-new too, since most of the parts were fabricated using a (Nakajima built) A6M2-21 as a pattern, and it's engined with a P&W 1830...  

The other US-based A6M2 is the CAF's Zeke, a Dash 21 model, with a P&W mill turning the fan... It's with the SoCal Wing out of Santa Monica, CA.. There's also an A6M5 belonging to the Chino Air Museum, and one in Russia..  Last count, there are three flying (vs flyable) Zekes in the world, but based on what you said and what I dug up, that number could increase by two..

There's the A6M3 Hamp that the Kiwis got too, but I don't know its status, as in if it's flying or just airworthy...

Old Ordie

RLM02???

Wonder how a new version of Squadron Signal books will depict the A6M2 in Action on the cover??

Nuts...

I still like the MM Camouflage Grey, lol...

Reasoned

You know, this topic (Zero/Val PH color) has come up on numerous sites at various times.  Which leads me to ask the question, So there are no Jap pilots, observers or people involved in the manufacture of these a/c available to settle this question?

The color has been confirmed to be the caramel color. Was reading about it from a resent restoration of an A6M2 that is flight worthy in the USA and a group of people from Japan came to the USA to see it and do an editorial piece on it.

Gamera

 

... Aurora's canary yellow...

I always figured that Aurora did it in yellow to match the Blue Angel's "enemy" AT-6 Zeke, "Beetle Bomb"

Oh, I blew so many of those up with a firecracker flak-hit... .69 cents at the drugstore up the street...

Looking at this picture the one in the back ground almost looks blue!

203 Kokutai 1 LR.html

Just to confuse you all

Phil

Did some surfing around the net this afternoon on the Zero color thing, and gotta tell ya:  I'm kind of digging the whole light caramel, creamy tan Zero idea, as an aesthetic proposition.  Seems like, after the US got to laying on the old empire-wide weathering, supplies of all kinds were catch-as-catch-can in IJ, including paints and varnishes and coatings and such.  At least that is what I've gathered, reading on some historic sites, and in a few 'can-of-worms' threads on other forums, looking at lots of pictures, then mulling it over - depends on where and when you were, what your Zero looks like.

I'm really starting to like this:

And this:

Needs more caramel...

Yeah, I think this subject comes up at least once a month.

FSM guys- is there any way to set up a 'sticky' on the subject???

I've seen pale grey, ame-iro (pale tan), light green, etc. etc. etc- paint it whatever shade looks right to you. I've come to think it's like arguing over the 'right' colour to paint a dinosaur.....

Unless you want to go with Aurora's canary yellow...

You know, this topic (Zero/Val PH color) has come up on numerous sites at various times.  Which leads me to ask the question, So there are no Jap pilots, observers or people involved in the manufacture of these a/c available to settle this question?

This is what XF-76 looks like

U.S. weathering!!!  That's a riot!  Very funny.

From what I've read, the planes are IJN grey with a varnish over them for protection from sea salt.  This reportedly created a caramel like hue.  The Japanese apparently christened it "Ame-Hiro", after a carmel-like candy popular in the land of the rising sun.  Tamiya supposedly makes this color now which is XF 76 in the bottles, for which I will be using on Sakai's Zero here shortly.

Here's one in original WWII color film in its natural setting on Munda with US applied weathering

stikpusher

Pick your prefered IJN Gray/Light Gray and stick with it... besides, in the end most Zeros had very heavy weathering applied by US forces

 

 

 

Yessir, that is definitely some heavy weathering ... I think there's only a few of them left un-weathered in the whole world.  Here's one that doesn't fly ...

Remembering that, at the USAF Museum, the ambient lighting is quite subdued, and the exhibit spots can thus play tricks with color and shade, I decided to check out the one at the USN Aviation Museum ... but theirs is IJN green, so no joy.  The one above sure looks like a lighter shade of the old concrete hangar floor it's sitting on ...

Pick your prefered IJN Gray/Light Gray and stick with it... besides, in the end most Zeros had very heavy weathering applied by US forces

Hercmech

Are you really sure you want to open that can of worms? LOL  

There are basicly two (or three) trains of thought. SOme swear by the grey green Tamyia color, others swear it is gray, some swear that it is really a caramel color.  I guess the chioce is yours...or do more than one and see which one you like.

So, Tamiya IJN Grey isn't going to cut it?  ***!  ***, ***, ***!!!  Now, I've got to run color tests, just to paint a Zero, or a Rufe ... not to mention, which shade is correct ... ???

Caramel at his 6 o'clock...

or is it Karma?

Not enough caramel...

Testor's MM FS 36622 Camouflage Gray is my personal choice..  'Course, I prefer the look of the "Texas Zekes" when it comes to Jap Navy birds..

So is SAC bomber tan...if you are going the caramel color