IJN Colors

[gwroos]

I could use a little help. I am working on a model of the Irving. According to the instruction sheet, the aircraft used as a night fighter was overall dark green with black cowlings. In Don Thorpe's book he suggests that night fighters were overall black. On some of the photographs in his book, I see no difference between the cowling color and the aircraft color. To me this suggests either overall black or overall dark green. Is it posible that both schemes were used for night fighters?

 

Any advice will be deeply appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Greg

[TimHortman]

Hi Greg,

 

As with everything WWII Japanese there is some debate to this. Do yourself a huge favor and spend some time here:

www.j-aircraft.com

It's the place to go to get questions like this answered. If you have some time, check out the faq's for the site, and browse through the postings. Tons of info!

 

To directly answer the question, I personally think you could be "correct" if you went with a dark green. That's not to say there were none in black, but most of the data I can remember seeing steers away from the black schemes.

 

Best of luck with your project!

[David M. Knights]

I do think that both green and overall black were used. Japanese camo colors is a minefield that makes the German stuff look positiviely simple by comparision.

 

BTW, this is a nice site for an academic approach to Japanese colors and markings.

[gwroos]

Thanks Tim. I tried the site you suggested but it gave me a message that it wasn't accepting new members or some such thing. I'll try again but I am not optimistic.

 

 

Hi Greg,

 

As with everything WWII Japanese there is some debate to this. Do yourself a huge favor and spend some time here:

www.j-aircraft.com

It's the place to go to get questions like this answered. If you have some time, check out the faq's for the site, and browse through the postings. Tons of info!

 

To directly answer the question, I personally think you could be "correct" if you went with a dark green. That's not to say there were none in black, but most of the data I can remember seeing steers away from the black schemes.

 

Best of luck with your project!

[ghodges]

For what it's worth, I always had the impression that the Japanese didn't do nearly as many experimental "dedicated" schemes, but simply adapted the schemes they already had in use. In other words, they WOULD paint a green/black a/c overall black for night fighting, but they wouldn't change the factory scheme to black.

 

One last thought...I have both of the Thorpe books also, and consider them very good references. BUT, that info IS 40 years old, and much has come to light since then. If an accurate finish is an absolute for you, I'd go to the J-a/c site as suggested. Best of luck!

 

GIL

[gwroos]

Thanks Gil. I have successfully registered on that site and will try to get some more information.

 

For what it's worth, I always had the impression that the Japanese didn't do nearly as many experimental "dedicated" schemes, but simply adapted the schemes they already had in use. In other words, they WOULD paint a green/black a/c overall black for night fighting, but they wouldn't change the factory scheme to black.

 

One last thought...I have both of the Thorpe books also, and consider them very good references. BUT, that info IS 40 years old, and much has come to light since then. If an accurate finish is an absolute for you, I'd go to the J-a/c site as suggested. Best of luck!

 

GIL

[Hanson]

And keep in mind if it was late in the war - and that's generally when the night fighters came into play (trying to shoot down B-29's) - that it may be painted, but it there would also likely be lots and lots of bare metal showing through, and the aircraft would be weathered to death. I've got a lot of photos of the planes from various Japanese books, and they were really ratty.

 

Maru Mechanic shows a lot of them in overall dark green, but there is one in a mottled gray and black which would be nice.

 

Edited April 29, 2010 by Hanson

[ghodges]

There are LOTS of Japanese a/c with flaking paint, BUT be careful what you pick! The later in the war, the safer you are because of the discontinuation of using primer on the a/c. They knew they wouldn't last long enough to corode, so why prime them?! That meant top coats flaked off easier. However, some manufacturers seemed to stick to their guns til the end of the war. Zeros seem to have a lot less flaking than Jacks and Franks (for example). War time pics are your best refernece for any type.

 

GIL