phantom II
Master at Arms
Cool 
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)
-
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I think I'm turning Japanese...
- Thread starter matrixone
- Start date
Very popular aircraft lately. I eyeballed it also though it didn't stick to my hand while at the LHS. 
Skinny_Mike
Well-known member
Looking good Les. What color did you use for the prop?
Thanks guys!
Mike,
The prop was painted with a custom color, its mostly RLM 74 with a small amount of green added to it. Is it an accurate color? Could be...most written descriptions of the paint used on the propellers of the Ki-84 state that they were dark gray/green. I have nothing else to go on, this is why I don't build more Japanese aircraft models because there is not a lot of confirmed information on paint colors and I can't really feel good about the paint colors I used after painting a model like this Ki-84.
I have the ''Meatballs and dead birds'' book and the author of this book not only took all the photographs in it but also made notes of the colors he had seen on the various aircraft he photographed and the author mentioned there was quite a variety of camouflage paint colors in green and brown shades, so with that in mind all anyone can do when choosing paint colors for a model of a late war Japanese aircraft is to make your best guess.
A little pre-shading was added to the undersurface of the Ki-84...I made sure to not have the pre-shading look too even so each half of the wing is different, a lot of equipment I have seen that has been exposed to the elements and heavily weathered rarely weathers the same on all sides of it and I wanted the wings to have some variation in the weathering for a more natural appearance.
Below you can see in these images the pre-shading has been covered up with a thin coat of pale gray to tone it down.
Matrixone
Mike,
The prop was painted with a custom color, its mostly RLM 74 with a small amount of green added to it. Is it an accurate color? Could be...most written descriptions of the paint used on the propellers of the Ki-84 state that they were dark gray/green. I have nothing else to go on, this is why I don't build more Japanese aircraft models because there is not a lot of confirmed information on paint colors and I can't really feel good about the paint colors I used after painting a model like this Ki-84.
I have the ''Meatballs and dead birds'' book and the author of this book not only took all the photographs in it but also made notes of the colors he had seen on the various aircraft he photographed and the author mentioned there was quite a variety of camouflage paint colors in green and brown shades, so with that in mind all anyone can do when choosing paint colors for a model of a late war Japanese aircraft is to make your best guess.
A little pre-shading was added to the undersurface of the Ki-84...I made sure to not have the pre-shading look too even so each half of the wing is different, a lot of equipment I have seen that has been exposed to the elements and heavily weathered rarely weathers the same on all sides of it and I wanted the wings to have some variation in the weathering for a more natural appearance.
Below you can see in these images the pre-shading has been covered up with a thin coat of pale gray to tone it down.
Matrixone
phantom II
Master at Arms
Actually, I think you can find some useful info here http://www.j-aircraft.com/
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)
Thanks Christian and Luiz!
Christian,
I am aware of j.aircraft and have browsed that site a number of times, sadly most all of the information in those F.A.Q. threads that I have looked at are a decade old or more.
The top camouflage color was sprayed on the Ki-84, I have yet to fade the paint on it and will post some pictures after I do so.
Matrixone
Christian,
I am aware of j.aircraft and have browsed that site a number of times, sadly most all of the information in those F.A.Q. threads that I have looked at are a decade old or more.
The top camouflage color was sprayed on the Ki-84, I have yet to fade the paint on it and will post some pictures after I do so.
Matrixone
phantom II
Master at Arms
Wow, I guess I should look at the dates . Of course , Has that much material surfaced about 70 year old airplanes ?
I Have a couple of books that were published around the 1980's that still get referred to . I am surprised as they were general in nature but supposedly had good paint chips included . I believe the author is Thorpe .
Cheers, Christian B)
I Have a couple of books that were published around the 1980's that still get referred to . I am surprised as they were general in nature but supposedly had good paint chips included . I believe the author is Thorpe .
Cheers, Christian B)
Thanks Christian and Luiz!
Christian,
With Luftwaffe camouflage patterns and paint colors a lot of good information has been released the past 10 to 15 years and the same is likely for Japanese planes too.
The early to mid war Japanese planes there is probably not a lot of new discoveries about them and paint colors but towards the tail end of the war the Japanese were starting to have material shortages and that included lead and chrome compounds for producing green paints and that's why some of the IJAAF planes started to be seen in brown camouflage paint instead of the usual green shades. For some reason navy aircraft continued to use green paints and the army aircraft could be seen in either green or brown colors. :idonno
Here is the top side of the Ki-84 after its coat of camouflage paint. I chose a green paint with a heavy brown tint...is it correct? I don't know for sure but it will have to do until I have full proof it was not painted in that color.
ldguy
I went ahead and did some paint fading with a lighter version of the base color and then sprayed some metall on the wing roots in preparation of the paint chipping to come.
Matrixone
Christian,
With Luftwaffe camouflage patterns and paint colors a lot of good information has been released the past 10 to 15 years and the same is likely for Japanese planes too.
The early to mid war Japanese planes there is probably not a lot of new discoveries about them and paint colors but towards the tail end of the war the Japanese were starting to have material shortages and that included lead and chrome compounds for producing green paints and that's why some of the IJAAF planes started to be seen in brown camouflage paint instead of the usual green shades. For some reason navy aircraft continued to use green paints and the army aircraft could be seen in either green or brown colors. :idonno
Here is the top side of the Ki-84 after its coat of camouflage paint. I chose a green paint with a heavy brown tint...is it correct? I don't know for sure but it will have to do until I have full proof it was not painted in that color.
ldguy
I went ahead and did some paint fading with a lighter version of the base color and then sprayed some metall on the wing roots in preparation of the paint chipping to come.
Matrixone
phantom II
Master at Arms
Well, who really knows ? The Japanese crowd seems to be aware of things that are not shared all that openly.
Probably best as a lot of modelers would be inclined to repaint their creations
I think that is a a very good Army color according to my paint chips .
I read that they were running short on paint but was not aware that it had been a specific color.
Your explanation makes the color changes very believable . From a lot of things that I have read , the explanations of the paint were rather vague IE: Tea color or bamboo green.
Cheers, Christian B)
Probably best as a lot of modelers would be inclined to repaint their creations
I think that is a a very good Army color according to my paint chips .
I read that they were running short on paint but was not aware that it had been a specific color.
Your explanation makes the color changes very believable . From a lot of things that I have read , the explanations of the paint were rather vague IE: Tea color or bamboo green.
Cheers, Christian B)
Nice light touch Les. Looking good.
Christian,
My Kagero Ki-84 book mentioned the material shortages as a reason why there were so many variations in the exterior camouflage colors on the late war IJAAF aircraft and that makes sense to me and it could explain why in some color photographs I have seen of aircraft that I always thought were sure to be painted in a green color were closer to a brown color than green.
The James Gallagher book ''Meatballs and Dead Birds'' has no color photographs in it but the notes on the aircraft he photographed gave pretty good descriptions on what colors they were painted and those descriptions back up what was written in the book by Kagero on the Ki-84 and late war IJAAF colors.
I will be glad to get back to familiar RLM colors...at least they are closer to making sense to me.
Matrixone
My Kagero Ki-84 book mentioned the material shortages as a reason why there were so many variations in the exterior camouflage colors on the late war IJAAF aircraft and that makes sense to me and it could explain why in some color photographs I have seen of aircraft that I always thought were sure to be painted in a green color were closer to a brown color than green.
The James Gallagher book ''Meatballs and Dead Birds'' has no color photographs in it but the notes on the aircraft he photographed gave pretty good descriptions on what colors they were painted and those descriptions back up what was written in the book by Kagero on the Ki-84 and late war IJAAF colors.
I will be glad to get back to familiar RLM colors...at least they are closer to making sense to me.
Matrixone
Skinny_Mike
Well-known member
Really looks nice Les. I especially like the lighter shades on the fabric control surfaces.