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Zero Type 21 engine
- Thread starter paddy
- Start date
, all over black seems the common colour apart from those in museums which i suspect have been "blinged up"
None...no thoughts on this one.
The red looks to be primer but I'm not sure the Japanese used red oxide for primer.
The red looks to be primer but I'm not sure the Japanese used red oxide for primer.
sharkman
Master at Arms
Just a thought, have you tried checking on Arawasi or J-Aircraft??
j-aircraft.com
J-Aircraft - Japanese Aircraft, Ships & Historical Research
paddy
Well-known member
I never thought colours would be a real problem but there seems to be loads of White Zero's and all the old text i can find say this is a modern restorers colour and they were actually grey/green.
Tamiya reproduced the colour for their last 1/32 Zero offering and its no where near white. I can only think it comes across a white in B/W pictures.
See Tamiya XF76.
Engines were probably black as there was no finesse in these aircraft, so much so that most Mitsubishi built zeros were delivered to sqn's un painted so most were painted in the field which might explain why some appear white as its probably the most plentiful colour available at the time.
Tamiya reproduced the colour for their last 1/32 Zero offering and its no where near white. I can only think it comes across a white in B/W pictures.
See Tamiya XF76.
Engines were probably black as there was no finesse in these aircraft, so much so that most Mitsubishi built zeros were delivered to sqn's un painted so most were painted in the field which might explain why some appear white as its probably the most plentiful colour available at the time.
jeaton01
Well-known member
Paddy, the Hasegawa 1/48 Zeros call for a steel color on the crankcases and cylinders. The most recent Tamiya 1/32 A6M2 and A6M5 call for flat aluminum crankcases and semi gloss cylinders with flat aluminum rocker boxes. The are two Sakae engine photos, a 12 and a 21, in Francillon's book on the Japanese WW II aircraft, and though black and white it looks clear to me that the Tamiya colors are correct as to the black but whether steel or aluminum is up for grabs on the crankcases. I'm pretty sure the engines in the book are not restored but WW II photos, they are bare engines on hoists. If the cowl is on you won't see much of the cylinders, especially on A6M3's and later as the spinners are larger than on A6M2's.
The grey green color is pretty much accepted now. White Ensign is what I am using for that, because when I started building the Hasegawa Zeros they were the only source. The paints weathered badly and took on a lighter color, especially sitting in the jungle for a few years.. The color behind the cockpit under the canopy is the cockpit color. Mitsubishi and Nakajima had different cockpit colors, which affects A6M2's and A6M5's but not 3's as Nakajima did not build any of those. I have been researching the inside cowl color, and my conclusion there is either bare aluminum or Aotake which I am told is a metallic blue to blue green color, depending on how thick the coating was.
Here is a Hasegawa A6M2 and an A6M1, both Hasegawa 1/48. In Jiro Horikoshi's book, he called the prototype's color "a dimly-shining ash green".
The grey green color is pretty much accepted now. White Ensign is what I am using for that, because when I started building the Hasegawa Zeros they were the only source. The paints weathered badly and took on a lighter color, especially sitting in the jungle for a few years.. The color behind the cockpit under the canopy is the cockpit color. Mitsubishi and Nakajima had different cockpit colors, which affects A6M2's and A6M5's but not 3's as Nakajima did not build any of those. I have been researching the inside cowl color, and my conclusion there is either bare aluminum or Aotake which I am told is a metallic blue to blue green color, depending on how thick the coating was.
Here is a Hasegawa A6M2 and an A6M1, both Hasegawa 1/48. In Jiro Horikoshi's book, he called the prototype's color "a dimly-shining ash green".
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paddy
Well-known member
That's great John and confirms some of what i have read, Your overall colour on your very nice builds looks pretty close to the Tamiya colour i have as well.
Like a lot of aircraft at the time with different manufacturers of the same model there never seems to be a hard and fast rule on paints'
Like a lot of aircraft at the time with different manufacturers of the same model there never seems to be a hard and fast rule on paints'
phantom II
Master at Arms
15.14 METHOD OF APPLYING SURFACE COATING
Examination of the coating film by scraping through
from both sides of a section of film and by placing a cross
section of film under a microscope indicates that the sur-
face coating was applied in six operations.
It is believed that the application procedure was
as follows:
(a) Two brushed coats of clear dope, cover
tapes being applied with the second coat.
) .One sprayed coat of medium wet red
oxide d(bope
(c) One sprayed very heavy coat of light
gray dope.
(d) One sprayed very thin coat of alumi
nized dope.
(e) One sprayed coat of medium wet dark
green dope.
I stand corrected.
@jeaton01, that looks like it because it is. The excerpt posted by @phantom II is from the examination of an aileron tip:
K Report
The Smithsonian is well known to preserve then recreate colors during restoration. Here are the Sakae 21 engines from their Nakajima J1N1-S Gekko:
Starboard engine:
Port engine:
Yeah, I know... TMI
jeaton01
Well-known member
I visited Silver Hill when they were doing restorations there and talked to a fellow working on the Irving. He remarked that it was built to a very high standard, such that when they plated the pins that make the main spar connections to the fuselage, they no longer fit. The plating had to be removed first.
centaur567
Well-known member
Funny you should post this. I ordered a 1/48th scale Tamiya J1N1 and should be here soon. Thanks! Gary S.