Mitsubishi Zero colour question

[Pappy]

G'day,

I would like to know what colour the area under the canopy immediately aft of the cockpit would have been painted. I want to do an IJN A6M2 from Akagi, about 1941.I assume the same colour would apply to the area immediately in front of the cockpit too.

My own thoughts are that it should be the same colour as the surrounding fuselage (i.e a light greyish colour), however I have seen other models built with this area painted either in black or the cockpit interior green colour,

cheers,

Pappy

[72modeler]

IIRC, the area in question was painted the same blue-black color as the engine cowling. I have attached a link to an excellent article by Jim Landsdale on the J-Aircraft website that describes this as well as a lot of other color information.Hope this helps!

Mike

http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/zeroclr.htm

[Pappy]

G'day Mike,

There is some fantastic info - thanks very much,

cheers,

Pappy

[Fernando]

Hi, Pappy,

The rule would go "Black in light coloured aircraft, upper colour in dark ones" (to cover the different interpretations: "Black" is the cowling colour -could be "Blue-Black" or plain Black; "light coloured" is the pale colour of your choice -J2, J2, Ameiro, Hairyokushoku, etc.; "Dark coloured" those with Dark Green uppers). Interesting article.

Fernando

[tango98]

Pappy,

Might I suggest that you drop a line to Ryan Toews over at j-aircraft as he did an in-depth write-up for the 1/32 Tamiya A6M2 which while geared towards that particular kit, the colour notes that he includes are relevant for A6m2's in any scale.

His similar write-up for the Tamiya A6m5 is still up at j-aircraft but I couldn't find the one for the A6m2. Anyway, be that as it may, I'm sure that a PM or email to Ryan will get you the accurate info that you need.

HTH

Dave

Edited September 3, 2015 by tango98