Ki-100 Propeller Color

[Seawinder]

One of the blogs at Nick Millman's Aviation of Japan site describes a dark green used for various late-war propellers, including the Ki-100. Nick quotes a Munsell reference of 5 GY 3.5/2.3 (as reported by Noboro Shimoune) and offers FS 34182 as a close match. OTOH, the surviving specimen preserved at Cosford has its propeller painted the "standard" red-brown/tea color. So, I'm wondering what's the better way to go on the model I'm currently building, which will be finished in #7 Yellow-Green (inside and outside) over NMF.

TIA,

Pip

[Seawinder]

I may have partially answered my own question: a posting to a thread at j-aircraft.com reveals that the Cosford K-100 suffered damage to its propeller when it belly-landed, so the propeller was replaced with one from a Ki-46; so even if the original Ki-100 prop had been painted green, the restorers may not have bothered to repaint the substituted Ki-46 prop.

I wonder if there's any way of knowing more specifically when (presumably sometime in late 1944 or early 1945) the dark green color replaced the red-brown, and if the change-over was done wholesale or gradually.

[Nick Millman]

'Tea' brown colour was officially # 31 (Cha Kasshoku - 茶褐色), used for camouflage, and the prop blades were painted # 37 dark brown colour (An Kasshoku - 暗褐色), although confusingly they are often described as being 'tea colour'. Gunze's prop colour paint is close to # 37 - unsurprisingly - whereas there are no close paints or even FS matches for # 31. The spinners were usually painted the same colour or similar over a red-oxide primer (which has also been confused as the prop colour). When factory painting was introduced the # 7 colour was supposed to be applied to props and spinners as well. Although the Ki-100 has almost always been depicted in references as having dark brown spinners and prop blades an extant Ki-61- I Tei spinner is painted in the # 7 colour. However the University of Illinois (Urbana Campus) Kawasaki K-100 (bubbletop) appears to have had a dark brown prop.

How consistently that was being applied is unknown but most people will still expect to see dark brown spinners and blades on a Ki-100!

Nick

[Procopius]

U of I has a Ki-100?

[Nick Millman]

U of I has a Ki-100?

Not any more.

Nick

[Seawinder]

'Tea' brown colour was officially # 31 (Cha Kasshoku - 茶褐色), used for camouflage, and the prop blades were painted # 37 dark brown colour (An Kasshoku - 暗褐色), although confusingly they are often described as being 'tea colour'. Gunze's prop colour paint is close to # 37 - unsurprisingly - whereas there are no close paints or even FS matches for # 31. The spinners were usually painted the same colour or similar over a red-oxide primer (which has also been confused as the prop colour). When factory painting was introduced the # 7 colour was supposed to be applied to props and spinners as well. Although the Ki-100 has almost always been depicted in references as having dark brown spinners and prop blades an extant Ki-61- I Tei spinner is painted in the # 7 colour. However the University of Illinois (Urbana Campus) Kawasaki K-100 (bubbletop) appears to have had a dark brown prop.

How consistently that was being applied is unknown but most people will still expect to see dark brown spinners and blades on a Ki-100!

Nick

Thanks, Nick, for the response. I've got the Gunze prop color in the Mr. Color line and like it better than the much lighter reddish brown frequently seen on models.

Is there any chance the dark green prop color (if/when used) was in practice different from the #7 camouflage color? As for people expecting to see dark brown spinner/blades on a Ki-100, that almost serves as further incentive to use green! OTOH, if there's no actual documented cases of green props, I suppose dark brown is at least a safe educated guess.

[PFlint]

Not any more.

Nick

dare we ask where it went ?

[Nick Millman]

dare we ask where it went ?

Dunno for certain but probably scrapped at some point. It was photographed there in 1949 in a derelict state and some of those colour photos were published in the old FAOW on the type. The original intention was to house an aircraft museum at the University airfield but that never happened.

Nick

[Nick Millman]

Is there any chance the dark green prop color (if/when used) was in practice different from the #7 camouflage color?

Yes, the # 7 paint colour varied widely. Ronnie Olsthoorn gave a couple of the late-war Ki-61-I Tei profiles in Osprey's Ki-61/Ki-100 Aces the # 7 spinner colour but for the Ki-100 profiles we stuck to dark brown. It's hard to tell from b/w photos.

Nick

[Seawinder]

Yes, the # 7 paint colour varied widely. Ronnie Olsthoorn gave a couple of the late-war Ki-61-I Tei profiles in Osprey's Ki-61/Ki-100 Aces the # 7 spinner colour but for the Ki-100 profiles we stuck to dark brown. It's hard to tell from b/w photos.

Nick

Thanks again. Guess I'll stick with dark brown too.

Pip

[Navy Bird]

Dunno for certain but probably scrapped at some point. It was photographed there in 1949 in a derelict state and some of those colour photos were published in the old FAOW on the type. The original intention was to house an aircraft museum at the University airfield but that never happened.

Nick

I seem to recall an "Institute of Aviation" that was (is?) part of the University of Illinois. I wonder if the Ki-100 had any affiliation with that?

Cheers,

Bill

[Nick Millman]

I seem to recall an "Institute of Aviation" that was (is?) part of the University of Illinois. I wonder if the Ki-100 had any affiliation with that?

Cheers,

Bill

Hi Bill

In the immediate post war period at least the University had an airfield for students to learn to fly and there were a few ex-warbirds deposited there but I don't know the full story of what happened to it or them.

Nick

[Navy Bird]

Hi Bill

In the immediate post war period at least the University had an airfield for students to learn to fly and there were a few ex-warbirds deposited there but I don't know the full story of what happened to it or them.

Nick

That sounds like the place. I just found their web site:

"The University of Illinois Institute of Aviation is now a part of Parkland Community College. Founded in 1946, it is located at the university-owned and operated Willard Airport in Savoy, Illinois. The Institute was the first aviation school in the United States to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct all tests leading to the issuance of civilian pilot certificates."

Haven't found any reference to the Ki-100 yet, though...

Cheers,

Bill