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IJN Underside gray green


NAVY870

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A quick one Gentlemen

Whats your weapon of choice for IJN gray green?

I've done a small bit of painting on the belly of my Tamiya Seiran using XF-12 which appears far too

green

The recommended Humbrol alternative isnt in the same street.

I did have a can of WEM but damned if I can find it.

Ta 

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XF-12 is too grey. XF-76, which was released for Tamiya's 1/32 A6M2 Zero, is much better but still perhaps a touch too green. 

 

Better still is the AV Model Air IJN set from Vallejo. Their version of the colour is exceptionally good, and while it still probably isn't 100% accurate it's certainly better than the other available options.

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I guess it depends on what plane and when. For the late war scheme of dark green over light gray as found on Nakajima-built Zeros, various sources (I believe including Nick Millman) give FS 36307 as a good approximation, and Tamiya XF-12 is a dead-on match for that color. If we're talking about the green-gray used overall on early war fighters and later by Mitsubishi for their version of light gray bottoms, then not so much.

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Nick Millman recommended XF-76 for a slightly weathered aircraft.

He described WEM Colourcoats version as being a little too dark, but under Jamie's ownership some of the Japanese Colourcoats have been modified since NIck made his comments.  I am currently using ACJ16.whereas their original option was ACJ02.

He stated that Hemp (Camouflage Beige) was similar to the Japanese colours but thought Vallejo's version a little dark and lacking the subtle green tinge.  He simply said that the value of other tins of Hemp depended upon their closeness to the RAF colour - caveat emptor!  I have found Precision Paint the most convincing option, but the RAF colour is highly dependent upon the incident light.

I would suggest that most examples of RLM02 are darker than desirable so be careful about what you are mixing with a possibly too dark Hemp.

I don't think that the Vallejo pack was available when he wrote his summary.

Edited by Graham Boak
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When I built an  A6M5 model which presents plane made by Nakajima I used XF-12. The one in Mitsubishi camo I used XF-76. But when I build early Zeros I use the mix of RLM02 anf Hemp (1-1 ratio). 

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7 hours ago, DominikS said:

When I built an  A6M5 model which presents plane made by Nakajima I used XF-12. The one in Mitsubishi camo I used XF-76. But when I build early Zeros I use the mix of RLM02 anf Hemp (1-1 ratio). 

My sentiments exactly, except I've got a slightly different mix for the early war gray-green since I'm generally an enamels guy: 1-1 Model Master SAC Bomber Tan and RLM 02. I've read that Mitsubishi used that same shade for at least some of the planes in the dark green-over-light gray scheme.

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I don't understand why two different Grey's are assumed for Mitsubishi use, as I believe there was only the one colour.  I can see why you would want one mix for fresh paint or an aircraft that has been around for some time.

Edited by Graham Boak
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I'm going on Jim Landsdale's research in which he states that Mitsubishi originally went with the early war gray-green for the late-war scheme, but that at some point (also) began using a more bluish light gray for which he gives US Light Ghost Gray 36375 as an approximation. I'm not aware that this has been debunked. Feel free to enlighten me.

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