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One or the IJN aircraft experts - white rings around hinomaru and aotake wheel bays


Potato Pete

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Gents

 

Can anyone tell me the rules governing the white rings around hinomaru - when were they introduced and should the be on both fuselage and wing markings - it seems to be fairly random...?

 

Also, should the wheel bays of a 1943 Zero be bare aotake or, as I'm sure I've read recently, be painted the undersurface colour?

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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1 hour ago, Potato Pete said:

Also, should the wheel bays of a 1943 Zero be bare aotake or, as I'm sure I've read recently, be painted the undersurface colour?

 

Which model? If A6M3, then for sure undersurfaces colour since all of them were built by Mitsubishi. A6M2... "it depends" as @Bozothenutter said; Nakajima-built would be aotake, Mitsubishi-built, undersurface. A6M5, first 100 or so without individual exhausts all Mitsubishi-built, so undersurface colour, after that... a good picture or ten are needed to be sure.

 

1 hour ago, Potato Pete said:

Can anyone tell me the rules governing the white rings around hinomaru - when were they introduced and should the be on both fuselage and wing markings - it seems to be fairly random...?

 

August 1942 was the decision to do that for A6M (but suspect the same apply to all Navy aircraft, although I am not sure), before top camo became the norm; Nakajima started applying it shortly after that, 75mm border on fuselaje and top wings Hinomaru; undersurface remained borderless except on yellow-painted trainers, which had full complement of bordered insignia. Army aircraft used a different system so is a bit more case-by-case.

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1 hour ago, Bozothenutter said:

"It depends" 

😆Yup that seems to be the case. Think I'll go with grey wheel wells. 

 

As for the white rings on the hinomaru I found this from  "Japanese Army Aircraft Colours & Markings in the Pacific War "by .K. Baker

 

"Around the time (mid-'43) of JNAF adoption of yellow wing leading edge ID strips and standardised white 
outlining of Hinomaru, a similar move was made the the JAAF. There was general adaption of the yellow wing 
ID strips, but seemingly no general adoption of the standard 75mm white outline for all Hinomaru contrary to 
what has sometimes been claimed. Where white outlines were added, they were typically added only to fuselage 
Hinomaru.

Factory application of the white-outlined Hinomaru certainly seems to have been patchy and, once again, can 
really only be looked at type-by-type. Very probably the continued factory finishing of so many JAAF types 
with light grey-green or bare metal external surfaces, which hardly required white outlines to highlight 
their red disc insignia was a reason."

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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5 minutes ago, Fukuryu said:

August 1942 was the decision to do that for A6M (but suspect the same apply to all Navy aircraft, although I am not sure), before top camo became the norm; Nakajima started applying it shortly after that, 75mm border on fuselaje and top wings Hinomaru; undersurface remained borderless

Much appreciated, I'll go with that

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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