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Just a long shot, does any one have a formula or suggestions for Japanese WW II armor colors?. I am just finishing the "Kengi" Type 97 "Te-Ke" from Mr. Swenson, a fantastic little kit. Most color prints show a mustard yellow, a brown and a green, so I am looking for some suggestions from our group. Cheers, Alan Vandam
I have the four volume AJPress/TankPower series on Japanese armored vehicles. Their color wartime photos, plus color art work, show the green, brown and Khaki. No yellow lines as shown in some drawings, but black lines demarcating the different colors? Others without the demarcation black lines.
According to Tamiya, in one of their 35th Japanese armor kits I have: "Overall vehicle was spray painted in Khaki then a cloud pattern in flat brown and dark green was BRUSH painted on. There was no rule as to the pattern as it seems that the painters were allowed complete freedom in the painting".
Tamiya quotes the three colors as XF10 Flat Brown, XF-49 Khaki, XF-61 Dark Green, from their range of paints. I would say these are pretty good matches, with some scale color toning down applied to your application: in other words, lighten them all a bit. The Tamiya green is too dark out of the bottle, the other two could use a little lightening as well, especially given the 48th scale, and the small size of the model.
But if you want to order the Mr Color set, it looks very good. However,if like me you have a huge stock pile of Tamiya acrylics, "close enough", especially with weathering, works just fine IMHO.
for much Japanese military equipment and vehicles - note the color used on the Hasegawa Kurogane, Isuzu truck, and the new Type 97 motorcycle. Way back when, APG had some items still in the original colors - not so much the vehicles, but some of the guns. The khaki is a brown-tan sometimes with a small trace of a greenish cast, and is in the same color area as German dark yellow, though it's not the same color. It too tends to change color depending on the ambient light - danged frustrating..... I've seen a few items at gun shows painted in this color, and there isn't a lot of variation in what I've seen there. I do not know if this color was also used for aircraft, but it sure would help if it was, because there are some good refs for Japanese aircraft colors.
I know this off topic, but I am curious, as I am about to start this kit as well, did you place the tracks on then paint or will you be adding the tracks on afterwards? Thanks!
Hi Adrien, the construction of the kit is easy except for the clean up of flash resin. What I did notice though is that the roadwheels are out of round, I believe that the center holes were cast different, which results in roadwheels higher or lower while attached to the bogie supports. The instructions are vague on the attachment of the top wheel supports, and the main trailing bogie support. I drilled out the holes in the hull to insert the support armes into the inside making adjustment for the track supports easier. Also the trailing arm support shows an arm going thru the hull for additional support that is not molded onto the arm. I cut off a portion of scrap and CA glued it to the inside face of the arm, and pushed it into the hull.
I will be painting the roadwheels, bogies, and lower hull at the same time. Then glueing all assemblies to the hull, then glueing on the tracks. I will then tape of the top run of tracks and paint the upper hull to finish. Cheers, Alan Vandam
Hey guys thanks for all of the info, and I went ahead and ordered both paint sets from HLJ. It is a real shame we do not have more Japanese armor in 1/48th from the WW II period. I have been attempting for years to obtain the old Aurora Type 97 to no avail. Sven at Kengi are you listening?. Cheers, Alan Vandam