Hobby color - IJA šedá

The gray of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force

This shade belongs to a group of four colors that Gunze devoted to Japanese aviation of the Second World War. Two greens and two grays separate naval from army aviation, because the two branches kept their own color regulations and their aircraft differed even where they were to carry out the same task. This bottle holds the army version of the gray.

Which aircraft it belongs on

The gray-green finish of army aircraft was used in Japan on the undersurfaces and on machines that carried the factory covering color with no later green overspray. You will meet it on fighters and trainers from the early part of the war, on home defense aircraft and on captured examples that Allied technicians photographed after the war. Telling army gray from naval gray apart is the most common mistake with Japanese subjects, because on period black-and-white photographs the two cannot be distinguished and the builder has to rely on the unit the aircraft belonged to, not on the photograph.

Working with the paint

The acrylic binder is thinned with water or with the thinner of the range. For an even surface on the underside of a wing, several light passes with the gun work better than one generous coat, because water-thinned acrylics tend to run on edges when laid on thickly. A brush does the armament, the wheel bays and small parts well. The dried surface is flat and deserves a clear coat before a wash. Anyone who wants to suggest a sun-faded upper surface adds a touch of white to the shade and sprays the difference into the middle of the panels only.