UA646 - Imperial Japanese Navy Maizuru Grey

Maizuru and its naval gray

The arsenal at Maizuru on the coast of the Sea of Japan completes Kure, Sasebo and Yokosuka into a set of four great bases of the Imperial fleet. The acrylic paint Imperial Japanese Navy Maizuru Grey brings the naval gray associated with precisely that one and closes the group of arsenal tones in the naval part of the Lifecolor range.

Gray on small ships

In modeling practice Maizuru tends to be associated mainly with smaller units, and it is with them that gray is worked with differently than with large ships. The side surface of a destroyer is low and heavily broken up, so the shade nowhere stretches into a large calm field. Instead of grading the brightness by height, it pays here to emphasize the division: the edges, the stiffeners and the transitions between the hull and the superstructure. The gray then has something to do, even when there is only one of it on the model.

Contrast with the deck and the underwater part

On Japanese ships the gray of the sides meets two quite different tones. Above the waterline the deck surface follows on, whether wooden or covered with a deck material, and below it the color of the underwater part. These transitions make the silhouette readable, and it is a good idea to lay them out before reaching for the first shade. The boundary at the waterline is usually dealt with by masking, so that it stays straight along the whole length. With smaller units the deck is moreover close to the water, so all three tones meet in a small space and the ratio between them determines the overall impression of the model.

Who it will serve

• Builders of Japanese destroyers and smaller units
• Modelers who are completing the palette of arsenal grays
• Work with broken-up surfaces and edges
• Models with a pronounced division of the hull at the waterline