A6M3 cowling color?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Alright this may be a stupid question, but you would be surprised how hard a time I am having finding the answer… I have the 1/48 Hasegawa A6M3, and of course all the color call outs are for Mr. Color and Gunze. I use Tamiya paints, and managed to get the color matches for everything except the Gunze #125 color called “cowling color”. I have tried the Ultimate Model Paint Conversion Chart program and no matter what various forms I type in (i.e. IJN Cockpit, Cockpit color, Japanese Navy cockpit, etc. etc.) nothing comes up. Even typing in the number has gotten me nowheres. So I took to the net to do some checking around and now I run into a bunch of possibilities that it could be from semi gloss black to NATO Black. So I guess it is time to ask here and get an answer. So what is the proper Tamiya color for the A6M3 cowling?

Brian

2

Best I understand on most Japanese aircraft the ‘black’ cowling was a very dark blue, almost black. You can mix blue with black till you get the right shade or I’ve been pre-shading my models by painting the area black and then lightly shading the insides of the panels with a little medium blue. You want just enough to tint it toward blue.

3

Much like the German Panzer Grey which was noted for having a blue-tint, I think the blue was more due to a fading and color photographs from the period. This is more from what I’ve heard then due to fact. I can’t prove it one way or another, but it does make some sense.

4

I’m not sure, but I think I remember reading somewhere that it depended on whether it was made by Nakajima or Mitsubishi. Not sure which was which, but that could be a direction to search in.

Then again, I may be totally confused, as usual . . .

5

From what I’ve heard for my own build, Nakajima-built Zekes had a cowling that was bluish-black while Mitsubishi had total black cowls. For my build, I used 1 part semi-gloss black (X-18) and 1 part sea blue (XF-17) to get the bluish-black effect

6

Eh, I say just paint the damn thing black. You could have had it done by now.

7

Brian: I done that model several years ago (xmas present from my wife) I checked a book at libaray showed black cowling jn green upper white underside so I did looks good my[2cnts] aceses5

8

Thanks for the suggestions! I am leaning towards the black and sea blue 50/50 and see how that turns out!

Brian