Tamiya Paint Crossover

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Hello everyone,

I am currently working on a Japanese Zero from Tamiya and the main two colors are AS-2 "IJN"Light Gray and AS-21 “IJN” Dark Green. My problem is my local hobby shop and Hobby Lobby do not carry the Tamiya AS paint series. I have the complete X & XF series and was wondering if anyone knew what X or XF colors would be a match to those two AS colors?

Thank you for any help in this matter

Hunter

2

Hunter,

Here is a Tamiya paint guide for Japanese Aircraft:

JAPANESE AIRCRAFT

XF11 JN green Upper side of the Navy plane

XF 12 JN grey Lower side of the Navy plane

XF13 JA green Upper side of the Army plane

XF14 JA grey Lower side of the Army plane

XF16 Flat aluminium Silver fuselage without coloring

X13 Metallic blue Interior of the plane

I’ll will try to post the PDF file, it has a lot of information on how to mix Tamiya colors.

Edit: Message me your email address, I have two color charts and the mixing chart in PDF format. The forum does not allow attachments such as PDF or Word.

Hope this helps…

3

Bruce,

Thank you very much sir. This is perfect and a big help. I appreciate you looking at my thread. Saved me a lot of “hunting time” for this.

Take care,

Hunter

4

You may want to have a look at Gray Green XF-76 also. That color was supposedly matched to later research color for the Zero and was released with their new 1/32 Zero kits as a result. XF-71 for the cockpit color, and XF-70 for a topside green if you do a two tone scheme.

http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/ln/72/XF-chart-10ml.pdf

5

I should have posted that those are not direct color matches with the AS colors. There will be some variation in the color.

6

ebay is a great source. I took alook and found AS-21 in rattle can only. I’m not sure how you feel about rattle cans. As-2 also only in rattle can. Links are below.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TAMIYA-AS-21-Spray-Paint-Dark-Green-2-IJN-3-oz-86521-TAM86521-/151949283432?hash=item2360e21068:g:dTsAAOSw-zxWnqbC

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-86502-Aircraft-Spray-AS-2-Light-Gray-/391363022623?hash=item5b1f0dcf1f:i:391363022623

7

Kinda pricey for Tamiya rattle cans on eBay. Scalehobbyist sells them fat less. Why not ask your LHS if they could order them for you? Or order from any online hobby store.

8

Thank you Stik…Those colors look like they will match up. When I looked up the two tone paint job I had to make sure I was looking at the Navy colors not the Army colors. They are slightly off in tone.

9

Hello BlackSheep,

I found them on Scalehobbyiest site a couple of days ago. I was hoping to find them in a 18 or 23ml jar. But if I need to use a rattle can I will. My LHS would take to long…much faster if I do it. Thank you for the help and Info.

Hunter

10

Hey SpiralCity,

Thank you for the links, it looks like I’ll have to get the rattle cans so I properly finish this build. I want to make sure I use the right colors. Again, thank you for your help. Greatly appreciated.

Hunter

11

The grey color that was used on Zeros had a definite green tone to it. Also depending on if the Zero you are working on was made by Mitsubishi or Nakajima will decide on some detail color differences. I have a bunch of Tamiya mix charts to make the right shade of colors. Downside is you have to mix. John

Also the control surfaces are a different shade then the metal airframe

12

I have about 5 pages of reference for mixing Tamiya colors to existing military colors. Let me know if you’re interested

13

TJ -

Thank you so much for your time and help in this matter…I went ahead and ordered the rattle cans so I put the right colors on the build. FYI since you were so informative…Mitsubishi A6M5 Japanese Zero.