Photo: Wikimedia Commons
HISTORY
The abandoned A6M3 Type 32 coded T2-157, which belonged to Kókútai 204, as captured by an Allied photographer on Munda Island in September 1943. Several interesting details can
be recognized such as yellow leading edge stripe or blue-black anti-glare paint which was not only applied to the engine cowling but also to the cockpit deck and canopy frame interior
surfaces.
“stirred the pot” in Japan where, as it seems, the
majority of people very much preferred the image
of the light grey Zero.
“The Wars” were fought over the actual color
appearance and, as I said in the second paragraph, its accurate identification in kariki 117. At this
place I just must mention David Aiken, the former
director of the Pearl Harbor aviation museum, great Japanese aviation enthusiast for which he was
given the nickname “Captain Kamikaze” by his Texas IPMS chapter fellows. For some reason David
focused on Zero color description by its designer
Jiro Horikoshi - hairyokushoku, literally grey-green. David fell in love with the word green. In the
“wars” he claimed it was M1 from kariki 117 which
is in the group of grey-green colors and similar to
RAF interior grey-green. He compared Zero color
to the color of pistachio nuts in direct opposition to
Lansdale’s theory of “yellow mustard” color. Until
the last moment David promoted “grey-green” based on the teachings of his “sensei” in Japan. Many
times, he was asked to share the knowledge from
the “mysterious sensei” but silence was the response. I have to confess I myself challenged him
to it, at least three times. David relied too much on
the online images, including images of Tamiya paint
bottles, rather than any analysis of actual paint. His
“heritage” was preserved, however. He had managed to convince the leadership of the Pearl Harbor
museum to paint the restored A6M2 (rather poorly,
in my opinion) in the infamous “pistachio green”.
The effort has also been made to identify “ame-iro”
as I2/I3 tsuchi-iro (color of the earth) from kariki
117. These colors are literally yellow-brown ones,
and the grey tone is not that apparent. In the end
“The Wars” ended and peace was signed with the
clause that the color was “olive-grey”, somewhere
between FS16350 and FS34201, but lighter (FS=-
50
eduard
Federal Standard) and the best equivalent is RAL
7034 Gelb Grau (yellow-grey). Based on Nicholas
Millman’s (see below) opinion, analysis and research RAL 7034 is the closest match to the original color.
The science steps in
Namely color science. I had no idea about it all those years prior. One can learn new things through
hobbies, correct? Earlier I mentioned the name Nicholas Millman. As a participant in “the wars” he
was initially skeptical a bit. As a paint color and
coatings specialist from the UK, a great enthusiast
of the Japanese and other Asian countries' aviation
(see his blog www.aviationofjapan.com) took the
scientific approach. The color is a result of the pigments it contains and their binder. If we perform
the chemical analysis of a well preserved sample,
we will find out its pigments and binder composition and can perform “Jurassic Park” on any paint
colors i.e., bring it “back to life”. Nicholas was involved in the process. Largest quantity of pigment
was white (titanium dioxide), then small proportions of carbon black and chrome yellow. Yellow-brown tinting of urushi-type resin binder on white
pigment played a certain role as well. The paint
was re-created and looked very close to the best
preserved samples of the “amber grey”, between
FS16350 and FS34201 with a “fugitive” green cast.
Why these pigments? As mentioned earlier, even
though Japan possessed a well-developed paint
industry, it was still learning from the other developed countries, including Germany.
Before 1940 there were problems with the binder
stability and paint yellowing. It could have been a
reason why Japan bought the German license for
special paints for light metal alloys. It cannot be
just a coincidence that “amber grey” designated J3
SP (SP = special paint for light metals, to differentiate it from the ordinary grey) by Millman, used on
Zeros on the manufacturing lines, resembled the
German RLM 02.
As far as I remember the articles by the leading
expert on Luftwaffe colors, Michael Ullman, German paints were of high quality, did not degrade
quickly (did not yellow) and also did not chip off
even without a primer application. In addition to the
chemical analysis, we have some written records
that corroborate the existence of the specially
developed paint for the light aviation metal alloys.
Zero maintenance manual states: “The paints to be
used are transparent paint (light blue color) for the
interior and special paint for light metals (grey rat
color) for the exterior and the surface is to have
a polished finish”. In kariki 117 there is a group
L of grey colors designated “nezumi iro” i.e., rat (or
mouse) color and L2 was compared to FS16350.
by the Japanese historian and researcher Ryoichi
Watanabe Then we have a supporting document,
Kugisho report nr.0266 (Kugisho=Kaigun Kōkū Gijutsu-sho, Navy Air Technical Arsenal based in
Yokosuka) about Zero camouflage trials which “Arsenal” conducted in cooperation with Yokosuka Kōkūtai (kōkūtai=IJNAF unit) between November 1941
and February 1942. The report states that “the paint
color currently in use for the Type 0 KanSen is J3
(hai iro, ash or grey color) leaning slightly toward
amber color (Ameiro)...” and “ame-iro'' is mentioned at least six times throughout the text. Therefore, we are led to the existence, and mass application of the amber grey (J3 SP) by the following
triangulation:
1. Examination of actual paint samples from many
A6M2 and A6M3 model 32
2. Evidence of the Kugisho report - consistent with
INFO Eduard - January 2022