# Zero Paint



## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Another surprise at Wal-Mart!
Amongst the dwindling model kits, (cars, of course), I was 
delighted to see something new:
"21st Century Toys", a company I had never heard of, made two 
airplane kits. They are World War II fighters. One is a *Macchi C.202 Folgore*.
I bought an *A6M2 ZERO TYPE 21*.

The instructions suggest five specific colors, and a few generic.
Model Master Camo Gray-Green, Camo Dark Green, Yellow, and Interior Green, 
Metallic silver, gunmetal, gray, black, brown, green, I can figure out.

But where do I get "*Metallic Aqua*" for the fuselage interiors?

I used the search feature on Testor's website, but got no results. 

Does anyone know what I should use?


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I've never really found the right paint. I usually use any ol' medium blue metallic and call it "good enough."

However, Zeros were the one Japanese fighter that actually had a shade of _green _for their interiors. You can get Tamiya's "Mitsibishi cockpit green" from Squadron:
http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=TM81771


21st Century Toys has been around for a while, but their most famous product is very-large-scale scale mostly-accurate military toys:
http://www.21stcenturytoys.com/


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Woo-Hoo! :hat: 

Thanks, John!

That "cockpit green" looks good.


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## spe130 (Apr 13, 2004)

I saw those kits the last time I was at Wal-Mart. They had the Weird-Os, too...maybe we're seeing a resurgence in the styrene kit business?


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

spe130 said:


> I saw those kits the last time I was at Wal-Mart. They had the Weird-Os, too...maybe we're seeing a resurgence in the styrene kit business?


That would be nice, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, the only kits the local Wally Worlds in the Los Angeles area stock are low-riders and Revellogram re-issues, all of which have been torn apart by kids whose mentally-deficient parents use Wal-Mart as a nursery/babysitter.


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

The instructions are rather vague.

What color is the underside?

Yellow, or one of the lighter greens?


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

When viewing the box art photograph, one can see the top side
easily.

While consulting the instruction sheets' painting guide, (minimalist
as it is), there are no directions for painting the underside.

The website offers no hint of color choice.

I went back to the box and stared at it.

The side panel has a photograph of the plane with the landing gear down.

Then it hit me: the outside edge fits into the underside of the wing, 
So it must be the same color! Look at the picture.

It looks like a light green.










Question answered! :hat:


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Check the ModelMaster line. They have Japanese underside light gray. it does indeed have a hint of green, but it's not, like, grass green

I think this is it:
http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=TS5280

Or this:
http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=TS2117


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

The instructions list four Model Master colors.

I assumed the underside would be one of them.

Either: 2115 Imperial Japan Army Light Gray

or

2062 RAF Interior Green

Do you think they intended the RAF Green for the inside of the 
fuselage, and the Army Light Gray for the underside?


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Could be, but the Zero was exclusively a Japanese Navy plane.


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

*John P* wrote:


> Could be, but the Zero was exclusively a Japanese Navy plane.


Yes, I know.

Allow me to be more verbose with my question.

While the designers at 21st Century Toys were working on the *A6M2 ZERO TYPE 21* model kit, they needed paint colors to match the authentic scheme used by the Japanese Imperial Navy in order to help modelers accurately replicate the aircraft. 

Perusing the available model paint colors, could they have decided to use, and then suggest to model builders, the Model Masters *2062 RAF Interior Green* as an acceptable color to simulate what was used by the Japanese on the inside of the Zero's cockpit?

Could that be why it was one of four Model Master paints listed by name?


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I'm gonna have to abstain from an actual opinion here. RAF interior green SEEMS too green to my mind, but I'm at work and nowhere near my references. Did they actually recommend it for the belly? Or are they recommending it for the interior?


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Well, that's the thing.
The instructions are vague.
Not everything is listed with a paint color suggestion.

The four Model Master colors are listed, but there is no 
indication where they are to be used.
So, I'm forced to guess.


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## machine shop to (Dec 10, 2005)

Many of the A6M2s were a light grey with a flat black cowling. The A6M5s were mostly a darker green with a light grey underside with the flat black cowling.

tom


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

^Generally the carrier-based ones were overall light gray. The land-based ones were the green-over-gray.


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

I used the darker green for the top,
and the Jap Army Light Gray underneath.

Looks good so far! :thumbsup:


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## machine shop to (Dec 10, 2005)

This guy was a famous Zero pilot:

http://www.warbirdforum.com/sakai.htm

I have a well-worn copy of "Samurai", his account of his war years. It's still a good read.

Here are some good looking Zeros:

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/a6m2/3442/farewell-to-yamaguchi.html

tom


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