Grumman X-29 in retro WW2 Kyushu J7W Shinden colors, aka the "Shinden II".

[seadude]

I had an odd thought for a future model project last night.
Build a Hasegawa 1/72 scale Grumman X-29 kit and paint it in the Japanese WW2 Kyushu J7W Shinden experimental fighter plane colors and call it the "Shinden II".
Now, I tend to mainly use Vallejo paints. I was thinking of the following:
71.310 IJN Deep Dark Green for upper surfaces of aircraft.
71.312 IJN Medium Gray for underside of aircraft.
71.135 IJA Chrome Yellow for leading edges of wings.

From what research I've tried to do on the Shinden last night and today, the landing gear struts look like they may be black or maybe a metallic black. At least that's what I'm seeing from black and white photos.
I still can't figure out the wheel well paint color. But it doesn't appear to be that Aotake blue color. Some other models I've seen appear to suggest the wheel well color may be white or it may be the same IJN gray color as the rest of the underside of the aircraft.
And does anybody know what the cockpit color was?

[kerick]

By late in the war probably whatever they could get a hold of, or none at all.
Were you thinking of using the forward swept wings in place of the kit wings? Sounds pretty interesting.

[seadude]

By late in the war probably whatever they could get a hold of, or none at all.
Were you thinking of using the forward swept wings in place of the kit wings? Sounds pretty interesting.

I don't have a J7W Shinden kit. All I'm going to do is build the X-29 as normal, but paint it in a retro WW2 scheme same as what the Shinden wore.
In other news.........
I'm also not sure about adding any armament under the wings. I already built a Japanese X-29 with missiles under the wings months ago. So for this Shinden version I'm now planning, I wonder if I should use bombs instead? Thoughts?

[kerick]

By late in the war probably whatever they could get a hold of, or none at all.
Were you thinking of using the forward swept wings in place of the kit wings? Sounds pretty interesting.

I don't have a J7W Shinden kit. All I'm going to do is build the X-29 as normal, but paint it in a retro WW2 scheme same as what the Shinden wore.
In other news.........
I'm also not sure about adding any armament under the wings. I already built a Japanese X-29 with missiles under the wings months ago. So for this Shinden version I'm now planning, I wonder if I should use bombs instead? Thoughts?

That's always a good option.

[NARSES2]

By late in the war probably whatever they could get a hold of, or none at all.

True. Otherwise an interior grey-green. Early in the War Mitsubishi and Nakajima had their own versions of IJN interior grey-green, but by this stage but by this stage in the War I think they would of used what ever was laying around.

 

[Dizzyfugu]

Not certain if this is a help (since there's no comment whether if it's "real" or post-colorated pic), but the landing gear struts look glossy black here, with casted bare aluminum wheels:



From http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/strange_vehicles/kyushu_j7w_shinden.html

Hasegawa also suggests (flat) black in its J7W instructions.

[seadude]

So as my post/thread suggests, I'm building and painting a Grumman X-29 in a retro Kyushu J7W Shinden paint scheme. I think it'll look quite neat. At least, I hope so. The X-29 would fit well with a Shinden scheme. The Shinden didn't have forward swept wings like the X-29 does. But both aircraft do have canards.
Anyway, the main fuselage color is a dark green. The underside of the X-29 will be painted a IJN Medium Grey. Most other Shinden models and instructions seem to indicate that the cockpit was painted in an interior green or some references call for a "sky green". So that's what I'll be using for the cockpit. I haven't seen anything where the wheel wells might be an Aotake color. I'm thinking that was mostly used for A6M Zero's. Vallejo makes an Aotake color, but my hobby store can't get it. If I did decide to use some sort of color for the Aotake blue, it would have to be Tamiya X-13 Metallic Blue for a substitute. Most Shinden models I've seen show the wheel well color and the color for the inside surfaces of the landing gear doors to be the same color as the underneath fuselage. The landing gear struts appear to be maybe a metallic black or gunmetal color. Wheel hubs appear to be a gray or silver color. I'm not sure on the color for the interior of the engine inlets.
Anyway, there's so little information on color references that I'm going to have to guess on a lot of stuff.

https://www.deviantart.com/bagera3005/art/Kyushu-J7W-Shinden-150803577

[jcf]

Article on Shinden colours, including interior, of the sole surviving J7W1 over at Aviation of Japan:
NASM Shinden Colours

The black undercarriage legs and unpainted wheels of the model kits are because those are the
colours on the real aircraft. The black is a synthetic lacquer and originally glossy, not flat black
as called out by Hasegawa. Contrary to most modellers belief Japanese paint technology was the
equal of Allied and German paints. Some of their lacquers were actually superior. The heavy peeling
etc. on the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force aircraft was because the paint was applied directly
to the bare aluminum without any primer. On Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service aircraft the
aluminum was sealed with aotake, which is a transparent, not translucent, blue tinted lacquer -
there was no "green" aotake the blue shifted towards green due to exposure to light, it stayed
blue when protected from light. The aotake was followed with a red zinc oxide primer and then
the topcoat. This was, of course, because the aircraft were intended to operate at sea. The exception
was the twin-engined land-based bombers, G3M and G4M, and some transports. Worn and peeled
paint on IJN aircraft is a result of heavy use and lack of maintenance that got worse over time.
Heavy peeling etc. on early war "grey" Zeros is simply wrong as they were meticulously maintained.
Interiors are aotake, which is topcoated in the cockpit area with a very thin coat of grey-green.
On the Zero samples I've handled you can actually see the alloy number and inspection stamps
on the aluminum through the layers of aotake and paint.
As an aside IJA interiors tended to be a dark blue-gray or "sand" colour, to use an all encompassing
term for a complex subject, and changed as the war went on and were different by manufacturer.
Nakajima the blue-gray and Kawasaki the various "sand" colours.

Interior of the cockpit of the J7W1 at the Smithsonian NASM, note the hodgpodge of colours.
You cannot view this attachment.

You cannot view this attachment.

You cannot view this attachment.

[kerick]

That's great info! Thanks.

[jcf]

One note about the Vallejo IJA Light Gray-Green, that's an exterior paint colour primarily used in the 1930s and early WWII.

[Dizzyfugu]

Another comment concerning the aotake tone: the Japanese word for "green" and "blue" is the same, what can create some confusion when you try to translate model kit instructions or livery descriptions! Had this case when I built a J7W which appears in a b/w manga with a special livery, which was in translation described as green, and I assumed it would be the authentic IJN Green, even more so because the Shinden in the comic is the lost 2nd prototype, made airworthy again by a student club. Later, when I found a (official) color reference of that fictional aircraft it turned out that the base color was actually a petrol blue!

[scooter]

I'm also not sure about adding any armament under the wings. I already built a Japanese X-29 with missiles under the wings months ago. So for this Shinden version I'm now planning, I wonder if I should use bombs instead? Thoughts?

Clean wings.  Either as one sitting on the flightline or for a display team (a la Blue Impulse).