Imperial Japanese Navy World War II Ship Colors

Snyder & Short Enterprises have released the third in their series of WW2 Naval Paint Chips. This installment covers an area poorly documented (at least on this side of the Pacific) - the colors of Imperial Japanese Naval warships. This color sheet comes with eight paint chips, and the accompanying data sheet lists out in detail the colors used by each of the four Japanese shipyards (Kure, Sasebo, Maizuru and Yokosuka). The datasheet also lists out the names and dates that each of the major combatants were overhauled at these shipyards, and therefore received new paint.

One color I found interesting is the brown color listed as "linoleum". According to their research, this is not a paint color but the actual color of the weather deck material found on many of the warships. While I certainly wouldn't want this color on my floor, it is one of those overlooked color details that would distinguish a well-researched model subject.

These paint chips are a must-have for the warship modeler. They fill a significant void in the color references and I am looking forward to the next installments! I will continue to share future releases with you as they become available.

You may order your chip sets in the US from Pacific Front Hobbies, Floating Drydock, The Modeler's Boatyard, Colpar Hobbies, Research In Scale, Antheil Booksellers, and Accurate Image Models; in Germany from Christian Schmidt; and in the UK from White Ensign Models; or directly from the author/publishers at www.shipcamouflage.com.

My sincere thanks to Snyder & Short Enterprises for this sample!