Hi all
My research towards WW2 IJA armour colours has uncovered some different approaches towards the yellow 'stripe on pre '42 tanks - 1 being that is quite a vivid yellow as seen on most models & offered up by most of the paint companies in their sets & the other as suggested by IPMS Toronto being a more muted, paler yellow (almost desert sand) colour, which seems to be supported by some other info I came across recently. Can someone please guide me in which direction I should be heading here?

May I suggest Nick Millmans' " Aviation of Japan" website - Nick is very highly regarded when it comes to the colors of most things Japanese . He offers an e format color guide/ primer on Japanese Armor .
www.aviationofjapan.com

Hi Shaun,

Japanese colours are a can of worms!

Here is a useful and interesting article i stumbled across a while back...

https://ipmstoronto.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/japanese-armour-colours-1937-1945_harvey-low1.pdf

Thanks for that. Yeah that's actually the article I alluded to in my OP. I made up the mix as recommended but it doesn't come anywhere close to the brighter yellow everyone else paints on their models. I even added a splash of Tamiya yellow which lifted the colour a bit. Begs the thought: has the 'chrome yellow' stripe perpetuated itself as the norm simply bc a 'noted' modeller did it that way therefore it must be right, regardless of any other historical research which may exist ergo the perception that the historically researched 'correct' colour is wrong 🤔

Great stuff, thanks for sharing! One remark though: the document (correctly) states that amphibious tanks until around '43 were painted in overall dark blue-grey or dark olive green, however that depended on the type, e.g. Type 89s weren't. That's because the Type 89 wasn't an amphibious tank. As a matter of fact, (non-amphibious) IJA tanks handed over to Naval Landing Force units retained their original (i.e. IJA) colors, usually with an anchor and/or IJN insignia painted on the sides of the turret. From '43, factory-fresh non-amphibious tanks used by the Naval Landing Force seemed to receive two-tone (probably two greens) hard-edged camo.

Sorry Shaun, i totally missed your reference already to Toronto IPMS

I think, as with most armour, colours change over time with use and exposure and weathering, so i always think close enough is often good enough, unless you are building a brand new off the line finish.

Hataka has their interpretation too. They list Signal Yellow, which is probably a bit bright...

http://hataka-hobby.com/products/ww2-imperial-japanese-army-afv-paint-set/

One of the tanks in this article (https://ipmstoronto.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/japanese-armour-colours-1937-1945_harvey-low1.pdf) looks suspiciously like a PzKW I to me. Gift from the Germans or captured from China?

The photo resembles one of the 15 PzKpfw.1s sold by Nazi Germany to the Kuomintang. The one in the picture was re-armed with Russian DPS-23 MGs. Most of the Chinese PzKpfw.1s were destroyed, some were captured by the Japanese in 1937.