Blue impulse T-4 blue

[peter104]

Hi,

Can anyone help me with the blue colour on the Blue Impulse T-4 aircraft?

Hasegawa give it as a mix of 80% Gunze 322 and 20% Gunze 323.

Thanks in advance,

Peter

[TheAerobat]

Smoke On ! :-)

Obviously, I don't go into the Forum very often (I know, shame on me....), as I just spotted a reference to this one in Alfie's TAS column in the brand-new 02/2013 IPMS Magazine, as an "unanswered thread".

In actual fact, this *was* answered "privately" within a few days, by members of the Aerobatic Display Teams SIG. I say "privately", as the request came to us directly from one of our Dutch SIG members and I/we were simply unaware that it had also been posted in the TAS Forum - until now.

So for the benefit of anyone else reading this :

"Blue Impulse Blue" seems to be one of those odd "custom colours" occasionally used by aerobatic teams - "custom" in that it does not appear to have any normal or standard reference number, such as FS, etc. In all the documentation I have on the Blue Impulse team, which is quite extensive (albeit mostly in Japanese !), I have not seen any actual reference number to the paint colours used.

Indeed, as Peter says, even Hasegawa give a "mix formula" of Gunze paints to achieve the correct shade. In some respects, this is *almost* irrelevant, as the various Blue Impulse kits contain most of the blue markings as decals - so if you have to do any "touch-up painting", chances are that you would ignore Hasegawa's "official mix formula" and instead mix something that actually matches the decals !

But the final "answer" to this, is that nowadays, you *can* buy a paint which is actually the right colour ! Acrylic paint Gunze Mr Hobby / Mr Color no. 322 is sold as "JASDF Blue Impulse Phthalo Cyanne Blue". Whether that's what the actual team call the *real* paint, I don't know - clearly again, apart from the Gunze reference number of "322", there is no other FS or any other standard reference number to the colour.

Maybe it's not that easy to get hold of.... I haven't searched to see if anyone stocks it in the "Western World", but it *is* out there - have a look on eBay if you're struggling.

As an aside to this, I have to ask though....

I was always under the impression that *one of* the original ideas for SIGs when they were first set up/sanctioned all those years ago, was to be another "tool" in the "Armoury" of the TAS - to be a collection point of information and expertise in particular subjects and ultimately a benefit to IPMS.... ??

"peter104" who posted this original query is not a member of the ADTSIG, so maybe he wasn't aware or perhaps felt he wasn't allowed to contact the SIG directly, not being a member.... I have no idea.

But I do wonder why, having been *apparently* unanswered on the TAS Forum after all this time - eventually leading to it being "put into print" in the IPMS Magazine - why TAS didn't forward this one onto the ADTSIG for help...?? After all, as I said, as far as I'm concerned that's one of the reasons why we're here...?!?

[peter104]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your answer. Indeed I already received an answer through one of your dutch SIG-members. Maybe I should have posted this on the forum.

I have to confess that I took the easy route by posting on the forum and not looking for a SIG that might provide the answer.

I have been able to obtain both the Gunze 322 and 323.

Please note that Gunze 322 is called JASDF T-2 Blue impulse. On its own this colour is much to dark to use on a T-4.

Kind regards,

Peter
Treasurer IPMS Netherlands

[TheAerobat]

Hi Peter,

Ah... OK.... Having not used the Gunze paint myself, I didn't realise it was for a T-2. Indeed, although the T-2's used two different shades of blue with white, one being quite dark and the other being rather pale, neither of *those* are the same blue as used on the T-4.... which is sort-of "in-between- the two shades.

It looks like you're still into mixing the paints to get the right shade then - or mixing *something* to match the decals... ;-) I'm not aware of any other commercially available model paint that's supposed to be for the Blue Impulse *T-4*.

A further suggestion : Myself, I generally use car/automotive paints for my models (which of course is fine when you don't build anything in camo markings !! hehehe) So a trip to your local auto repair store (whatever the Dutch equivalent to "Halfords" is...) along with some kind of paint swatch or decal sheet, and you can often/usually find a car paint which is a pretty damned close match to what you need....

In the distant past, I seem to remember my Blue Impulse T-2 was actually sprayed with some type of Volkswagen blue, for the darker blue colour paint... which was as near as damnit, the right shade.

But the F-86's and T-4's though are predominantly white with, as I said, all the blue markings on decals - so I just mixed up a little bit of Humbrol blues and whites in order to do the little bits of "touching up" needed after the application of the decals....