Tamiya x-13 metallic blue, please tell me this is not what the IJN used during the war to paint the a6m2 zero landing gear wheel wells! seems more appropiate for a pimped out 70s cadillac ...this is what tamiya reccomends the color to be on their a6m2...japanese paint company is what I find baffling, is this a historically accurate color? I am using inexpensive tamiya models to practice on for now , my first model in decades.

Hi Dave!

The color your refer to is Aotake Blue. It's in fact a protection again corrosion applied on most Japanese aircraft during WW2. It was a blue/green translucent "varnish" applied on the bare metal. This is why Tamiya recommend X13. To make it look even more convincing you can first paint the parts in silver and then apply a blue/green wash over it.
The exact shade of the Aotake color is not perfectly known and subject to debat though...

Jean-Luc

I always thought that Tamiyas X-13 was a strange colour to be painted on any WWII vehicle (plane, ship or whatever)..... Thanks for clearing that up for a few more of us Jean-Luc!