I realized too late that I have painted my A6M2 zero the wrong color, IJN light gray and not IJN gray green as I was trying to paint the marine marking pattern of Lt. Commander Shigeru Itaya of the Akagi aircraft carrier fighter group, the tamiya instructions were rather confusing, stated type 21 was painted overall IJN light gray during first half of war, were all of the Akagi aircraft piloted by marines and thus all aircraft gray green? were the japanese marines a seperate branch of the japanese armed forces? no good info on this subject to be found...yet.

There was no Japanese Marine Corps. There was only the Army and Navy. The equivalent of a Marine Corps was the Japanese Special Naval Landing Force. These were Japanese Navy personnel trained as infantry.

tamiyas A6M2 instructions has Lt commander Shigaru Itaya's aircraft being painted IJN light green, were all the aircraft of the Akagi aircraft carrier fighter group on dec 41 painted gray green? earlier in instructions tamiya states during first half of war all zero type 21 were painted IJN light gray...confusing to say the least but very interesting to me obviously, I am wondering if aircraft assigned to aircraft carriers were piloted by japanese special landing force pilots and /or navy pilots, I do realize now that all pilots were navy personnel but why different color aircraft? the tail # on this paint version of the tamiya kit is A1-101...I have researched and find that this is not accurate and was his wingmans plane..he was KIA at pearl. I believe the british and american marines were orignally part of ships landing crew to the best of my knowledge and are seperate forces now. does anyone know for fact what color the IJN aircraft were in dec 41?

You might try visiting this place and seeing if it makes sense.
http://www.j-aircraft.com/faq/IJNAF_Colors.htm

There would be no SNLF pilots since SNLF was a branch of the Navy and did not have its own air force. The reason there are USMC aviators is because the Marines have their own air force, separate from the US Navy.

I do realize our marines and navy are seperate branches... I served six years in the 6th fleet, the organization of the Japanese Imperial armed forces in WW2 was somewhat hazy to me but thanks to you that is no longer a problem, the thread you referred me to indicates that the aircraft of the carrier task force were IJN gray green, so I am finally clear on the fuselage color...thanks for the info