Japanese aircraft Hinomaru

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SirFrancis

Airman 1st Class
163
76
Feb 10, 2022
Hey guys,
When I first had a go at doing Japanese schemes I was concerned with weathering the decals to match the poor paint elsewhere. Now this proved very tricky without damaging the decals if sanding/chipping or if painting the weathering on the decal it often looked fake.

I noticed many models had weathered paint and then clean decals applied and left as is. I figured it was just easier this way. Now after looking online at photos I've noticed the hinomaru is usually not weathered like the rest of the aircraft which surprised me.

So was the hinomaru painted with a better quality paint or was it frequently repainted to keep it fresh? The images below show the badly weathered paint and relatively unscathed meatballs. Now of course this wasn't always the case..in the second image Ki43 the aircraft in background has its meatball roughed up in the middle. But it seemed to be common for the hinomaru to be clean.
Francis
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For the most part, the insignia was of better quality paint, more than likely factory applied. I think a lot of camouflage was field applied, so get it on and get it out. Just a WAG but the Ki.43 may have had its insignia redone in the field. The only time I will rough up a Hinomaru is if I have photographic evidence
 

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