"IJN vs. USN in '41-42: fighting in the dark w' GQIII" Topic

IJN vs. USN in '41-42

working on assembling and painting up models for 1/700 ships to fight it out in the early war using GQIII. Focus is on smaller ships, DDs and CLs, transports, etc. occasional CA in actions around the solomons, especially at night.

First of course I hit the modeller websites, which are very useful for ship details (some of the 1/350 ships are amazing). But as a wargamer, I checked out Osprey, but their website is a pain. I did find these, but am I missing any others:

New Vanguard 162 US Destroyers 1934-45: Pre-war classes
New Vanguard 165 US Destroyers 1942-45: Wartime classes
New Vanguard 176 Imperial Japanese Navy Heavy Cruisers 1941-45
New Vanguard 187 Imperial Japanese Navy Light Cruisers 1941-45
DUEl 48 USN Destroyer vs IJN Destroyer
DUEl 22 USN Cruiser vs IJN Cruiser
Campaign 18 Guadalcanal 1942: The Marines Strike Back

Further suggestions / leads appreciated for media, painting tips, scenarios, any wargaming suggestions. My group will be doing a series of battles, most likely fighting the Tokyo Express supply and bombing runs, probably linked as a campaign.

Any ideas welcomed!

Japanese are easy – no camo in the South Pacific – each shipyard used a different shade of grey

Clash of Arms booklet" The Painter's Guide To
World War Two Naval Camouflage"
link
Their book came out several years before Vallejo paints became popular. My copy doesn't reference then.

Shipcamoflauge is an excellent site for information on the USN shipcamouflage.com
They also have a paint line. I've never used it so I can't comment.

ODGW has a module, The Solomons Campaign, made for GQIII

Avalanche Press had a now OOP game SOPAC set in the Solomons as well. It might be hard to find a copy, Their maps are nice. IMO their combat system makes Yatzee look complex.

I also have the Clash of Arms bookley and also make great use of link

This pdf is also very useful: PDF link

If you like enamels Testors has some great naval colors for both the USN and IJN
link
Testors acrylics only cover the USN
link
Testors doesn't have Sea Blue which you need for Guadalcanal
GHQ has Sea Blue but not Navy Blue in acrylic
link
Testors and GHQ paints seem to match very well where they make the same color

As dmclellan points out link do the colors in enamels

Tamiya XF series has Sasebo and Kure Gray in acrylic

Interestingly only Snyder & Short make Yokosuka gray and it's only in enamel.

Oh and a source for which gray the Japanese might be in is Combined Fleets TROMs combinedfleet.com/kaigun.htm which can give you an idea of which shipyard did maintenance last and therefore which gray the ship might be wearing.

white ensign also makes a nice line of colors for both sides. The only problem is finding them in stock. And Tamiya makes essential IJN colors including a couple in sprays.

Not much need for 5-S Sea Blue for Guadalcanal--it had been replaced by 5-N Navy Blue in the first months of the war. Also, as far as the IJN goes, don't forget Maizuru Grey. And if you want to know what IJN ship was wearing what gray and don't want to spend hours reading TROMs:

link