Japan - Shokaku class aircraft carrier

[WWII44]

Thanks,
and can I believe this version? Different schemes on the Internet I found a lot of, but I don't know which is the real

I think that's the closest you can get though here are some others, I think you might just have to pick which sceme you like best.

[emperor_andreas]

That pic WWII44 posted was not Zuikaku, but Zuiho, which had an entirely different camo scheme.

[WWII44]

That pic WWII44 posted was not Zuikaku, but Zuiho, which had an entirely different camo scheme.

this I did not realize

[Colombamike]

You do not have please some quality photos camouflage for zuikaku from the battle for Leyte Gulf? Each source shows something else. Do you think this camouflage matches reality?


According to the photos, it looks like it could be.

I haven't found a photo of the ship from the side

PS:
Zuikaku, june 1944 during the great naval battle of the mariannas

Zuikaku july - october 1944

[Colombamike]

Do you think this camouflage matches reality ?

[emperor_andreas]

Seriously?

[WWII44]

I think the one with the four square thingies is your best bet Pombo as that's the most common I've seen in contemporary drawings of her.

[PomboCZ]

Thank you very much for the analysis of the photo and for the attached pictures.
Ah, so the zuikaku had camouflage already during the battle of the Philippine Sea.....I thought at the time was without camouflage. On the appearance of the deck (october 1944) we agreed. The sides of the ship are maybe also the real. So, do you think I can on your images 100% rely on and start to draw?
Do you think that I can fully rely on the appearance of the battle of Mariana Islands? According to this photo, it looks like camouflage port is correct. The photograph of the deck from that time I have not found.

[Colombamike]

Go forward guys
Draw the June 1944 & October 1944 versions,
At the 1st mistake, I shot-down you (historically & artistically "speaking", of course... )

[emperor_andreas]

Neither Shokaku nor Zuikaku sported camouflage at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Shokaku met her end while still in standard IJN gray with wooden flight deck, and Zuikaku didn't receive her camouflage until between early August and mid-September 1944. The photo PomboCZ posted above was taken on 19-21 September 1944, when Zuikaku was conducting flight training exercises in the Inland Sea just outside Beppu Bay. That photo - as well as some newsreel footage filmed - is probably the last-known Japanese picture taken of the ship.