Dan K wrote:
To answer your questions, Matt:
Yes, they were structurally identical, and yes, any of the Pit-Road kits should work, as long as they are early war fits.
Yard color could be used to differentiate them to some extent, but not for very long. Paint fades quickly.
The funnel band record is incomplete, so that may or may not be helpful. Plus, each ship in the division would likely have a single hiragana symbol painted on (usually) #1 funnel denoting administrative position. But, we can't confirm that this practice was firmly adhered to.
The yard colors do fade quickly, but the paints they used have different chemicals which produce a slightly different weathering coloration due to the seawater (the chlorine in the salt tends to like a lot of the pigments in the different Greys of each yard, and will produce greenish, blackish, or whitish colorations along with the typical buildup of salt, wear on the paint, and chips/nicks/etc. And the different colors will likely occur more dominantly in the yard colors that were either Lighter or more “bluish”). But overall they would help to at least produce a base to work from.
As for Funnel Bands & Administrative Markings for Divisions/Squadrons…
While the record on the Funnel Bands might be incomplete, and that of the Administrative Hiragana (or is it Katakana?) not firmly adhered to, where might I find that which we do know (and that which is suspected, and so on) of each?
Dan K wrote:
Degaussing patterns varied between ships but, again, the record is very incomplete as to which vessel carried which pattern.
I saw the comments on these, where you said there were at least 3 or 4 different degaussing patterns.
Dan K wrote:
Also, the tertiary piping on # 1 funnel leading to the steam whistles varied a lot between ships. Again, the record is incomplete on these.
HTH, Dan
What record does exist?
MB