One of the modellers on the Guillows Model Forum has come up with a possible solution to the "purple Rufe" idea that has been floating around for quite awhile.
"All the authorities that I have read on Japanese WWII aircraft say there is no evidence that a Rufe was ever painted purple like the box art. While I was working on the sketch I noticed the markings on the tail shown on the plan (and the decal sheet). The tail number begins with the Kana charecter "Ko". This indicates that the aircraft was assigned to the "Koko Gijitsu Sho" or Air Technical Arsenal, the Japanese Navy's version of Wright Field. That means that it would have been a research aircraft and would have been painted an all over orange with a black cowl. I wonder if idea of the purple Rufe came from a deteriorated or badly exposed color photograph of an experimental Rufe or maybe a post war color photo of a badly faded airframe?"
However, I found one....
Charles