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1/72 - Tachikawa Ki-54 "Hickory" family by Special Hobby - Ki-54Hei & Otsu released - new boxing


Homebee

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  • Homebee changed the title to 1/72 - Tachikawa Ki-54 "Hickory" family by Special Hobby - moulds+parts+box art+decals - release June 2021

Expected very soon - ref. 72270 - Tachikawa Ki-54Hei (Ki-54c) "Hickory"

Source: https://www.specialhobby.eu/en/our-own-production/tachikawa-ki-54hei-hickory.html

Quote

 

 The Ki-54 Hickory was a WW2 Japanese twin engine aeroplane which was manufactured in four main versions used for pilots training, wireless operators and navigators training, aerial gunnery training and finaly the version used for both transport and anti-submarine patrols. The kit comes on four styrene sprues and one with clear parts.
   The first incarnation of our kit is the transport variety and brings three Japanese airframes, one of which in two guises. Among the schemes you will also find the Ki-54 Hei / Hickory no.5541 which had to make an emergency landing on the Towada lake on 27 September 1943. The plane was found and fished out of the lake on 5 September 2012 and was put on display at the Misawa museum. An airframe which can boast with its interesting past is the 10.Dokiuritsu Hikodan Shireibu machine which was used to fly the Lieutenant General Masao Baba capitulation delegation to Borneo. For this particular option, the decal sheet has the green capitulation crosses as well.

the Ki-54 has never been kitted in styrene format before

  • decals cater for airframes with interesting history
  • paint masks also available

 

 

7592-C3-EE-43-C8-430-F-A2-DF-83-C4099-DE

 

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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  • Homebee changed the title to 1/72 - Tachikawa Ki-54 "Hickory" family by Special Hobby - moulds+parts+box art+decals+schemes - release June 2021

As nice as those schemes are, I think the only one I could airbrush is the last one! Though I wonder if attempting this one with a paint pen would work, as I saw someone the other day did a Ju88 with one? I guess it's just a case of getting the right green.

 

Ki-54_kamB.jpg

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  • Homebee changed the title to 1/72 - Tachikawa Ki-54 "Hickory" family by Special Hobby - Ki-54Hei released
  • 1 month later...
On 3/26/2021 at 1:39 PM, fightersweep said:

This wasn't on my radar, but now it is, I'll be picking one up for sure. Apart from anything else, it's a nice looking aeroplane and something different and that makes it worth having alone.

 

This goes back a while Steve but did you end up getting one of these, did you build it and if so how did you find it? It just caught my eye as I was trawling t'net.

 

EDIT oh wow, just noticed it was (finally) only released very recently so maybe you didn't!

Edited by TonyOD
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@TonyOD No. Not yet Sir! Suffice to say though that, for a reasonable £17.99, there is a Hickory currently sitting in my Hannants basket (Would have bagged it sooner, but my basket was full of Special Hobby "Lightly Armed Emils")

 

Steve

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5 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

@fightersweep  I just fancied something with red circles and more than one engine, that doesn't have "Hasegawa" on the box and necessitate the sale of a kidney to own.

 

Well, looking at the sprue shots and going by the quality of their Emils I'm putting together, this kit should tick all of those boxes. Can't wait to pick one up myself.

 

Steve

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6 hours ago, fightersweep said:

 

Well, looking at the sprue shots and going by the quality of their Emils I'm putting together, this kit should tick all of those boxes. Can't wait to pick one up myself.

 

Steve

 

I'm slightly concern by this report though saying that the fit of the kit is really bad, which doesn't seem to resemble the SH kits released over the last few years.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/848474938507986/permalink/4645284088827033/

 

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10 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Bear in mind that this is a release of a kit originally announced much earlier in their original programme, and possibly the majority of the tooling dates from that time.

Seven or eight years ago already SH kits fits perfect. So problem might appear when they started again temporary abandoned project. 

 I have just bought this kit, and I am going to buy the trainer version as well - to be frank -  despite any sad news that it does not fit perfectly.... 

Regards

J-W

 

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I certainly intend buying the trainer version.  But then I'm not as concerned as some about having to fiddle with a kit to make it fit, and after the problems created by more modern kits such as  the Airfix Blenheim and Hurricane, I don't find the quality  of that period of SH kits at all off-putting.

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Hadn't heard about the possible fit issues myself. As long as it's no worse than the Roden He 111C I'm currently building with a hammer and Isopon P38, then I think it'll be ok.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Having read the Scale Aircraft Modelling review (and the author's Fakebook posts quoted above) and looked at the comments here, I was a bit worried about how mine would build up. It's on the schedule for later this year but I did a test fit. To my surprise the fuselage halves are an exact fit and the wings are the same length when fitted with the landing light recesses all square. I taped it together and found the right weight to simulate the dihedral.

 

51555707783_0c558cc6b3_z.jpg

 

Of course this is a dry fit with tape but I did it several times and it fitted well each time. I hope I can repeat this when I cement it together. It seems that setting up the dihedral properly is a crucial step in the build and maybe a small amount of adjustment to the upper wing halves may be necessary - adding or subtracting. 

I have to agree with the review that the cabin door is a poor fit and the windows may be also from my micrometer measurements.

I wonder if the reviewer's kit was under-cooked - pulled from the mould too quickly or otherwise mis-handled?  Once I build it I will post it on BM.

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  • 1 month later...
On 10/6/2021 at 2:18 AM, Ed Russell said:

Once I build it I will post it on BM.

Ed, thank you for your clarification, I have bought both boxes (one is already with me, the second will be soon I hope) and I am very happy that it is better model then skeptical review announced before.

Regards

J-W

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

TBH I thought SH72445 Tachikawa Ki-54Otsu / Hickory ‘ Gunner Trainer’ was released already but Special Hobby posted photo of decals plus some info.

 

Quote

We started selling the first version of the Japanese trainer and transport aircraft SH72270 Tachikawa Ki 54 Hei in June this year. Your interest in this model has exceeded our expectations and it is already sold out. Therefore, we have included another version of this elegant aircraft, the SH72445 Tachikawa Ki-54 Otsu / Hickory ' Gunner Trainer', among the upcoming models for the first quarter of 2022.

 

This was primarily intended for training multi-engine gunners. To streamline training, this version even carried a pair of gun turrets, joined by an aerodynamic cowling. The new model will offer three Japanese machines, an all-grey machine, an all-grey machine with upper surfaces painted green in field conditions, and a green-grey machine. The decals for this model are already ready for printing.


If anyone desires the first, no longer available version of the Ki-54 Hei, they need not despair. As all the mouldings for SH72445 need to be pressed, the order for mouldings has been increased so that we can also prepare a re-release of SH72270.

 

Source: https://www.specialhobby.net/2021/12/sh72445-tachikawa-ki-54otsu-hickory.html

 

SH72445-Ki-54-obt.jpg

Edited by Piotr Mikolajski
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