Toryu – Kawasaki's heavy fighter that inspired my Alias

[Toryu]

 

75 years ago

 

In November 1944, the 53^rd Hiko Sentai of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force was ordered to form a Shinten Seikutai flight of Kawasaki Type 2 Two-Seat Fighters for air-to-air ramming attacks. Aircraft # 98 was one of them. Embellished with the conspicious Karimata arrow, this Ki-45 KAI Tei was modified by removing armament, abandoning the rear cockpit and trimming the antenna mast. It is doubtful, however, if it was ever used for this purpose since the 53^rd Sentai was relegated as a night fighter unit in January 1945.

 

 

 

 

40 years ago

 

I saw Nichimo's Nick for the first time and was thrilled. Unfortunately, with only limited funds I couldn’t satisfy my desire. Then it was gone. Fifteen years later it re-appeared on the shelf of a remote hobby shop. It was my quickest purchase ever! But job priorities prevailed and the treasure was neglected again.

 

 

15 years ago

 

I finally started. Meanwhile a young contender, the Hasegawa kit, had conquered the market. I didn't forsake Nichimo, though. Firstly, because I was attached to it after such a long quest, and secondly, because I consider some aspects of this kit, like the riveted surface, much superior. Aftermarket items and scratch-building did the rest.

 

 

Now I hope that you enjoy the pictures. For me, the Dragon Killer is the most appealing machine in Japanese military aviation and arguably the neatest two-seater of the war - much too graceful for a suicide mission!

 

ハッピーモデル構築  - Michael

 

 

 

 

 

References

The Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu, Profile No.105, René J. Francillon, Leatherhead, 1966

Japanese Army Air Force Camouflage and Markings WWII, Donald W. Thorpe, Fallbrook, 1968

Slayer of Dragons - The Story of the Toryu, Air Enthusiast Vol.5, London, 1973

Army Type 2 Two-Seat Fighter “Toryu“, Famous Airplanes of the World No.21, Tokyo, 1990

Kawasaki Army Type 2 "Toryu" Two-Seat Fighter, Mechanic of the World Aircraft 6, Japan, 1993

B-29 Hunters of the JAAF, Osprey Aviation Elite Units 5, Koji Takai & Henry Sakaida, Botley, 2001

Unit History: 53^rd Sentai, JAAF, Arawasi International Issue 11, Eleftheriou & Paul Thompson, Tokyo, 2009

 

[Gary Brantley]

Way cool Michael!  Impressive model building from end to end; beautiful paintwork and subtle weathering!  

[Greg Law]

Very nice. I really like the paint scheme on this.

[Farmerboy]

That’s pretty cool looking, good job!

[Vultures1]

Superb skills and a great result - well done!

[russ c]

Wow ! that`s nice. Fantastic job on that old kit, amazing work. 

[JohnHaa]

Michael,

 

You did a very good build, it was and still is good model.

 

My compliments that you covered the rear part of the canopy.  You did your homework well....😄

 

I agree with you, it is a very nice plane, so I build three versions of it.  The early version , your version, after that I converted one into a Ki-102 Randy. I will show them in future.

 

Thanks for showing us.

 

Greetings

 

JohnHaa

[SafetyDad]

Very very nice Michael. It's good to hear that this older kit still stands up (and builds up) well in comparison to newer products.

 

SD

[Nanond]

Very well done. It shows clearly your love of the plane. I really enjoy your Toryu.

Nanond

[Holzhamer]

Love the paint work, it’s a feast for the eyes

[Roger Holden]

Very nice model and article.   Well done !

[mark.au]

Excellent model there, I really like the paint work.

[Luiz]

Excelent job!...I like it so much!

 

Luiz.

[Toryu]

@russ c @JohnHaa @SafetyDad

 

My special thanks to you guys for appreciating my effort on this old but excellent kit. For me it is very satisfying to upgrade vintage kits, no matter whether I built them some long time ago or whether they are fresh from my considerable stash. I'm sometimes astonished when fellow modellers praise the latest product in the market for coming together with no effort (or even no glue...). Of course we all like new and extraordinary kits (once in a while) but where's the challenge? I have the highest respect for those 'artists' who spend months on a scratch-build or vac form model, or make the best of a less perfect kit.

 

Thanks again and happy modelling! Michael

[Vinnie]

Most impressive! Superb paintwork.👍

[MikeR]

Excellent!

 

Mike.

[kapam]

That's fantastic.

Trying to work out how to mask & paint a scheme like that would drive me crazy!

And I doubt it would turn out half as good as your work has.

[Amo Aero]

Excellent rendition of there reticulated camo scheme!

[Toryu]

On 15/07/2019 at 08:07, kapam said:

That's fantastic.

Trying to work out how to mask & paint a scheme like that would drive me crazy!

And I doubt it would turn out half as good as your work has

 

15 hours ago, Amo Aero said:

Excellent rendition of there reticulated camo scheme!

 

Thank you for your kind comments!

 

Looking at my work after some time has passed now, I'm surprised myself that I had the patience... I enlarged the top surfaces from an old Profile Publications 5-view drawing to 1/48 and printed them. With the help of ordinary carbon paper I then transferred the pattern onto the grey-green camouflage. To sketch the fuselage blotches I took a very soft pencil and drew the outlines by hand. Finally I completed them with green colour. Not too difficult after all.

 

Cheers, Michael

 

 

[Greg Law]

I understand from what you said just now. You hand painted the green blotches.  I've been wondering how you did it so well. 

[oz rb fan]

Brilliant build Micheal

[SAT69]

Really really nice. I much appreciate the photography too and the figures in the last pictures that give an impression of the plane's size.

Edited June 13, 2020 by SAT69
misspell

[SoftScience]

I'm glad you commented on my build, and I was able to check your posts and find this. This is absolutely beautiful! The finish and presentation is the crisp and delicate look that I always strive for (but often have trouble achieving) with my models. I need to follow along next time you start posting work in progress. 

[Bigglesof266]

When did you complete your (pictured) Nichimo Toryu? 

 

Very nice. 👍 I like your addition of ground crew figures. Still to build, I have Hasegawa's 1/48 regular release 1919 Ki-45Kai Tei in the stash. I do wish Hasegawa would start including IJM flight crew figures in their new tool 1/48 kits as they do in their 1/32 and as Tamiya has done in their 1/48 'since forever' though.

 

In your research, did you come across any original colour photographs of the type, not colourised or colour plates?

 

Agree with you that the "Nick" had the most aesthetically pleasing lines, particularly the long nosed variant. Although to be fair, though conceived for different roles, it's not aesthetically dissimilar from the step nosed "Dinahs" about which I think the same. Once can see in the two of them the prevailing design philosophy married to restrictive Japanese powerplant technology/availablity of the time.  Interesting to note that the two Japanese aircraft of arguably the most aesthetically beautiful lines produced during that period came from Kawasaki in their Ki-45 & later Ki-61. 

 

Thanks for sharing your Nichimo story Toryu.

[Toryu]

Thanks Biggles, for the kind words. My Toryu model was finished in 2011.

 

I whole-heartedly agree with your statement about the Ki-61 and Ki-45. Although it is a more conventional Japanese fighter I would also rank the Ki-84 among the most beautiful single-seaters of WWII - only matched perhaps by the Spitfire and P-51.

 

On 07/08/2020 at 23:10, Bigglesof266 said:

restrictive Japanese powerplant technology/availablity of the time

 

Actually Japanese powerplants had the best power/weight and power/diameter ratio of all WWII radial engines in all three main performance categories - 1000 hp (Nakajima Sakae), 1500 hp (Mitsubishi Kinsei) and 2000 hp (Nakajima Homare). They also had a very low specific fuel consumption. The issue was rather that the early airframes were developed for smallest frontal area and couldn't therefore be upgraded with more powerful engines. The in-line route was not too successful either. Quality problems towards war-end did the rest. Technology-wise their motors were among the best in the world, I daresay. Goodwin/Starkings 'Japanese Aero-Engines' is a superb book that I can recommend to every Japanese warplane enthusiast.

 

Cheers, Michael