Hyakushiki shitei III recon plane aka Ki-46, Tamiya, 1/48

[Silenoz]

The design originated from a 1937 spec, in which the army sought for a long distance recon plane to replace the Ki-15. It needed to stay airborne for 6h and be fast enough to evade enemy fighter aircraft.  Tomio Kiubo was the lead design enigneer (interesting fact, after the war members of this team were responsible for the design of the first bullet trains...) The design resulted in in a dual engine, low wing aircraft with a narrow oval intersection providing place for a crew of two and retractable tailwheel. Powerplants were originally intended to be 2 Mitsubishi Ha-26 radial engines in narrow enclosures.

 

First test learned that these engines weren't up to the task (despite already being faster (540km/h instead of the evisioned 600km/h) than the fastest fighter aircraft from that time, the Ki-43 and the brandnew A6M2) which lead to a series 1 (Ki-46-I) production, after which the engines were replaced by Ha-102 engines (Ha-26 engines but fitted with dual turbo chargers) a larger fuel tank and a reduced empty weight.. The was the Ki-46-II.

 

Initially the aircraft was immune to interception, but development of allied fighters was also progressing and Spitfires, P-38 became threats. The question arose for a yet faster aircraft, which had a complete redesigned nose (more streamlined) an extra fueltank in front of the pilot and removal of the defensive MG. This version (Ki-46-III) reached 630km/h at 6000m. This resulted in the cancelation of the Ki-70 successor. At the end of the war some Ki-46's received a heavy machinegun arrangement in the nose or an upward firing 37mm MG (schragemusiek) to be able to attack the numerous B-29 bomberformations wreaking havoc on the mainland...

 

In total 1742 aircraft were made (34 Ki-46-I, 1093 Ki-46-II, 613 Ki-46-III and 4 Ki-46-IV (prototypes exhaustdriven turbo's)

a short overview of the different variants:

The first use of this aircraft was in the Chinese campaign, in which it served with 7 units. This aircraft was also used by the marine (army and marine were 2 distinct separate branches) for recon missions over Australia and New-Guinea.

The army used this aircraft, however not permitted, for recon missions over Maleisia before the war in the Pacific Ocean. 25 september was the first loss of this aircraft by enemy fire, in which a specially prepared spitfire (removal of the two outer mg's, pilot armor and heavy polishing of the wings leading edge) got the edge. But this also proved it was a difficult one to intercept. There's only 1 survivor, located in the museum in Cosford.

 

 

got to admit it has some nice lines in it......

Boxart:

 

The parts:

 

 

 

 

Not that much, but the box also included a broken resin set, and I've managed to find an OOP Eduard set... 

 

Cockpit is ready to be painted. It became a mix from original parts, resin parts, PE-parts and scratch:

 

As mentioned the resin set wasn't a that great addition, and with missing and broken parts...

 

the front cockpit was also a mixed bag...

 

and fit wasn't that great:

 

 

which resulted in a Frankenstein solution in which the small levers haven't been placed due to not losing these while dryfitting etc...:

 

Then it became a thing to add the missing detail, choosing the better option etc.. also at the wingroots there were large openings which had to be closed. A beter job could be done, but this area will be largely invisible when the hull is closed up. Only the large block with handles needs to be mounted to this side otherwise it is complete.... 

 

only the radiostation is missing on this side:

 

Cameraposition:

 

Further also cleaned up the landing gear:

as per kit

 

which can be bettered by the use of a blade: first scraping the seams:

 

and then carving some detail

 

also on the other parts

 

 

to me it's an improvent, though not very costly...

[Silenoz]

Waiting for paint for the Zvezda projects... So time to pick up this one again.

Made some brakelines on the landing gear:

 

Just bende a wire into shape and glued it into place with CA. Then cut some tiny making tape strips and glued these as holders for the wire.

 

The footsteer tot lost in the building process, and made a new one from bits of sprue... A bit crude, but hardly visible in the end.

 

So ready for primer...

 

And after Mr Surfacer 1500:

Next the cockpit in it's basecolors:

Front:

 

Rear:

 

Seats and radio:

 

Some touchups still need to be done, but also some handles... A lot of them...

 

Tried painting them first and building up layers to thicken the knobs... Next time, cut the knobside loose, apply some ca, paint then... Paint is to weak for the tweeters...

 

10 levers for this piece

Ready for weathering:

 

Engines ready:

 

Also crude, but they come in very narrow cowlings... So not much will be seen.

 

And the main reason why this one was temporary parked... rivetting:

 

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Silenoz

[Graham Boak]

This story about the first loss over Malaya (not Malaysia then) is false, and seems to be a confusion with operations against the Ju86 in Egypt.  There were no Spitfires in Malaya or anywhere in SE Asia until 1943.  The Dinahs were effectively invulnerable until the arrival of the Spitfire Mk.Vc - although ironically the first loss over India was to a Hurricane after the Spitfires had arrived.

 

A beautiful aircraft, and very effective.

[Silenoz]

thx, will update the text, or remove it altogether. With regards to the handles, next time I'd reinforce them with solder. Now they bend if the wind changes direction... lesson learned

Some progress:

a bit of a heavy wash with van dijcke bruin oliepaint, added certain dials and some small damages.

Dito here, some heavier damage where the feet hit the floor.

 

The IP

:

 

Looks better when mounted 😉

 

 

I do not want to pretend that the kit fits good... but dryfit without blutack or anything else:

Some sleek lines...

 

And here something looks off.... the height of the engines is equal, but the wingtips differ 1mm in height... to examine before final mounting. 1 Wing (left) was slightly bent in  the kit, maybe that's the reason...

to be continued...

Edited April 23, 2020 by Silenoz

[Silenoz]

With regards to the rivetting, elsewhere some people said it wasn,'t that visible... I don't want any craters, just some effect

 

Construction of the wingtip lights.
Started with a piece of thick plastic... just saw/cut/sand whatever it into it's basic shape, then drill a small hole and fill it with either red or blue (in this case, thought green was universal) paint. Paint the contact surface siver and glue them in place with CA.

 

 

Sanding time:

 

almost there...

 

same for the other side.

Last dials for the cockpit:

 

Interior PE for the flap-housing added:

 

Needs some more sanding where the hull meets the wings, top and bottom. Canopies are taped in.

Hardly to believe, but it's almost time for paint (Mostly my projects finish right there due to circumstances...)