Mitsubishi Ki-46-III

[Old Dog]

OK, this i what I'm going to build...

and the prerequisite date stamp

For some provenance, the Ki-46, allied code Dinah was built as a high speed, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. It was rugged, dependable and well liked by it's crews and succeeded very well in it's assigned tasks serving right up to the end of the war successfully over flying B-29 bases. It was so successful that the Germans tried in vain to obtain manufacturing rights for it. When the B-29 high altitude raids began, the Japanese had little in the way of aircraft with the speed and altitude necessary to combat them. Seventy-five Ki-46's were modified as fighters by installing two 20mm cannon in the nose and fifteen were modified by the army with an additional upward firing 37mm cannon. Although flown by crews trained only in recon work they proved quite successful in their endeavors. I haven't found any hard numbers but apparently somewhere on the order of 25 B-29's were downed by these craft.

I do have an Eduard Zoom set for the kit and for more information on what's in the box and the PE set you can go here Old Dogs Ki-46 kit review

I don't plan on starting this for a while as I want to finish my Wellington first.

 

[MrT]

Looks like it will be a cool build.

Terry

 

[Dusan]

Excellent kit and beautiful aircraft B) .


All the best!
Dusan.

 

[tomwes]

Dang, that is a good looking aircraft. My knowledge is woefully lacking when it comes to Japanese aircraft.


Tom

 

[moon puppy]

Sleek...smooth looking aircraft.

Didn't the Germans install some photosensitive weapon, maybe a mortar installed on the top of a ME162, the Komet would fly under bomber formations and under their shadows triggering the mortar which would fire automatically.

 

[Old Dog]

Yes they did and it worked great in the old Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe game, I downed a lot of B-17s that way, in real life it was not all that effective !

 

[moon puppy]

That's one game I never got, spent many an hour in Falcon3, Pacific Air War and Red Baron...sorry for the hijack Gary.

 

[Old Dog]

No problem, be a while before things start to get exciting here anyway !:drinks

 

[jknaus]

The Schräge Musik was a pair of 20mm guns or 30mm pointed up and forward. Used on the following German a/c: * Dornier Do 217N: 4 × 20 mm MG 151/20
* Focke-Wulf Fw 189: 1 × 20 mm MG151/20 (used mainly on Eastern Front)
* Heinkel He 219: 2 × 30 mm MK 108
* Junkers Ju 88C/G: 2 × 20 mm MG 151/20
* Junkers Ju 388J: 2 × 30 mm MK 108
* Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4: 2 × 20 mm MG FF/M
* Messerschmitt Me 262B-2: 2 × 30 mm MK 108
* Focke-Wulf Ta 154: 2 × 30 mm MK 108


Never used on a Me 163. They where straight forward. The Japanese follow later in the war.

James

 

[Old Dog]

Hi James, I think what Moon was referring to was the photocell operated aerial mortars that the Germans tried on the Me163, the shadow of the bomber would trigger them when it passed under them.

 

[Old Dog]

OK, time to get rolling on this one. I've actually been working on this the past couple weeks as fill in while waiting for the various finishes to dry on my A-36. It's a real easy build and if I hadn't chosen to use the Eduard PE set it probably would be done already. The PE set had over 75 parts and it seemed like half the parts were levers. Anyways we start off with some interior shots

Once the fuselage was assembled I could install the IP

I was going to add some wiring to the engines but they sit so far back in the cowling that it would not be seen. Since the final paint job doesn't include the bottom color on the cowls I went ahead and assembled and painted them, they fit well enough they can be added after final painting is done.

Wings together

Gear wells installed

Wings and tail feathers installed

Seam filling up next...

 

[Jeeves]

Wow!! Love it-- that PE really makes everything shine!

 

[Dusan]

Beautiful aircraft and Excellent work!


All the best!
Dusan.

 

[jknaus]

Very nice
James

 

[moon puppy]

WOO HOO!

 

[Old Dog]

OK, canopy and windows masked, installed and primed with interior color, some primer shot on seams and ID yellow squirted on. It will need to cure well before being masked. Except for interior color and primer all primary colors will be WEM paints which require a bit more time to cure. This will be a busy week for me so I may not get back to this till the weekend.

 

[MrT]

Terry B)

 

[moon puppy]

 

[jugjunkie]

Looking grand OD, what colour did you use for the interior?

 

[Old Dog]

It was a custom mix, I started with some shade of bright green and gradually toned it down with black until it was a close match to the color that Eduard used on the IP and also looked close to color photos I had of the one at the Museum in Hendron (sp ?)one of the RAF museum sites.