What is wrong with the Tamiya Ki-46?

 

Posted By: Tim Tam <glenn.mad@bigpond.com>

Date: Monday, 18 November 2002, at 12:21 a.m.

 

I was reading,(somewhere on this site I think) that there were some problems with the tail on Tamiya's 1/48 Dinah.

Is it something I have to worry about? Can it be easily fixed?

I have pointed out myself the missing fairings behind the propellors which in itself is going to be hard enough to fix. I just hope the tail problem is not so bad that it will condemn my Tamiya Dinah's to the "too hard" basket.

 

Re: What is wrong with the Tamiya Ki-46?

 

Posted By: Dave Pluth <dave@j-aircraft.com>

Date: Monday, 18 November 2002, at 6:18 a.m.

 

In Response To: What is wrong with the Tamiya Ki-46? (Tim Tam)

 

Pull it out of the box and take a look at it. If it resembles a Dinah (which it does), just build it. It's a very nice kit. The only area that I had a couple problems with was the clear parts on the kit take some test fitting and adjustment to fit very well.

 

Oh, if anyone comments on it (about any mis-shapes of the tail) simply tell them that you corrected it and see if they notice.

 

Good advice

 

Posted By: Stef <wrobel.stephane@wanadoo.fr>

Date: Monday, 18 November 2002, at 10:22 a.m.

 

In Response To: Re: What is wrong with the Tamiya Ki-46? (Dave Pluth)

 

I REALLY like your advice on the tail ;o).

For me, the really big problem with this kit is the emptyness in the back station. It lacks the oxygen and the compressed air bottles and the floor doesn't stick to the sides. Apart from that, even if I've added some details, it's a nice kit.

 

Editors note: Picture at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/aile_volante/stephane_wrobel/Dinah/DSCF0228.JPG

Editors note: Picture at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/aile_volante/stephane_wrobel/Dinah/DSCF0227.JPG

 

Once again.... Ki-46

 

Posted By: Stef <wrobel.stephane@wanadoo.fr>

Date: Friday, 15 November 2002, at 2:44 a.m.

 

Sorry to bother everybody once more with the Ki-46.

I'm a little bit lost in names, codes and designations.

What was the correct Army designation for the fighter version (Ki-46III or Ki-46II?), Japanese name and Allied code?

Tamiya only mention on its box : Hyakushiki Shitei III Kai. What does it mean. Was Hyakushiki the real manufacturer and Nakajima the designer?

 

Re: Once again.... Ki-46

 

Posted By: Jim Long <jimilong@msn.com>

Date: Friday, 15 November 2002, at 9:42 p.m.

 

In Response To: Once again.... Ki-46 (Stef)

 

Hyakushiki Shitei III Kai means "Type (One) Hundred Com(mand) Recon(naissance)(Plane)(Model)III Mod(ified)." The designation in the form you gave it is partly abbreviated. The words and parts of words in parentheses are not there. I believe what you have heard about another manufacturer was the news that the army took some Ki-46-IIIs and modified them as high-altitude fighters.

 

Re: Once again.... Ki-46

 

Posted By: Jim Long <jimilong@msn.com>

Date: Tuesday, 19 November 2002, at 4:49 p.m.

 

In Response To: Re: Once again.... Ki-46 (Jim Long)

 

The anti-B-29 air defense fighter version of the Dinah 3 that featured two forward-firing Ho-5 20-mm cannon and the Ho-204 37-mm cannon firing up at a 70-degree angle from the top of the mid-fuselage of a Ki-46-III had a rather long service name. The lengthy service name in Romanized Japanese was Hyakushiki San-Gata Shireibu Teisatsuki Kaizoh Bohkuh Sentohki, the English equivalent being “Type 100 Model 3 Headquarters Reconnaissance Plane Modified Air Defense Fighter Plane.” The project code for the version with the armament mentioned above was Ki-46-III Otsu + Hei. Japanese sources say that 15 aircraft of this variant were modified by the army. (Incidentally, the variant with just two forward-firing Ho-5 cannon and no upward-firing 37-mm gun was the Ki-46-III Otsu, of which 55 were modified by an army arsenal and 20 by Mitsubishi. Some of these Ki-46-III Otsu may have been the basis for the further-modified Ki-46-III Otsu + Hei planes. The record on that is not clear.)

 

One popular shortened designation for the 37-mm cannon-armed variant was San-Gata Otsu + Hei Bohkuh Sentohki, which would equate in English to “Model 3B + C Air Defense Fighter Plane.” Its project code would be Ki-46-IIIb + c, if you want to show the equivalent of Otsu and Hei in the English alphabet. Japanese texts use the plus sign in rendering these designations, but if you should want to sound the sign in Japanese say “Purasu,” as in San-Gata Otsu Purasu Hei Bohkuh Sentohki.

 

Another shortened service name was Hyakushiki San-Gata Bohkuh Sentohki (Type 100 Model 3 Air Defense Fighter). A slightly longer version also appeared as Hyakushiki San-Gata Kai Bohkuh Sentohki (Type 100 Model 3 Modified Air Defense Fighter). The shortest service designation that I’ve seen is San-Gata Otsu + Hei (Model 3B + C). But in this shortest version, the aircraft type is not mentioned and must be inferred from the context.

 

English equivalents in some references translate the Japanese Shireibu as “command” or “commandant,” making the designation “Type 100 Command Reconnaissance . . . “ However, “Headquarters” is the best English equivalent of Shireibu.

 

If it were I doing the labeling, I think I would use “Type 100 Model 3 Modified Air Defense Fighter (Ki-46-III Otsu + Hei).

 

I hope this information is of help to you. Would anyone else like to add his or her remarks about the Ki-46-III anti-B-29 air defense fighter? Or would anyone who reads Japanese like to comment on the language or correct something I’ve written?

 

Thanks a million

 

Posted By: Stef <wrobel.stephane@wanadoo.fr>

Date: Wednesday, 20 November 2002, at 4:42 p.m.

 

In Response To: Re: Once again.... Ki-46 (Jim Long)

 

That's simply marvelous.

Last but not the least, was Dinah the US code or the Jaanese name, like Oscar and Hayabusa?

 

Re: Thanks a million

 

Posted By: Jim Long <jimilong@msn.com>

Date: Wednesday, 20 November 2002, at 5:14 p.m.

 

In Response To: Thanks a million (Stef)

 

"Dinah" was the Allied code name for the Ki-46, like Oscar, Zeke, Helen, Betty, etc. Dinah 3 would have been the name the Allies would have attached to the Ki-46-III when they saw one, whether it was a reconnaissance plane or an air defense fighter. I haven't look into that aspect, but I suspect that the Allies only learned the details of the air defense fighter version at the end of the war.

 

Ki46 III engines

 

Posted By: Stef <wrobel.stephane@wanadoo.fr>

Date: Thursday, 14 November 2002, at 2:33 a.m.

 

I'd liek to know which engines were installed in the Dinah and if the ingnition wires were installed for the firt cylinder row, or aft the last one?

Actually, could I find a picture of this engine.

 

Re: Ki46 III engines

 

Posted By: Tim Tam <glenn.mad@bigpond.com>

Date: Friday, 15 November 2002, at 5:03 a.m.

 

In Response To: Ki46 III engines (Stef)

 

Your question about the Ki-46 III engine has given me an opportunity to seek other people's opinions on what I think I've seen in some photos of the Dinah III.

 

There appears to be a cylindrical fairing that extends from the spinner back plate all the way back to the engine cylinders. The fairing matches the diameter of the rear of the spinner and completely covers the crank case. I assume this is to smooth out the air flow.. When I think about it, the crank case is probably the wrong word, It's the bumpy bit on the front of the engine where the propellor shaft sticks out. You know what I mean.

If you have seen photos of the Grace at NASM or you have the Hasegawa kit of the Grace, it has the same sort of fairing I am talking about.

I'm pretty certain that the Dinah IV has this fairing too.

 

What does everyone else think?

 

Re: Ki46 III engines

 

Posted By: Mike Goodwin <Mike.Goodwin@bigfoot.com>

Date: Friday, 15 November 2002, at 8:31 a.m.

 

In Response To: Re: Ki46 III engines (Tim Tam)

 

The bumpy bit at the front is the reduction gear casing.

 

I hadn't noticed that there was a fairing between the rear of the spinner and the crankcase (covering the reduction gear casing, as you say), but it may well be true. The Ki-46's engine installation was a pioneer project by the Aeronautical Institute at Tokyo Imperial University, and they went to a lot of effort to get the drag down and the cooling up. It seems that they did a very good job indeed, which helps explain Dinah's excellent performance.

 

That work was done on the original Ha-26 installation of the Ki-46-I, but I get the impression that Mitsubishi learned a lot of lessons, which were applied to all their subsequent engine installations (for the IJAAF, at least.)

 

Nakajima engines (they nearly always used their own), and Kawasaki installations of Mitsubishi engines, tended to be less clean. As examples, both the Ki-102 and the J5N suffered from higher-than-expected drag, and from dangerous nacelle stalls. But I am sure that some of the installation technology will have found its way to Nakajima, perhaps through the Koku Hombu or Kugisho.

 

As an aside, Tachikawa installations of Mitsubishi engines look like they were designed by Mitsubishi.

 

I'm going to go and look for illustrations of the fairing you mentioned!

 

Re: Ki46 III engines

 

Posted By: Tim Tam <glenn.mad@bigpond.com>

Date: Friday, 15 November 2002, at 10:31 p.m.

 

In Response To: Re: Ki46 III engines (Mike Goodwin)

 

If you have FAOW #38 on the Ki-46 take a look at the bottom photo on page 62.The picture shows a derelict Dinah III. The engine on the nearside is off the aircraft and is presumably the one that is lying on the ground in the left corner of the photo. The engine on the farside of the Dinah is un-cowled and is also missing a spinner, giving a fairly good view of the fairing I wrote about. It is not just a straght sided cylinder though, the best way to describe it is that it looks like an ovoid shape with both ends cut off. If you look carefully you can even see the lightening holes in the front of it. The worst part of it is that when I make the Tamiya 1/48 Dinah I'll have to scratch build the fairings. I wish I hadn't noticed them now!

 

Ki-46 III canons

 

Posted By: Stef <wrobel.stephane@wanadoo.fr>

Date: Monday, 11 November 2002, at 4:26 p.m.

 

I'd like to see what the 37mm dorsal canon installed on the "Hyakushiki Shitei III Kai" (alias Ki-46 III) looked like. Could somebody point me out what was the correct name of this gun and where shall I look?

 

Re: Ki-46 III canons

 

Posted By: Tony Williams <Tony.Williams@quarry.nildram.co.uk>

Date: Monday, 11 November 2002, at 11:26 p.m.

 

In Response To: Ki-46 III canons (Stef)

 

This was the Ho-204, which was basically a very big Browning M2, scaled up to take 37x144 cartridges. Apart from the difference in size, the main diferences in appearance over the US Browning were that it didn't have a perforated barrel sleeve, and it had a flared-out muzzle brake.

 

Military gun and ammunition website: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk

Discussion forum at: http://forums.delphiforums.com/autogun/messages/

 

Dinah

 

Posted By: Stef <wrobel.stephane@wanadoo.fr>

Date: Friday, 4 October 2002, at 12:50 a.m.

 

I'd like to know which color would be inside a Dinah III (Mitsubishi green or another color) and which color inside the wheel well and other areas?

 

Re: Dinah

 

Posted By: Grant Goodale <grant.goodale@sympatico.ca>

Date: Friday, 4 October 2002, at 9:50 a.m.

 

In Response To: Dinah *PIC* (Stef)

 

I would go with Mitsubishi interior green for the cockpit and aotake for the wheel wells.

 

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