Mitsubishi Ki-46 II 'Dinah' - Eye Spy

[newpapajack]

Thought I'd try out entering this Sig as I picked up this kit recently. It's a bit different and not heard of this aircraft before, plus coincidently after looking at the blurb it turns out it was used as a Recon aircraft in WW2, so I thought I'll enter. Whether I finish it in time is another matter but hey I'll try



Box looked lovely, nice artwork, cartograph logo, 2 paint schemes... However, upon opening it up and looking at the plastic it became apparent that I'd bought something from what appears to have been the 1980's. Raised detail and not a lot of it at that, no interior detail, plenty of flash, canopy glass is thicker than David Beckham and the propellers are all bent and flimsy.

Here are some pics of what's in the box :































Despite the rough kit, I'm going to crack on with the challenge. I'm going to look at this very much as a scratch building exercise, as well as using a fantastic looking photoetch detail set I found made by Airwaves -



Background and history to follow shortly...

[newpapajack]

Some information and background history -

(Resource Wikipedia)

Role Twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer Mitsubishi
First flight September, 1939
Introduction July, 1941
Retired 1945
Primary user Imperial Japanese Army Air Force
Number built 1,742

The Mitsubishi Ki-46 was a twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Its Army Shiki designation was Type 100 Command Reconnaissance Aircraft; the Allied nickname was "Dinah".

General characteristics

Crew: two (pilot and observer)
Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)
Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)
Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,263 kg (7,194 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,050 kg (11,133 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 5,800 kg (12,787 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Mitsubishi Ha-102 Army Type 1 14-cylinder radial engines, 807 kW (1,080 hp) (take-off) each
Performance

Maximum speed: 604 km/h (326 knots, 375 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)
Cruise speed: 400 km/h (217 knots, 249 mph)
Range: 2,474 km (1,337 nmi, 1,537 mi)
Service ceiling: 10,720 m (35,200 ft)
Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)
Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 17 min 58 sec



On 12 December 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15. The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo （a 1931 graduate from the Aeronautical Section of the Faculty of Engineering at Tokyo Imperial University) whose aesthetics are densely infused to this elegant aircraft.

The resulting design was a twin-engined, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage which accommodated a crew of two, with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. Further fuel tanks were situated in the thin wings both inboard and outboard of the engines, giving a total fuel capacity of 1,490 L (328 imperial gallons). The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26s, were housed in close fitting cowlings developed by the Aeronautical Research Institute of the Tokyo Imperial University to reduce drag and improve pilot view.

This aircraft was first used by the Japanese Army in Manchukuo and China, where seven units were equipped with it, and also at times by the Japanese Imperial Navy in certain reconnaissance missions over the northern coasts of Australia and New Guinea.

The Japanese Army used this aircraft for the same type of missions (which were not authorized) over present-day Malaysia during the months before the Pacific War. Later, it was used for high altitude reconnaissance over Burma, Indochina, Thailand, and the Indian Ocean. The Ki-46 was regarded by the British RAF in Burma as a difficult aircraft to counter, only occasionally intercepting them successfully. On September 25, 1944, Flying Officer Wittridge shot down a Ki-46, using a personally modified Spitfire Mk. 8. Wittridge had removed two machine guns and the seat armour, and also polished the wing leading edges to gain extra speed.[11]

In 1944-45, during the last days of the war, it was modified as a high-altitude interceptor, with two 20 mm cannon in the nose and one 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon in an "upwards-and-forwards" position - almost like the Luftwaffe‍ '​s Schräge Musik night fighter cannon emplacements - for fighting USAAF B-29 Superfortresses over the metropolitan Japanese islands. It lacked stability for sustained shooting of the 37 mm (1.46 in) weapon, had only a thin layer of armour plating, lacked self-sealing fuel tanks, and was slow to climb.

The Ki-46 was also assigned to two whole Sentai (wings/groups), as well as individual Chutaicho (junior operational commanders) in the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, during the Pacific War.

The Allies captured some examples during the conflict which were then repaired and flown for evaluation purposes.

[Ads24]

Argh! I hate it when Airfix do that! Still - looks a great subject and will look forward to seeing what you do with it

[newpapajack]

Got started on the Dinah finally -

Actually fits together pretty well all things considered and canopy glass is clearer than I thought. Good!







Along with the cockpit, the wheel wells are seriously lacking in any detail.



Also treated myself to this. Not tried AK paints before so hope they work out.

[newpapajack]

Whilst trawling through the Internet for reference photos I came across this photo, giving me inspiration for a small diorama or vignette.



I'm pretty sure the image is post capture by the U.S. but I'm going to base the scene as still under Japanese control as a discrete reconnaissance airfield maintenance / parking bay for the aircraft next to the taxiway.

Never made a diorama before of any kind so I had a look around the forums and Coens 'how-to' videos (hugely appreciated Coen learnt loads. Thanks and came up with this as a rough idea -



Base is a polystyrene pizza base tray, seemed to be around the right size. Found some bbq skewers and added a few cocktail sticks and chucked the building together using the photo as reference in a couple of hours, and gave it a matt coat to disguise the shiny superglue.



Any hints & tips & ideas will be more than welcome.

[Willem]

Brilliant idea. Keep it coming.

[Joesdad]

Loving this Jack.
About that kit...well I feel for you mate you not the first and you won't be the last to fall for a cynical marketing ploy... b******ds. Never mind Jack put it behind you and crack on

[newpapajack]

Loving this Jack.
About that kit...well I feel for you mate you not the first and you won't be the last to fall for a cynical marketing ploy... b******ds. Never mind Jack put it behind you and crack on

I know, it's wrong. Bad Airfix
Actually I don't mind too much as I'm keen to see what I can come up with using an old tooling. It'll certainly be a challenge

[newpapajack]

So made a start on the pilot's cockpit. Used photos for reference and had to scratch build the rear bulkhead. Also made a start on the photoetch set. I've had to space the seat forward and the instrument panel back considerably to make it more closely resemble the real thing. This means modifying the photoetch set to suit also.





Bulkhead, side panels and instrument panel taking shape. I only have some 1x4mm plastic so had to build up the bulkhead in layers. Seems to have worked out though.



Lots of trial fitting and tweaking and think the cockpit is getting somewhere near. Added some wiring/pipework detail and headrest. Also made a start on the navigator bay.

[newpapajack]

Small progress update.
Have now finished the cockpit. Did a little more scratch building like the camera pod in the observer's compartment and the instrument panel shroud to fill the gap. I had to shift it back considerably to match the real thing. Also fitted up all the photoetch from the Airwaves set, fiddly but very nice.

Painted it all up with the new AK interior green which worked pretty well and the colour looks good. Detail painted, sealed, washed and light highlights and dry-brush. I'm pretty happy considering there was basically no detail at all before I started.









Also replaced the side windows with some clear plastic packaging as it had way more clarity. Photoetch seat harnesses seem slightly out of scale and cartoony but certainly add to the effect.
Trial fit the canopies too and I'm both pleased and surprised with their clarity. Very thin frame lines which is nice as it doesn't obstruct the view inside too much.

[newpapajack]

Been busy on the diorama thing too...

It's an airfield scene so it'll remain flat but thought it needed a little landscaping where the grass will be. All I could find knocking around was some old polyfiller. Seemed to work out and gives the scene a bit of depth. Sanded it back slightly and added some texture to the taxiway area and under the structure using woodland scenics fine ballast. Think it's still maybe a bit coarse.

I continued on anyway as it doesn't offend me too much at the moment. Primed everything in black for shadows, painted up the sand and grass areas in base colour and added some highlights and tonal variation.
Finally I added the roof to the structure and gave it an oil wash/stain in a medium green.

Seems fine so far but please, hints and tips will be very welcome. I'm basically going along with a vague image in my head and trying to translate that into reality. If this thing turns out ok it'll be as much luck as judgement.









Next up will be adding the grass and fauna. Then I'll start on the accessories like crates, barrels etc.

[newpapajack]

More progress on the diorama -

Added the static grass and managed to turn the scene into a golf course. Way too clean cut.



Found some more nice images of period airfields in Japan and this seemed to renew my enthusiasm.







As well as recapping on the main photo of inspiration.



So faded the dry, dusty, patchy taxiway into the grass areas and this made a huge difference as it broke up the sharp lines. Added some grass tufts, bushes and shrubs, all Woodland Scenics products. Massive transformation now it looks almost like the vague image in my head of how I wanted it.

[newpapajack]

Back on the Dinah...

Sanded off all the raised detail on all the parts and started the long rescribe process. First attempt at this so it's far from perfect. Pretty happy though with the result.
After sanding the raised detail off I noticed it left an imprint of where they were, even though the surface was smooth. I tripled up some Tamiya tape and cut a fresh line through the lot as my edge. Found a decent blueprint of the aircraft and got started.



Unfortunately I think in all my enthusiasm i managed to scribe myself an extra panel line... nevermind eh. Anyway here's the results so far -

The first wing compared to the still fresh underside



...and both completed topsides



A few wibbles but I'll go over again after priming and hopefully smooth them out a bit more.