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Help Appreciated: When did KI-61 I-d (2X20mm & 2X .50 cal.) first enter Japanese Service?

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  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Berkeley CA/St. Paul MN
Help Appreciated: When did KI-61 I-d (2X20mm & 2X .50 cal.) first enter Japanese Service?
Posted by EBergerud on Thursday, April 26, 2018 12:57 AM

In exile in the Midwest and all of my resource books are on the West Coast. I have the very neat 1/48 Tamiya Ki-61 Hein (Tony) I-d. Can't find info on when this variant entered service. This is the I-d (Tei - Japanese for "D" I believe): it carried two 20mm IJ HO-5 on the fuselage and two 12.7 cal mgs on the wings - the fuselage is also slightly thinner than the earliest versions I believe. There's a time oriented Group Build I'd like to put it in, but if it only showed up in 1945 (the two kit decals markings are 1945 home defense) it won't do.

Help appreciated.

Eric

 

 

A model boat is much cheaper than a real one and won't sink with you in it.

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Naples, FL
Posted by tempestjohnny on Thursday, April 26, 2018 5:55 AM

Eric. The 1d has two 30mm not 20mm. They were built in late 44. The 1c has the two 20mm. Built in January 44

http://airvectors.net/avhien.html

 

  • Member since
    September 2011
  • From: Milaca, Minnesota
Posted by falconmod on Thursday, April 26, 2018 6:26 AM

Eric,

  Welcome to St. Paul.  At least you weren't here when we got like 2 feet of snow 2 weeks ago!  In April!!!  Are you going to do any hobby shop visiting?  we have a couple of really good ones.

John

P.S.  I'm working on a Ki-61 too,  But I don't have that kind of detail info.

On the Bench: 1/72 Ki-67, 1/48 T-38

1/144 AC-130, 1/72 AV-8A Harrier

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Berkeley CA/St. Paul MN
Posted by EBergerud on Thursday, April 26, 2018 2:16 PM
Hi It's warm but the trees are bare. It'll be pretty. Minnesota, if you don't mind blizzards and the "polar vortex" is great - much nicer than California of 2018. I know the shop on Lexington in St. Paul and a good one in Little Canada. I buy a lot from Blick, and there's one just up the street. A gent at Aeroscale informs that the Ki-61-1d began production in January 44. Sounds right. Eric

 

A model boat is much cheaper than a real one and won't sink with you in it.

  • Member since
    January 2009
Posted by F-8fanatic on Saturday, May 12, 2018 2:12 PM

Eric, 

 

You are correct in that the "Tei" varant had the 20mm cannon installed.  The "KAld" version had the 30mm cannon installed.  

Don't know if you have markings already for this picked out, or how far along you may be in the build, but if you must have 1945 Home Defense, then there's an uncommon unit you might be interested in.  Starting in November 1944, the 10th Hiko Shidan was ordered to ram incoming B-29s.  They flew Ki-61s at the time, and stripped the fuselage guns and armor out of those planes.  Within the 10th Hiko Shidan, the 244th Hiko Sentai was put together as a special ramming unit known as "Hagakure-Tai".  The unit did operate Ki-61s and did operate in 1945, having some success in ramming B-29s.  

 

From what I can tell, the main differences between most of the different versions of the Ki-61-I were the wing guns.  There was a tailwheel landing gear change from the original model to the -Otsu, but aside from that, the only change in the -I models seems to have been the wing guns.  That means that your model should work for any of the units that flew a Ki-61-I variant, as opposed to the -II variant, many of which had a different wing, and all of which had a different engine than the -Is had.  

 

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