All,
Im honoured to present to you the most recent project of the LTC:
1/20th Nakajima KI44-II Otsu "Shoki"
An Air superiority fighter, designed to cover the weak points of both the A6m Zero and the KI43 Oscar, namely;
- Poor rate of climb
- Poor high altitude response
The Ki44 Shoki surpassed its requirements quite ample and was to be considered one of the fastest climbing aircraft on its introduction in Dec 1941. Regardless of its pedigree, the Shoki is quite an rare machine in contemporary media: whereas the A6m Zero is well covered, refrence material on the Shoki is on short suply, with many drawings contradicting eachother.
The forward fuselage section, part 1
With a length of 437 and a span of 472mm the Shoki is rather small. Features will be:
- All metal build
- Working flight controls, including flaps.
- retractable gear, with suspention.
- accessible cockpit, with sliding canopy.
- adjustable cowl flaps
- Ha-109 14 cyl engine with working pistons. (more on that later)
- removable access panels.
Design started in late 2017, with planing and drawing each of the systems and brand new construction methods. This being the first all metal project: effort was done in order to find the correct rivets, glue, paint, aluminum and ways the shape it:
An english wheel, specifically designed for this project.
A major challenge was finding an easy way to shape the stringers, and even though they barely look like aircraft material, they pass the requirements:
After all measurements were done, a collection of jigs were cut from cardboard. which in turn correspond to the aluminium counterparts:
We've cut the major structural parts from T6 6061 aluminium, this material has a good stifness aswell as a good corosion resistance. Using Neodilium magnets as a vise to prevent scratching:
Its doesnt look like much yet, but many hours allready went into it. Most hardware such as hinges, seat mount, canopy rail, ect are from brass.
Gentlemen, Cant wait to show you more next time.
XXXX,
LTC