After a long time, a Japanese what-if project, and it is still in its early stages. This project had been lingering on my to-do list and in The Stash™ for quite a while, because it's a combination of leftover parts from previous builds. The inspiration was based in real life, though: the German Me 210 had actually been tested in Japan by the IJA, but did not find favor. However, I wondered what a serial production/service aircraft could have looked like – primarily only livery-wise, but I had to push the project a little further...



A Bilek Me 210 had, long ago already "donated" its FDL 131 weapon stations (to a modified He 115 floatplane), and after that it also lost its inline engines/nacelles and underwing radiators to a Germanized Ki-46III (the Gotha 146 B-1), leaving only the kit's core. Since the modified Arii Ki-46III's engines and respective nacelles were also left over the plan began to take shape to create a "Japanized" Me 210 with radial engines, as if the airframe had been adapted to local needs/preferences. And this is what became the Kyushu G11W1 that's now in the pipeline.

Stay tuned. 

I will be staying tuned.

I'm looking forward to finding our how you Japanise that very distinctive canopy.

Canopy and rest of the hardware will mostly remain, but I will add hand-operated machine guns in the rearward-facing windows instead of the barbettes.

Quote from: zenrat on September 13, 2024, 03:26:59 AMI'm looking forward to finding our how you Japanise that very distinctive canopy.

Just add more framing.

DB-605
Width: 760 mm(30")
Height: 1,037 mm(41")
Weight: 756 kg(1,667 lbs)

Mitsubishi Ha-102
Diameter: 1,118 mm(44")
Weight: 540 kg(1,190 lbs)i

Early stage hardware pics! The Bilek Me 210 kit itself is ...mediocre. Details are all a bit clumsy, and the fit of major parts (esp. of the ventral section that includes the bomb bay and the wing/fuselage intersection on both sides) is really poor. Nothing matched, and the whole thing required PSR on every seam.

Here, the barbette opeings have already been filled with a 1st load of putty, and you see the cut-out original engine nacelles on the wings.


1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The interior was mostly taken OOB, and it becaomes "bamboo" green. 


1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Overview of the roughly completed core section:


1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Engines and "a little extra" next...

BTW, the Me 210's engines and radiators had ended up here some moons ago... 


1:72 Gotha Go 146 B-1 (license-built Ki-46 III 'Dinah'); aircraft 'P3+KN' of II(F)/FAG 104 (5. Staffel, 2. Gruppe, Fernaufklärergruppe 104), Deutsche Luftwaffe; Biblis (Hessia, near Mannheim), late 1944 (Whif/ARII kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

And that kit's radials will now find a new home on the G11W - thorough recycling! 

Thomas mate looks brilliant..that's an awesome twin and I do love my twins 😍 

Some news from a side crime scene. Since the aircraft's paint scheme would be quite simple (see below) and for some extar whiffyness, I decided to add some special equipment, namely a Ki-148 glide bomb (an A&V resin "kit" from the Czech Republic, upgraded with some extra bits), and a PE guidance antenna (left over from a Boulton Paul Defiant night fighter) on the nose, inspired by real Japanese radar systems of the model's era. The real me 210 had an ordnance load of 1.5 tons in- and externally, and the Ki-148 had a weight of 1.400 kg. There should be enough space under the fuselage and the extended landing gear to carry it


1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

  

Back to the core project. Building the Me 210 core went straightforward. The openings for the gun barbettes were filled, and as an alternative defensive armament I added mounts for single, hand-held machine guns that were fitted into the inside of the backward-facing flat glass panels of the rear cockpit section. Simple and effective.
Things became more demanding with the new radial engines and their respective nacelles from the Ki-46. The original nacelle fairings on the Me 210 wings had been completely cut away, leaving gaps in the wing surfaces, so I completed the new engines first, including their own nacelle extensions, and tried to trim them down so that they'd slip over the wings' leading edges and upper/lower surfaces, attempting to minimize PSR. That turned out to be easier and more effective than expected – the Ki-46 nacelles just covered the gaps, and only the nacelles' curvature for the upper wing surfaces had to be adjusted. The nacelles could be slipped over the Me 210 wings like gloves! The propellers were taken OOB, but – as usual – modified with long metal axles to make the spin freely and insert them once the whole model had been painted/finished. The landing gear was taken over from the Me 210 kit, I just had to scratch mounts for a stable hold of the struts inside of the new nacelles.


1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Progress remains steady. Landing gear next, I used the Me 210 parts but had to add consoles to the struts to mount them inside of the new nacelles:

1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

A look into the cockpit:

1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Engines were built separately:

1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

...and finally: the real horror. I already mentioned that the Bilek Me 210's fit is rather mediocre, but the clear parts are sh!t. Yes, they are clear, but a) the nose panel has a different shape/curvature than the nose section and b) the main glazing consists of six(!) sections with utterly thin rims so that mounting them onto the fuselage and - even worse - to each other are a call for desaster. That the material is very brittle, too, and easily breaks at the injection points does not help, either. Gawd, what a mess... 

1:72 Kyushu G11W1-KAI; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 711th Kokutai; Sasebo (Kyushu/West Japan), early 1945 (Whif/modified Bilek kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Those new nacelles work remarkably well, a great idea. 

Agree.