Mitsubishi Ki.46 Dinah interceptor.

[CSMO]

The Japanese puppet Manchukuo Air Force operated the similar Kawasaki Ki.45 Nick. It's plausible that they could have operated Dinahs as well against American B-29s operating from China against Japanese targets.



The model is built totally OOB. It's brush-painted Pollyscale IJA Brown over Testors Flat Silver with homemade Gray-Green fabric control surfaces.



The Manchukuo Air Force markings are leftover from the Meng Manchu Ki.98 kit.



Adios, Larry.

[NARSES2]

I like that.  Very plausible especially if the War had gone on into 1946 (with no Soviet invasion). Manchukuo AF is a nice repository for Japanese aircraft you want to show differently.

[Dizzyfugu]

What kit is this? One of the LS/ARII kits?

[CSMO]

LS 1/72 kit with parts for the interceptor .

Adios,Larry.

[zenrat]

 

[Dizzyfugu]

Thanks a lot for the info! 

[PR19_Kit]

That looks terrific, and the brushed paint job is good too. 

Is that a monster gun sticking out of the roof? Like a Japanese Shrage Musik installation?

[CSMO]

Yes. Oblique mounted 37mm automatic cannon.

Adios, Larry.

[NARSES2]

Yes. Oblique mounted 37mm automatic cannon.

They fitted quite a few (types rather than number of aircraft) of their two seater's with similar weapons, some of which were of greater calibre and most of which were crew served. Makes for an interesting looking aircraft but I've no idea how effective they were ?

As an aside the Gloster F.9/37 was intended to have 4 x 20.mm upwards firing cannon long before the term Shrage Musik was heard  Not sure if they were ever fiited to either prototype, although it had the nose mounted cannon.

[dadlamassu]

Quite a bit about the Ki-46 III Kai here http://www.airvectors.net/avki46.html

It says:
In June 1943, the Rikugun Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo (Army Aeronautical Research Institute) began work to convert the Ki-46 into a stopgap high-altitude interceptor. The interceptor variant was based on the Ki-46-III with cameras deleted, though it reverted to a more conventional cockpit canopy arrangement since the nose had to be fitted with twin Ho-5 20-millimeter cannon with 200 rounds per gun. An Ho-203 37 millimeter cannon with 200 rounds capacity was placed in a fixed mounting on the top of the aircraft to fire upward and forward at an angle of 60 degrees from the horizontal.

The Ki-46-III Kai proved a disappointment. It lacked the climb and altitude performance to catch the fast, high-flying Boeing B-29 Superfortresses that were beginning to pound Japan. When it did catch the American bombers, the fighter's lack of armor and self-sealing tanks left the Ki-46-III Kai highly vulnerable to the B-29's heavy defensive armament. When the B-29s shifted to low-level night raids in May 1945, the Ki-46-III Kai became almost useless since it had no radar.

[comrade harps]

Nice 

[Rick Lowe]

Nice job. 

[NARSES2]

The Ki-46-III Kai proved a disappointment. It lacked the climb and altitude performance to catch the fast, high-flying Boeing B-29 Superfortresses that were beginning to pound Japan.

I think they had the same problem with most of these conversions mounting oblique cannon.

[Captain Canada]

Looks good ! The colours and markings combo are very nice. The gun looks cools too