Hasegawa 1/32 scale
Ki-44 II Otsu

by Roland Sachsenhofer

Ki-44 II Otsu

Hobby Boss' 1/48 scale Bv 141 is available online from Squadron.com

Nakajima did produce a bunch of excellent fighters for the Imperial Japanese Army, just to remember the Ki-27, Ki-43 Hayabusa or the outstanding Ki-84 Hayate. Each of these planes represents a milestone in Japanese fighter development

The Ki-44 “Shoki” or “demon killer” fits well into this row of state of the art fighter planes. Thought as replacement for the all too nimble and underpowered Ki-43, development started in 1939, with the new type’s first flight in August 1940. From the middle of 1942 on the Shoki was delivered to the units of the Imperial Japanese Army, where it did quite well as fighter and interceptor.

The Ki-44s Achilles heel was the lack of a compact and powerful turbocharged engine. Designed as an interceptor but underpowered at higher altitudes, the “Shoki” was not well suited to reach the high flying B-29 Superfortress in the skies over Japans cities. In addition, it´s weaponry of four12,7 mm Ho-103 machine guns had no fair chance to “kill” a Superfortress.

To change this, several modifications had been tried. One of them was a wing armament of two monstrous 40mm Ho-103 canons. Even with a few hits a B-29 would be doomed.

The great disadvantage was the weapons slow muzzle velocity, which meant that an aimed shot had to be fired from point blank range. The bombers fierce defence made this a very risky tactic.

My model depicts one of a handful of Ki-44 which got the mentioned 40mm canons. It was used by the 2nd Chutai of the 47th Hiko Sentai in 1944, which had its base at Narimasu airfield northwest of Tokyo.

The Ki-44 production ended in 1944- even its predecessor, the Ki-43, would be produced till wars end. The main reason for this decision will probably be the Shokis need for rare high performance engines- and the overwhelming abilities of its successor, the Ki-84 Hayate.

The Hasegawa kit was a pleasure to build, all the markings have been painted, Hinomarus and the markings on landing gear doors and fin have been taken from the decal sheet.

If you are interested in the building process, please have a look on the workbench at the JAM Forum:

http://www.razyboard.com/system/morethread-ki-44-ii-shoki-tojo-hasegawa-132-raidenjack-2293882-6336371-0.html

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As ever, remarks will be appreciated: ro.sachsenhofer@gmx.at

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2015 by Roland Sachsenhofer
Page Created 8 December, 2015
Last Updated 8 December, 2015

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