Nakajima Ki 201 "Karyu" (Fire Dragon) IJAAF

[Hypnobear]

Hi

My first of three builds for my first ever groupbuild will be a Nakajima Ki 201 Karyu interceptor in IJAAF service

Heres the (long) back story:

By the beginning of 1945, the war was going badly for Japan, and defeat seemed imminent. Constant bomber raids from the high flying B 29's had wrecked many of Japanse aircraft factories since 1944, and serverely damaged many cities, including Tokyo. Many Japanese fighters were pressed into service, but few could reach the high altitudes of the B 29's that rained tonnes of bombs down onto Japanese territory almost daily. Any aircraft in the Japanese inventory that could reach the required altitudes were either still under tests or there were simply not enough at the time.

However, the Japanese authorities had noticed the success the German Me 262 had achieved in the West, and requested the license to build examples of this twin jet airplane in Japan to be used as an interceptor against B 29's. With it's heavy armament of 4 30mm cannons and superior speed, the Japanese believed this could destroy B 29's with its powerful cannons while easily escaping any escort fighters. In January 1945, Germany agreed to send Japan a complete sset of blueprints and instructions, plus an unassembled ME 262 transported in a submarine. Fortunately for the Japanese, the submarine managed to reach Japan safely, and the team led by Iwao Shibuya began work immediately on modifying the ME 262. However, by March that year, the Japanese authorities requested that Iwao's team stopped modifications to the ME 262 and to begin to mass produce the aircraft exactly the same as constructed by Germany as ever increasing raids meant that Japan didnt have time to change the ME 262, and units at the front line desperately needed the fighter as soon as possible.

So, Nakajima's team quickly set up production lines in their factories and gave priority to the aircraft. However, in one raid, the factory that had started to produce the Ki 201 was badly damaged in a raid several weeks after the beginning of the program, and so Nakajima was forced to set up remote, smaller factories that were out of the way of larger cities to continue production. Luckily for Japan, these small remote factories were not hit, and by June 1945, almost 100 had came off the production line. Despite this, serious shortages in strategic materials lead to the design team replacing many parts with other materials such as wood to save precious materials. The new revised aircraft was known as the Ki 201b

Back in America, after long discussions, the proposed atomic bombing of several Japanese cities was decided not necessary and that Japan would soon be forced to surrender as their supplies dwindled and constant bombing pounded their cities. This gave Japan time, and by late August, tests of both the Ki 201a and Ki 201b were complete, and deliveries to the sentai's began. by September, whole units of Ki 201's were in action, and proved deadly against American B 29's, in many cases shooting off engines with one shot. Japanese pilots also started new tactics by using propellor aircraft and Ki 201's together in combat where the Ki 201's, flown by more experienced pilots concentrated on the bombers while fighters such as the Ki 100 and Ki 84 took on any escorts. This proved a deadly tactic, which saw the destruction of many more American aircraft, and as better propellor fighters took to the skies, such as the Ki 83 and J7W1, American fighters had an even tougher job protecting the B 29's.

Japanese Ki 201's proved very successful in combat, claiming at least 50 B 29 kills, and several fighters. They gave Japan time to work on other interceptors such as the jet engined J7W2, and build up their defences against attack from invasion. However, by 1946, America was replacing many of its B 29's with B 36 Peacemakers, and despite Japanese attampts, even the jet interceptors had problems reaching their altitudes. With no effective interceptor at their disposal to combat the new threat, B 36 bombers almost freely were able to pound Japanese cities with even more bombs than previously with the B 29's. In June 1946, Japan was forced to surrender as its planes barely affected the high flying B 36's, many more of their factories had been hit, and the Tiger force from Europe was ready to invade along with the US forces.

The kit will be Revell's ME 262 from their Dogfight doubles kit:

Im hoping to do a green and brown camouflage scheme with grey underneath, we will see how things turn out...

Looking forward to starting!!!

[RussTnailZ]

Wow great detailed backstory its my first group build too

Russ

[Daniel]

Great story!

I think this is a few peoples first group build, hopefully we can all keep commenting on each others builds and make for a friendly 3 months.

Dan

[CPNGROATS]

Nakajima: I too have speculated what the Japanese might have done if the U-Boat carrying the ME-262 had delivered it's cargo...the picture attached is that delivered a/c dressed up in prototype evaluation markings...as your story goes the Ki201 was to be an "improved design" based on the German 262. So hopfully you will bear with me and allow this visual of the delivered ME-262 add creedance to your background story..

{ 21st Century Toys model, 1/32 scale, modified with after market resin wheels, brake lines added and scrounged IJA decals from the spares box..note: the tail marking is actually from an old MicroScale Japanese decal sheet}

Wiff Cheers,

ggc

[AnonymousDFB1]

Love the story

[Hypnobear]

Thanks everyone! I didnt intend on making the story so long, I just got into it and kept writing! My other two builds' backstories wont be as long

CPNGROATS: I like your model of the ME 262 in Japanese colours! Unfortunately I dont know how to change the kit Ive got to make it look more like the Japanese design, so Ive just cheated by saying they didnt have time to change the airframe!

[CPNGROATS]

Nakajima, tks, your story of the Japanese doing a copy of the 262 is cool. The drawings I've seen of the "Karyu" show a very similar design..too little too late..eh?

Cheers,

ggc

[Hypnobear]

Nakajima, tks, your story of the Japanese doing a copy of the 262 is cool. The drawings I've seen of the "Karyu" show a very similar design..too little too late..eh?

Cheers,

ggc

It would have been interesting to see some of Japan and Germany's last ditched attempts come to fruition, and their what their effectivness would be

[CPNGROATS]

Much of the advanced technology of Germany and to a lesser extent, Japan was evaluated after the war. The US and the Soviets both gained from German technology and scientists, swept wings and missiles are two area that come to mind. There were other areas of interest as well. As far as effectiveness, just comparing individual weapons can be misleading, as modern weapons systems need a lot of support, infrastucture and quantity to gain a decisive advantage. By 1945 both Germany and Japan were ' dead men walking'..

Cheers,

ggc

Edited July 22, 2010 by CPNGROATS

[Hypnobear]

Both this kit and the FW 190 Im planning to build (also to be done in Japanese markings) have a complete set of German stencilling, I wonder if I could get away with using any of them?

[The wooksta V2.0]

Don't see why not. I did it myself with a couple of Japanese Me 262s I did about ten years ago (2 Hasegawa 2 seaters as trainers).

Make it more Japanese? Change the wheels. If they had the drawings to actually build it, it would look pretty much identical.

There is a kit of the Japanese Me 262 clone by RS Resins. I've got one somewhere but never built it.

[Hypnobear]

Don't see why not. I did it myself with a couple of Japanese Me 262s I did about ten years ago (2 Hasegawa 2 seaters as trainers).

Make it more Japanese? Change the wheels. If they had the drawings to actually build it, it would look pretty much identical.

There is a kit of the Japanese Me 262 clone by RS Resins. I've got one somewhere but never built it.

I might use some of them just to bring it to life a bit more

Its a long shot, but there might be some wheels I could use as a second option in one of my other Japanese kits. Doubt it, but as my Hasegawa Zero has a choice of 3 engine cowlings, you never know. I like looking through my collection anyway

Edited July 26, 2010 by Nakajima15

[ChancerUK]

Like the background story, but agree with other comments, you should make it a bit more Japanese, possibly add drop taks the increase the range, or a razor back to allow for incrased internal fuel capicity and even heavier armament.

[Hypnobear]

Like the background story, but agree with other comments, you should make it a bit more Japanese, possibly add drop taks the increase the range, or a razor back to allow for incrased internal fuel capicity and even heavier armament.

Thanks, I dont have any spare wheels I could use without ripping up another kit, which I dont really want to do, however I could add some underwing guns or droptanks, Im sure there should be some of those in one of my kits...

[Hypnobear]

First work on the Ki 201 started today, and the interior is mostly done. Unfortunately I cant get a good close up shot of the cockpit with my camera as it just looks like a grey blob, which is a shame because it looks quite good and Im happy with how it turned out

Ive decided to add some rocket things I found in my spares box from the old Airfix BF 109G, as I think they were used to intercept bombers

Edited July 31, 2010 by Nakajima15

[Hypnobear]

More progress done today, and the whole airframe is now together awaiting painting:

Wings and fuselage attached

Whole plane with undercarriage...

Didnt have too many problems with this, surprising as theres usually something that will stop me in my tracks

[RussTnailZ]

Great start and i thought i had charged on lol

Russ

[Hypnobear]

Great start and i thought i had charged on lol

Russ

Yeah, Im very quick at making models usually, if I get several hours to do some modelling, it can be from the box to awaiting painting!

Ill need to slow down a bit with the painting, thats where I always make a mess of things

Going OK so far though!

[TaiidanTomcat]

Excellent progress!! very excited to see more

[CPNGROATS]

looking good, the dragon is stirring....eh?/

Cheers,

ggc

[Hypnobear]

looking good, the dragon is stirring....eh?/

Cheers,

ggc

The Dragon is coming along nicely now, lots more done today!

I tried the camouflage scheme, any comments on if it looks OK would be great! Its based very loosely on camouflage worn on a Ki 43 Oscar, however I just guessed when painting the wings

This is how the camo looks:

Ive probably put the anti bomber rocket pods in the wrong place, but I thought they looked better on the wings than the front of the fuselage

I think it'll look better once its been weathered and with markings Ive selected

Cant believe how fast theyve gone from starting to here, but with a lot of time on my hands and no advanced modelling skills, it doesnt take me long at all

Edited August 1, 2010 by Nakajima15

[CPNGROATS]

Camo looks good, the Dragon will live..!!!

Cheers,

ggc

[Hypnobear]

Camo looks good, the Dragon will live..!!!

Cheers,

ggc

Glad you think it looks OK, it was the closest I could get with the paints in my inventory

Weathering has been painted on now as the sellotape method didnt work. At first I overdid it, so I removed about half of it, and it still looks a mess!

Going from that....

To this....

and finally some oil stains added...

Lost the antenna loop along the way though, so Ill have to find a replacement part

As you can see, I like making my models dirty

[CPNGROATS]

So now we be lookin for dem "MEATBALLS"...

Dragon Cheers,

ggc

[Hypnobear]

So now we be lookin for dem "MEATBALLS"...

Dragon Cheers,

ggc

Here it is, complete with meatballs!

Decals were sourced from my spares box. All done within 3 days from starting! I just wish the paint job hadnt came out so heavy, but theres nothing I could do about it. But at least its given me the opportunity to try out new skills and I think Ive improved since my last build.

And Ive enjoyed it even though I did have 3 months to complete it, thats the main thing!

Any comments very welcome, I like comments