In Box Review of Hasegawa 1/72nd Scale
Nakajima Ki49-II Koh 100 Heavy Bomber Donryu “Helen”
Kit no. 51212
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 1998
I paid $23.18 for my kit years ago.
Available at 2 locations, overseas on the web.
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 1998
I paid $23.18 for my kit years ago.
Available at 2 locations, overseas on the web.
HISTORY:
The Nakajima Ki49 Donryu (Storm Dragon) was a twin-engine Japanese World War II heavy bomber. It was designed to carry out daylight bombing missions, without the protection of escort fighters. Consequently, while its official designation, Army Type 100 Heavy Bomber, was accurate in regard to its formidable defensive armament and armor, these features restricted the Ki49 to payloads comparable to those of lighter medium bombers – the initial production variant could carry only 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of bombs. A mid-wing, cantilever monoplane of all-metal construction, the Ki49 was one of the first Japanese aircraft fitted with a retractable tailwheel. During World War II, it was known to the Allies by the reporting name "Helen".
The Ki49 was designed to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-21 ("Sally"), which entered service with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in 1938 Learning from service trials of the Ki21, the Army realized that however advanced it may have been at the time of its introduction, its new Mitsubishi bomber would in due course be unable to operate without fighter escorts. The Japanese Army stipulated that its replacement should have the speed and defensive weaponry to enable it to operate independently.
The prototype first flew in August 1939 and the development programme continued through three prototypes and seven pre-production aircraft. This first prototype was powered by a pair of 708 kW (949 hp) Nakajima Ha-5 KA-I radial engines but the next two had the 932 kW (1,250 hp) Nakajima Ha-41 engines that were intended for the production version. Seven more prototypes were built and these completed the test programme for the aircraft. Eventually in March 1941, the Donryu went into production as the Army Type 100 Heavy Bomber Model 1.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Crew: 8 {pilot, co-pilot, bombardier, navigator, radio operator/gunner and 3x gunners
Length: 16.5 m (54 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 20.42 m (67 ft 0 in)
Height: 4.25 m (13 ft 11 in)
Wing area: 69.05 m2 (743.2 sq ft)
Empty weight: 6,530 kg (14,396 lb)
Gross weight: 10,680 kg (23,545 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 11,400 kg (25,133 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Nakajima Ha-109 Army Type 2 fourteen-cylinder air-cooled radial 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 1,100 kW (1,500 hp) each for take-off or 969 kW (1,300 hp) at 5,280 m (17,320 ft)
Propellers: 3-bladed constant-speed metal propellers
Maximum speed: 492 km/h (306 mph, 266 kn) at 5,000 m (16,000 ft)
Cruise speed: 350 km/h (220 mph, 190 kn) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
Range: 2,000 km (1,200 mi, 1,100 nmi)
Ferry range: 2,950 km (1,830 mi, 1,590 nmi)
Service ceiling: 9,300 m (30,500 ft)
Time to altitude: 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in 13 minutes 39 seconds
Wing loading: 154.7 kg/m2 (31.7 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.2108 kW/kg (0.1282 hp/lb)
Armament:
Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) Ho-1 cannon in a dorsal gun position and 5× 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine guns (one nose, two waist, one ventral, and one in a tail position).
Bombs: 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) bomb-load
The Nakajima Ki49 Donryu (Storm Dragon) was a twin-engine Japanese World War II heavy bomber. It was designed to carry out daylight bombing missions, without the protection of escort fighters. Consequently, while its official designation, Army Type 100 Heavy Bomber, was accurate in regard to its formidable defensive armament and armor, these features restricted the Ki49 to payloads comparable to those of lighter medium bombers – the initial production variant could carry only 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of bombs. A mid-wing, cantilever monoplane of all-metal construction, the Ki49 was one of the first Japanese aircraft fitted with a retractable tailwheel. During World War II, it was known to the Allies by the reporting name "Helen".
The Ki49 was designed to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-21 ("Sally"), which entered service with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in 1938 Learning from service trials of the Ki21, the Army realized that however advanced it may have been at the time of its introduction, its new Mitsubishi bomber would in due course be unable to operate without fighter escorts. The Japanese Army stipulated that its replacement should have the speed and defensive weaponry to enable it to operate independently.
The prototype first flew in August 1939 and the development programme continued through three prototypes and seven pre-production aircraft. This first prototype was powered by a pair of 708 kW (949 hp) Nakajima Ha-5 KA-I radial engines but the next two had the 932 kW (1,250 hp) Nakajima Ha-41 engines that were intended for the production version. Seven more prototypes were built and these completed the test programme for the aircraft. Eventually in March 1941, the Donryu went into production as the Army Type 100 Heavy Bomber Model 1.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Crew: 8 {pilot, co-pilot, bombardier, navigator, radio operator/gunner and 3x gunners
Length: 16.5 m (54 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 20.42 m (67 ft 0 in)
Height: 4.25 m (13 ft 11 in)
Wing area: 69.05 m2 (743.2 sq ft)
Empty weight: 6,530 kg (14,396 lb)
Gross weight: 10,680 kg (23,545 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 11,400 kg (25,133 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Nakajima Ha-109 Army Type 2 fourteen-cylinder air-cooled radial 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 1,100 kW (1,500 hp) each for take-off or 969 kW (1,300 hp) at 5,280 m (17,320 ft)
Propellers: 3-bladed constant-speed metal propellers
Maximum speed: 492 km/h (306 mph, 266 kn) at 5,000 m (16,000 ft)
Cruise speed: 350 km/h (220 mph, 190 kn) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
Range: 2,000 km (1,200 mi, 1,100 nmi)
Ferry range: 2,950 km (1,830 mi, 1,590 nmi)
Service ceiling: 9,300 m (30,500 ft)
Time to altitude: 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in 13 minutes 39 seconds
Wing loading: 154.7 kg/m2 (31.7 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.2108 kW/kg (0.1282 hp/lb)
Armament:
Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) Ho-1 cannon in a dorsal gun position and 5× 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine guns (one nose, two waist, one ventral, and one in a tail position).
Bombs: 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) bomb-load
THE KIT:
Hasegawa is an old prolific plastic model kit manufacturer, based in Japan.
They make all manner of plastic model kit subjects in the popular scales.
This kit comes in a shrink-wrapped, tray and lid type box.
The cover art shows a color illustration of two Nakajima Ki49’s in flight above the clouds. Both aircraft are in the same scheme and markings.
They are in a wave-pattern camouflage of dark-green, grey-green and sandy-brown, over a blue undercarriage. The tops of the engine cowlings on the side toward the fuselage is black. Japanese Air Force red roundels are outlined in white and atop the wings and on the fuselage sides. The roundels below the wings are not white-outlined. They both have narrow yellow fuselage bands in front of the rudders. On the sides of the rudder there is white cross that is outlined in red.
One side-panel of the box says: Kit contains parts for one model. Paint and glue are not included. With multiple languages instructions.
Hasegawa is an old prolific plastic model kit manufacturer, based in Japan.
They make all manner of plastic model kit subjects in the popular scales.
This kit comes in a shrink-wrapped, tray and lid type box.
The cover art shows a color illustration of two Nakajima Ki49’s in flight above the clouds. Both aircraft are in the same scheme and markings.
They are in a wave-pattern camouflage of dark-green, grey-green and sandy-brown, over a blue undercarriage. The tops of the engine cowlings on the side toward the fuselage is black. Japanese Air Force red roundels are outlined in white and atop the wings and on the fuselage sides. The roundels below the wings are not white-outlined. They both have narrow yellow fuselage bands in front of the rudders. On the sides of the rudder there is white cross that is outlined in red.
One side-panel of the box says: Kit contains parts for one model. Paint and glue are not included. With multiple languages instructions.
The other side-panel of the box has a color photo of the model made up, in the box art scheme, as seen from above. Kit is to 1/72nd scale, length 283.5mm (a hair over 11”), wingspan is (a hair over 9”). The Copyright of the kit is 1998 and kit was made in Japan.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX:
This kit holds 7 medium-grey trees, a clear tree, white vinyl poly-caps and the decal sheet in 2 sealed clear cello bags.
The instructions consist of a single-sheet that accordion-folds out into 8 pages in 7 ¼” x 10 ¼” page format.
Page 1 begins with a black and white photo of the model made up in the box art scheme, over the history of the Helen in Japanese and English.
Page 2 has international assembly symbol explanations at the top, in 6 languages, including English.
The bottom of page 2 on through to 4 gives a grand total of 8 assembly steps.
Page 5 is the parts-trees illustrations, over a customer assistance coupon in just Japanese and a listing of paint colors in Japanese andEnglish.
Spread across pages 6 & 7 is a painting and marking guide.
First shown is a 4 view of the box art scheme (already described above).
It was with the 2nd Company, 74th Fighter Regiment.
The second 4-view shows a Helen in a spotted camouflage pattern of brown and dark-green, over a light blue undercarriage. It has a black panel in front of the windscreen, yellow wing leading edges, black inboard top panels of the cowling. Roundels the same as the previous Helen. A yellow swirl insignia on the sides of the rudder.
It was with the 3rd Company, 62nd Fighter Regiment.
Trees are alphabetized.
Medium-grey letter A three holds: the fuselage halves, cowlings etc. (8 parts).
This kit holds 7 medium-grey trees, a clear tree, white vinyl poly-caps and the decal sheet in 2 sealed clear cello bags.
The instructions consist of a single-sheet that accordion-folds out into 8 pages in 7 ¼” x 10 ¼” page format.
Page 1 begins with a black and white photo of the model made up in the box art scheme, over the history of the Helen in Japanese and English.
Page 2 has international assembly symbol explanations at the top, in 6 languages, including English.
The bottom of page 2 on through to 4 gives a grand total of 8 assembly steps.
Page 5 is the parts-trees illustrations, over a customer assistance coupon in just Japanese and a listing of paint colors in Japanese andEnglish.
Spread across pages 6 & 7 is a painting and marking guide.
First shown is a 4 view of the box art scheme (already described above).
It was with the 2nd Company, 74th Fighter Regiment.
The second 4-view shows a Helen in a spotted camouflage pattern of brown and dark-green, over a light blue undercarriage. It has a black panel in front of the windscreen, yellow wing leading edges, black inboard top panels of the cowling. Roundels the same as the previous Helen. A yellow swirl insignia on the sides of the rudder.
It was with the 3rd Company, 62nd Fighter Regiment.
Trees are alphabetized.
Medium-grey letter A three holds: the fuselage halves, cowlings etc. (8 parts).
Medium-grey letter B tree holds the wing halves (4 parts).
Medium-grey letter C tree holds interior parts etc. (25 parts) Two parts are shaded out in the parts-trees illustrations as being excess and not needed to complete the model.
There are 2 identical medium-grey letter D and F trees that are co-joined.
Letter D holds: the elevators, engines, control yokes etc. (20 parts)
There is no letter E tree.
The medium-grey letter F trees hold propellers (2 parts ea.)
Letter D holds: the elevators, engines, control yokes etc. (20 parts)
There is no letter E tree.
The medium-grey letter F trees hold propellers (2 parts ea.)
Lettering jumps to the clear letter J tree. It holds canopies, fuse nose and light lenses (19 parts) One part is excess.
Lettering jumps again to the white vinyl letter P tree. It holds poly-caps (4 parts) 2 parts are excess.
The decal sheet completes the kits contents. There are no crew figures included.
The detail is very good.
Recommended.
Recommended.