Aviation of Japan 日本の航空史: RTAF Museum Ki-55 'More Than' Walkaround Part 1

Thursday, 6 March 2014

RTAF Museum Ki-55 'More Than' Walkaround Part 1

Thanks to Johan de Wolf and the very kind auspices of his wife Ms. Sasinee Sornimsart and staff of the Royal Thai Air Force Museum Mr. Paitoon Lailerd, Mr Kiatisak Reunak and Ms Jariyaporn Somsaard, Aviation of Japan is privileged to present the photographic results of an unprecedented access session to the museum's surviving Tachikawa Ki-55 'Ida' trainer, which includes comprehensive coverage of the interior. Here are the first 12 of of a total of 121 photographs.

Boarding step - left side wing root only

Boarding access pins - left side only

Inner flap - left side

Outer flap - left side

Inner flap - left side

Outer flap - left side

Outer flap - left side paint surface detail

Inner flap - left side paint surface detail

Flap arrangement - left side

Aileron actuator - top surface left wing

Aileron left wing - note prominent diagonal rib pattern and hinge slots

Unfortunately there is currently no large scale kit of the Ki-36/Ki-55 available that would benefit from these details but hopefully that will be rectified in the not too distant future. Colour commentary will be included in subsequent instalments. If referring to or re-posting these images online kindly attribute them © 2014 Johan de Wolf via Aviation of Japan and provide a reciprocal courtesy link to www.aviationofjapan.com, thank you!

Part 2 of this series may be found here.

3 comments:

Ken Glass said...: Many thanks to Johan, Nick and the others listed, for posting these excellent walk-around pix.

Regards,
Ken Glass; 13 March 2014 at 13:20
Mark Smith said...: These are such valuable photos for anyone with more than a surface interest in this aircraft. Thanks to all those who made it possible to see them. To build a more accurate model with additional details from the Fujimi kit has been difficult without any dedicated publications (though I have heard an Arawasi Special had some nice stuff) and detail photos such as these has been difficult. In 1/48 I recall a quality vacform by Gull Models of Japan, but it is long OOP and when I've seen it at a show it's really expensive.; 18 March 2014 at 14:22
Mark said...: Extremely helpful stuff here for modelers, who haven't had that much to go on from the usual sources. one exception was a Special from Arawasi. Thanks to all who are responsible for sharing this info! There was a 1/48 vac from Gull Models of Japan, nice but now very hard to find.; 18 March 2014 at 18:25

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