High Flying Hickory
Scale Aircraft Modelling|October 2021
Harvey Low builds a 1/72 trainer kit with attitude.
Harvey Low
High Flying Hickory

Tachikawa Ki-54 Hei/‘Hickory’

Kit No: SH72270

Scale: 1/72

Type: Injection Moulded Plastic

Manufacturer: Special Hobby www.specialhobby.eu

Japanese World War II aficionados, or anyone interested in obscure aircraft, will love this new release of the Tachikawa Ki-54 in 1/72 scale. Code-named ‘Hickory’ by the Allies, the Ki54 was an army training and liaison aircraft that entered service in 1941 as the Army Type 1 Advanced Trainer. Similar in size to a Lockheed 10 Electra or Avro Anson, it was powered by two nine-cylinder Hitachi Ha-13 engines (which also powered the Ki-9 Spruce and Ki-79 Manshu). It was considered the most advanced trainer in the Army Airforce and is, in my opinion, a very attractive bird. Although it saw much use during the war, little is known about this aircraft even though there are three surviving examples; the most recent one being one recovered from a freshwater lake in Japan in 2012.

There were four main variants: the Ki-54a koh – an unarmed trainer for pilots, navigators and bombardiers; the Ki-54b otsu – an armed trainer with two dome turrets for 7.7mm guns and, on some aircraft, a long canopy for the instructor to move between the domes; the Ki-54c hei – the unarmed eight-passenger transport/communications version (which this kit portrays); and the Ki-54d tei – a maritime reconnaissance version with anti-submarine weapons and depth charges, for which no references or photos exist that I know of.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2021 من Scale Aircraft Modelling.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2021 من Scale Aircraft Modelling.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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