#046 Tachikawa Ki-55
Building a SG$5 bargain Fujimi 1:72 kit of the Tachikawa Ki-55 Type 99 Advanced Trainer.
Notes
The Tachikawa Ki-55 ‘Ida’ was put into production in 1939 as the Tachikawa Army Type 99 Advanced Trainer (キ55九九式高等练习机 - Ki-55 Type 99 Advanced Trainer). By the time production ended in December 1943, 1078 had been built by Tachikawa and 311 by Kawasaki
The Kit
This was a $5 bargain basement find at the 2022 Kits for Kids charity event. Just a bag of parts, and a yellowed set of instructions and decals.
It is a Fujimi kit tooled in 1983.
The decals were pretty ancient and I wasn’t sure if they would be usable. Turns out the answer was “just”.
Paint Scheme
The main paints used:
| Feature | Color | Recommended | Paint Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| cockpit interior | Navy Blue | H-54 | 70.899 Dark Prussian Blue |
| cowling, wheel shrouds | Cocoa Brown | H-17 | 70.872 Chocolate Brown |
| fuselage | Orange Yellow | H-24 + H-3 | H-14 with matt yellow undercoat |
| prop | Silver | H-8 | 77.701 Aluminium |
The Build
There’s not much cockpit detail, but I was surprised how easily the dashboard pops with just a little paint.
Assembly is straight-forward and fit is much better than I would expect from a kit of this age.
A nice weekender;-)
I was prepared to have to mask/paint the relatively simple markings, but the original kits decals just managed to do the trick.
The final gallery shots - no special finishing or base for this one (yet).
Credits and References
- this project on scalemates
- Tachikawa Ki-55 Fujimi No. 7A-A1 1:72
Research References
- Tachikawa Ki-55 - wikipedia
- Tachikawa Aircraft Company 立川飛行機株式会社