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Project Notes

#662 Tachikawa KKY-1

Building the rare Tachikawa KKY1 from Ukrainian model company Amodel. No electronics in this one.

Build

Notes

The Tachikawa KKY was designed as a light ambulance aircraft. Only 21 were produced, and it was used in the Second Sino-Japanese War between 1936 and 1940.

The initial prototype and production machines as depicted in this kit were designated KKY or KKY-1. They are distinguished by the four cylinder air-cooled, inverted inline Cirrus Hermes IV engine. The British Cirrus-Hermes Engineering Company was formed in 1931, but taken over by Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company in 1934.

The later KKY-2 variant switched to the 150 hp Gasuden Jimpu seven cylinder radial engine.

The Kit

According to scalemates, Amodel is the only manufacturer to have produced a model of the KKY.

Amodel is a Ukrainian model company. Their kits are distributed by IBG of Poland and available direct from IBG.

kit_box

kit_parts

Paint Scheme

Feature Color Recommended Paint Used
A fuselage Light Grey humbrol 147 70.951 white with pre-shading 70.843 Cork Brown
B Black humbrol 33  
C exhaust Rust humbrol 113 Humbrol 56 + AK Light Rust wash
D Wood humbrol 110  
E Interior Green humbrol 158 70.893 US Dark Green
F Brown humbrol 186  
engine block   - Humbrol 53

Build Log

I initially primed in black and then sprayed white. The result was coming up too “cold”, so I subsequently gave it a light undercoat of cork brown before finishing in white.

build01a

The cockpit and canopy needed a lot of fettling to get a good fit. With this kit it is well worth taking the time before paint and glue to make sure the fit is true. Luckily I was warned of this by @tochi.nocchi.

build02a

As I was going to display the model in-flight, I needed at least a pilot. there are no figures in the kit, so I grabbed one from my misc spares box - I think an Airfix pilot.

build02b

The prop was an experiment using some 1:32 plywood texture decals from proper.plane to imitate a wood finish. I like the “impression” and it was easy, but perhaps doesn’t have the detail I’ve seen some get with good old brush and paints

build03a build03b

Whipping up a quick based with some scrap board and a rough surface sculpted from papier-mâché.

build04a

And we have take-off! The pose is inspired by the box art.

build04b build04c build04d build04e build04f build04g

With some prop blur;-)

build04h

Found a space on the bookshelf pending a proper home..

build05a

Credits and References

About LEAP#662 scale modelsCraft
Project Source on GitHub Project Gallery Return to the LEAP Catalog

This page is a web-friendly rendering of my project notes shared in the LEAP GitHub repository.

LEAP is just my personal collection of projects, usually involving an Arduino or other microprocessor in one way or another. Some are full-blown projects, while many are trivial breadboard experiments, intended to learn and explore something interesting (IMHO!).

The projects are usually inspired by things found wild on the net, or ideas from the sources such as:

Feel free to borrow liberally, and if you spot any issues do let me know. See the individual projects for credits where due. There are even now a few projects contributed by others - send your own over in a pull request if you would also like to add to this collection.