Quote:
Originally Posted by IceFire
Billfish I've been wondering about something Ki-61 related. You mentioned in your posts about the Ki-61-Id (Id was called "Tei" right?). Would the Id be difficult to add and would it have any sort of performance advantage over the earlier Ki-61s? I'm thinking about multiplayer scenarios where it would be nice to have a intermediate level aircraft in those early 1944 scenarios.
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The Ki-61-I-Tei / Kai / 1d, had some aspects of it redesigned which would affect performance.....However know ALL of the Hiens in the sim have errors not touched on in which alters combat performance.
First off, pilot armor, fuel tank armor, radiator armor, all evovled and strengthened throughout the Ki-61-I series of 4 types. In the sim as far as I can tell they are all the same.....Next, as fuel tank armor increased, capacity decreased. Add to that the Ko had a fuselage tank. Weights were rather consitant from the Ko-Hei in that as armament and armor grew larger fuel capacity shrank.
As to the Tei, though seeming rather similar it had some significant changes made. Systems were simplified and improved, the tailwheel was finally fixed (in the sim only the Ko's retracts which is wrong), and maintenence was improved, and the Hei's fuel tank fire suppression system remained........As to performance it's armor would be like the Hei's for the most part. However armament changed in which 20mm Ho-5 cannon were added to the fuselage, Ho-103 retained in the wings. The 20mm round was longer then the 12.7 of the Ho-103, so to that end the fuselage was lengthened, and ultimately the tail was "upsized" for balance and control all in all increasing the length .19m. Those various changes bumped up the weight of the Tei by roughly 350-400Kg.. That is a significant change, so naturally it would not climb as well or handle the "same" though the larger tail made up for some of that and it ultimately lost 10km/h off its top end speed.
In the end however, it was produced more by itself then the Ko-Otsu-Hei versions combined. The most common Hien of the war, and for all intensive purposes the last as the Ki-61-II never made it into true production and release to units.
K2