KI-67 Update?

[lyric1]

Received documents from the Smithsonian here is a brief one about a wrecked KI-67 found in China.

https://www.scribd.com/document/329540277/e-Taic-s-15-Technical-Data-Ki-67-Peggy 

[lyric1]

Received documents from the Smithsonian here is a brief one about a wrecked KI-67 found in China.

https://www.scribd.com/document/329540277/e-Taic-s-15-Technical-Data-Ki-67-Peggy

First thing I noticed about the defensive guns all of them were belt fed for the 12.7mm guns.
Have not been able to find good photos of the waist fuselage guns at all.



There is a few drawings mostly of the 7.7mm gun and they were the drum feed type.





This cutaway drawing has shown the belt feed for the waist guns.



The top turret was hydraulic all the rest were flexible. No assisted drive on them unlike the Betty for instance that had a front turret that was electric.
Self sealing fuel tanks that I did not know about as well. 
Wonder if that is programed on the Peggy in AHIII?

Also noticed the rear gun support is very different than what we have in AHIII & what the drawings show.



The rear support frame looks very much the same as the front support frame.



What we have in game is identical to this drawing below a very sturdy frame that looks nothing like the image of the rear gun support frame above.





After looking at most of the images I have that show the rear gun frame the only one I have that is the same as the drawing is one of the prototypes.





All the others show a slimmed down version.





This KI-67 Prior to shipping to the USA shows it best.
Also take note of the two floating grab handles the gunner used to pull himself up from his kneeling position.





Clearly at some point there was a redesign of the support framing of the rear gun.


 

[lyric1]

Received documents from the Smithsonian here is a brief one about a wrecked KI-67 found in China.

Service manual for the dorsal turret.

https://www.scribd.com/document/330111151/KI-67-Hiryu-Dorsal-Turret-Service-Manual

If SCRIBD is not working for you try link below.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/fi58t17smic73w3/KI-67+HIRYU+DORSAL+TURRET+SERVICE+MANUAL.pdf

[lyric1]

Service manual for the aircraft.

https://www.scribd.com/document/330116604/Mitsubishi-KI-67-Hiryu-Aircraft-Service-Manual

If SCRIBD is not working for you try link below.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/cr42199qq1vr25y/Mitsubishi+KI-67+Hiryu+Aircraft+Service+Manual..pdf

[Devil 505]

Items have been removed from Scribd.

[lyric1]

Items have been removed from Scribd.

Working on my end?

[EagleDNY]

So what is the final verdict?  It looks like with the mechanical drawings and pictures we can see how the rotating dome allowed the gunner a greater arc of fire, but is that reflected in our Ki-67 model in AH?   Should we have a greater arc on the front & rear guns or not??

[lyric1]

So what is the final verdict?  It looks like with the mechanical drawings and pictures we can see how the rotating dome allowed the gunner a greater arc of fire, but is that reflected in our Ki-67 model in AH?   Should we have a greater arc on the front & rear guns or not??

Front gun yes no doubt AHIII front turret is flat designed wrong rear gun? 
There is nothing in the current documents I received showing any facts about the turrets ability's or drawings to support them.

[EagleDNY]

OK - that is kind of what I thought but just wanted to make sure.   Since I am sure that HTC is feverishly working on the Ki-67 update (made vastly simpler by the great data posted in this thread) I will eagerly await my new Peggy.

[lyric1]

Always wondered if the waist guns slid on the mounting rail & the locking handle was for this purpose. After looking at some of the new images I found I would say no it is fixed in one spot and the handles are just to rotate the turret bubble out of the way so the gun can be deployed for action.

What gave it away was the domed rivets you can see in the drawing below.
It is like the rear mounting bar of the gun on the Betty locked into place by multiple rivets.









Few other images of the waist gun set up.

[BuckShot]

In the diagram where you pointed out the rivits in the side gun mount, part 7 looks like it could be an unlocking mechanism and handle (part 6) used to unlock and slide the whole pintle rig along the curved rail.

Thanks for posting this stuff lyric, I always look forward to your new posts.

~S~ Buck

[lyric1]

In the diagram where you pointed out the rivits in the side gun mount, part 7 looks like it could be an unlocking mechanism and handle (part 6) used to unlock and slide the whole pintle rig along the curved rail.

Thanks for posting this stuff lyric, I always look forward to your new posts.

~S~ Buck

That is what I thought at first as well but no. The levers that you depress looks to unlock the mounting bar & allows it to act like a cam. When you rotate it inwards the turret portion rotates in and is pulled off then hung on the wall. There is a cable on a pulley with a piston like a screen door that keeps the tension. When the turret bubble is to be put back start the same process.
This view shows it a little better.



Also forgot to post this picture from the KI-67 Service manual.

[lyric1]

Recently found a Japanese book on EBAY that I have been wanting for a while now.
It has an image I had not seen before.



This is one of the aircraft from a training squadron.
Again the rear gun mount support is a very much scaled down version to what we have in game,as well as virtually all Japanese drawings like the images below.





I mentioned before that the only photo I have found with that style of rear gun support was on the prototype KI-67's. Number 715 in the image above was an early version of the KI-67 variants. So I was trying to figure out when did this design change to the gun mount take place & I have the answer now.

When I was looking at some line drawings I noticed that the overall length in one drawing was 18m700 & on another 18m350 what happened to the other 350?

So after translating the text here is why.







First drawing is for the prototypes and there was only three of those the second drawing was for the regular production run.
When you look at the next drawing that overlays the two variants it is obvious that the turret domes are different.





So this is why the 350 difference in length. The Plexiglass domes got shallower and affected the overall length.
Another view from overhead showing the front turret domes.




Earlier in this thread I had posted two drawings of different designs of the front turret. At the time I did not know why they had two different versions.

Prototype front turret.



Production run front turret.



Also explains the line drawing for the rear turret with the metal support around the gun slot.



Its the same as the prototype.






Also found a rare photo of the front of this aircraft on a Japanese blog and it confirms the larger dome on the nose as well as the different design.
Also a near perfect match for what we have in game now.





It looks like most of the Japanese books took all their information from the KI-67 aircraft service manual I posted on the SCRIBD links. https://www.scribd.com/document/330116604/Mitsubishi-KI-67-Hiryu-Aircraft-Service-Manual The service manual looks to be based off the Prototypes not the production run aircraft. So since there is clearly a redesign of the front and rear guns the drawings that show the gun arcs,are most likely based off of the prototypes and not the improved designs of the production run aircraft.





Also after cropping two of the previous drawings from this post that are only showing the rear gun turret now. It is conformation of an actual design change to the rear gun mount to a sleeker design.

Prototype.



Production.

[Chalenge]

It depends on the length of that gun and the room from side-to-side. I think I can work out a draft on this and calculate the angle. It won't be point accurate, but rough enough to know if the game is accurate.

[lyric1]

It depends on the length of that gun and the room from side-to-side. I think I can work out a draft on this and calculate the angle. It won't be point accurate, but rough enough to know if the game is accurate.

Oh please do. 
Your findings last time surpassed what is in books as well as in game.