Mitsubishi J8M1 (Army Ki-200) CGI Project

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far shinpachi!

 

[Shinpachi]

An old suitcase.
This could have carried a few thousands pages of technical data.
My imagination over old Japanese engineers extends.

Source: 信州味噌の塩屋醸造 旅行カバン

 

[Wurger]

 

[MiTasol]

Mitsubishi announced in the postwar that they developed the J8M based on the Me-163 manual with hardships because no sample was given but I begin to wonder if it was a little bit exaggeration. As a common sense, a maker can build a product without sample if the specification and drawings are given. No sample but Iwaya could answer engineers' question as he witnessed actual product in Germany. This picture, for example, introduces the 10th former of the J8M1 Shusui. Structure is almost same as the Me-163 and no one can draw this in imagination or oral advice only. I think that the reverse engineering could be a myth.
Source: "Shusui" and Japanese Jet, Rocket Planes by Model Art in Nov. 1998

How close are the dimensions of the Me frames to the J8M frames?
If identical on all or most frames that would prove you right. If different by more than a rounding number then I would say they reverse engineered from the manual as claimed. There could be a rounding difference if the two manufacturers used different tolerances.

Maybe they reverse engineered like Packard did with the Merlin in the USA and GMH did with the Gypsy in Australia - redrafting every single drawing, in the first case changing every drawing from first angle projection to third angle and in the second case changing all the measurements from metric to Inferial.

 

[Shinpachi]

I would be able to clarify step by step.
Thanks for your kind advice, MiTasol.

 

[GrauGeist]

I suspect that the paperwork Commander Iwaya had was not a manual in the sense of an operating manual as we imagine, but a more comprehensive production, assembly and operation detail with component overviews.

 

[Shinpachi]

Good point, Dave.
What I heard in my childhood was that Mitsubishi built up J8M based on this one piece of Me-163 diagram.

Source: 旧軍の遺構・資料館・博物館等…中京・東海編：番外編

 

[michael rauls]

Wow, awesome work so far!

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely stuff so far shinpachi!

 

[Shinpachi]

Modelling the fuselage main spar based on pictures.
Thanks.

Source: 日本初のロケット戦闘機「秋水」- 松岡 久光 (Japan's first rocket fighter "Shusui" written by Hisamitsu Matsuoka)

Source: 秋水 オリジナルパーツ J8M/キ200 ＰＡＲＴ２ 三菱重工業名古屋航空宇宙システム製作所史料室 - トヨタスポーツな気分

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far shinpachi!

 

[Shinpachi]

Adjusting the main spar to the 4th former referring to the drawings.

Source: 「秋水」と日本陸海軍ジェット、ロケット機 モデルアート 1998年11月号臨時増刊 ("Shusui" and Japanese Jet, Rocket Planes by Model Art in Nov. 1998)

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

Excellent work Shinpachi.

 

[Shinpachi]

The 4th former.
Happy New Year, everyone.

 

[nsmekanik]

Happy new year to you as well, awesome work so far, always a pleasure to see

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far shinpachi!

 

[Shinpachi]

Front side of the 10th former as engine mount. This is a separation point between the front and the rear sections of fuselage.
Relating drawings/diagrams.