The Kawasaki Ki-61 (allied code name Tony) was a Japanese World War 2 fighter. They were flown by the Imperial Japanese Army air force in all theatres of the Pacific was from 1942 and as an interceptor against air raids over Japan.

The Kawasaski Ki-61 was the only Japanese fighter of World War 2 with an in-line engine to enter service.

It was designed around a licence built version of the German Daimler Benz DB601 engine and intended to be used mainly in an offensive air superiority role.

The prototype first flew in December 1941, they began entering service in 1942 and 3,078 were manufactured.

This fighter looked so different from other Japanese fighters that the allies first thought is was of German or Italian design. It was a capable fighter and served throughout the war.

This model represents a Ki-61 of the 244th Sentai based on one of the many airfields surrounding Tokyo

Data: single seat fighter. Engine one Kawasaki Ha40 inverted liquid cooled inverted piston engine of 864kW. Wing span 12m. Length 8.94m. Gross weight 3,470kg. Maximum speed 580km/h. Armament two 20mm Mauser cannon, two 12.7mm machine guns and two 250kg bombs Flight crew one.

Hasegawa 1/32 kit completed by Wayne Eagles in 2023.