Kit#: 9846.
Price: Can't remember.
Decals: Two Options.
Notes: Includes resin pieces to transform the J7W1 into the J7W2.
History:
From the kit's instructions: "In May 1944, the Kyushu Aircraft of Japan received an order from the Imperial Navy for a trial manufacture of the 18-shi (experimental) Interceptor that became known as the J7W1 Shinden, and Lieutenant M. Tsuruno of the Naval Aviation Technology Centre was appointed as designer in chief. Higher maneuverability and high speed were required for this aircraft to fight against the heavy bombers of the Allies. To comply with such demands, contrary to the usual aircraft, the propeller was located at the tail, main wings moved to the rear, and a pair of small horizontal fins called canards were located on the nose. This distinctive design allowed it a remarcable reduction in weight, resulting from the smaller main wings by the additional lift proveded by the canards. And without the propeller in front, weapons could be located in the nose for more efficient attacks.
Following the completion of the first prototype in June 1945, there were three test flights on August 3rd, 6th and 8th of 1945, and recorded a total of 45 minute flight. However, the war was over in the following days and the Shinden did not see any actual battle.
The Imperial Japanese Navy, encouraged by the previous success of its propeller driven Shinden prototype, had plans to build a jet powered Shinden Kai, but historians haven't been able to ascertain exactly how far along this project was at war's end."
The Kit:
Originally released in 1981, the kit has stood the test of time perfectly. It´s molded in light grey plastic with fine raised panel lines, no flash, a nicely detailed cockpit, and comes with the figure of a standing pilot. A label "Made in Japan" is displayed proudly on one of the sprues. One of the good parts of this kit is that you can leave the propeller assembly and the canards off the model until after painting and decalling, in case you need to add more weight in front of the aircraft. The landing gear is also long and skinny, and is wobbly and fragile as a consequence, so let it thoroughly dry before placing the aircraft on its wheels, and don´t go around moving it too much after that.
To convert the regular propeller driven Shinden into the Jet powered version, Hasegawa included three resin parts for the air intakes and the jet nozzle. There're also several optional armaments and fuel tanks included as new parts on this kit to embelish the undersides of the aircraft.
There're two decal options included in this kit:
1) Japanese Navy, 302nd Naval Flying Group, 1947. Painted in IJN Dark Green over IJN Green.
2) Luftwaffe, 1947. Painted in RLM 81/82/76.
Construction:
I had decided early on to build this Shinden as the propeller driven version instead of the jet powered one, so I left the resin parts inside the box and used the air intakes needed for the J7W1.
I began by painting the control stick, cockpit tub, rudder pedals and cockpit framing with Revell Sea Green 48 (the colour callouts mentioned "Interior Green"). I painted the instrument panel and the oxygen bottles flat black, and another bottle in red. The grip of the control stick was also painted black after the interior green had dried, and the rudder pedals were over painted with silver. The complete cockpit was then glued into one fuselage half.
With the cockpit in place, I began to ponder how and where should I add the nose weight. Hasegawa recommends to place 1g as forward as possible in the nose, but I chose to add 10g above the nose gear well. Since the shape of the nose gear well ends up in an angle, I glued two cut sprues to the sides, let them dry, and glued the weight after that. The nose gear well was then glued in place.
I then decided to glue the fuselage halves. I first test fitted them, to see if there would be any troublesome areas, and after checking there were none, I glued and taped both of them together. While the fuselage was drying, I thought I wouldn´t have enough weight in front of the nose, so I glued a smaller weight to the nose gear well.
I set the fuselage to one side and began to work on the wings. These are the usual single lower half and two separate upper halves. They were glued together and left to dry for some minutes. After that, the two vertical stabilisers were glued to the wing. These are a loose fit, and will have to be held until the glue dries enough for them to be left hanging alone.
I concentrated on the canards by gluing the two separate guns. I left this piece aside until the end.
I mated the fuselage and the wings together, a simple assembly with a nice fit. This left me basically with the complete airframe, sans the engine and the other parts. With the aircraft in this stage, I went to the paint shop.
Colours and Markings:
I painted the upper surfaces with RLM 70, and the lower ones with RAF Duck Egg Blue, since to me it looked the same as the late green used by the Japanese Army and Navy Air Force late in the war. Then I painted the yellow leading edge ID bands, left them to dry, and then glossed the entire aircraft to prepare it for the decals.
I chose to use the Japanese option, just because I liked it more than the German one. When finished, I matt coated the aircraft and left it to dry.
Final Construction:
After decalling, I glued the landing gear struts in place. These are long, skinny, and won´t resist much movement, so once the model is on its wheels, one should leave it alone. Before proceeding further, I left the landing gear legs to dry thorouhgly before adding the wheels.
While the aircraft was lying upside down with the landing gear drying, I built the propeller assembly. The engine front plate was painted with the fuselage colours, and internally painted silver. Then the propeller shaft was added and trapped by adding a circular piece that glues to the back of the engine plate (don´t glue the shaft to the circular piece if you want the propeller to spin). The propeller was glued to its backing plate, and then the spinner was glued to the backing plate. I put CA into the propeller hole and then pushed it into the propeller shaft, securing me a spinning propeller.
I glued the wheels to the landing gear, and then added the landing gear doors. I next glued the propeller assembly, and with a bit of fear, I put the aircraft over its wheels, and it didn´t colapse. However, the main landing gear struts did flex a bit forward, and to secure them, I cut two toothpicks, and CA glued them to the base the main landing gears, preventing them from moving forward. Since the weight I had added earlier was enough, I glued the canards in place.
Before completing the plane, I painted the clear parts. After cleaning them up, I dry fitted them, and glued them with Revell Contacta Clear.
Conclusions:
The Shinden has to be my favourite WW2 Japanese aircraft, I´ll for sure buy some more when I come across them. The landing gear may look weak, but letting it dry properly and adding the pegs at the base will make it sturdier.
References:
Kit instructions.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario