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When the fighting for Mabalacat (Clark) Field was over in January 1945 a deserted N1K1-J Shiden ('George') was discovered in a scrubby corner of the airbase. It was built in October 1944 at Kawanishi's Naruo plant as construction number 5511 and found its way to No. 201 Kōkūtai in the Philippines. This assignment is wondrous since 201 Kū was a Zero unit, the first one summoned for suicide attacks. The Shiden was presumably passed on from the depleted 341 Kū and used as escort or fast recce on Tokkō missions. No. 53 was in better shape when received by Air Group 201. With the Shiden - derived from the floatplane fighter Kyōfu - the Imperial Navy finally adopted a new land-based interceptor to augment the ubiquitous but aged Zero. This early version, of which 2000 were built, was a good combat plane although hampered by the temperamental Homare engine and a fragile undercarriage. It offered very powerful armament, high speed and adequate pilot protection. When its successor, the superior N1K2-J Shiden-Kai, became available it was quickly relegated to other tasks such as top cover and training. My model, an N1K1-J Ko, is based on the 1/48 Otaki kit released in 1972. I built it in 1988 but was never really satisfied with my work. As more recent offerings, namely by Hasegawa and Tamiya, are handicapped by a less accurate nose contour I decided to keep my model and renovate it, complete with aftermarket parts and scratch-built detail. I used Colourcoats* ACJ01 for the topside D1 Dark Green Black. With regard to the lower surface 'camouflage' different views prevail. It may not be true for later Shiden but the underside of 201-53 appears to be of natural metal. I applied Tamiya PS12 from the rattle-can and hand-brushed some panels with differing shades. For control surfaces, gun pods and the drop tank I mixed my own J3 Ash Grey. (It doesn't look like it but it's the same for all). The 'Violet Lightning' may look a bit plump but I'm attracted by its curvy shape nonetheless. I hope you like it, too. Michael References Kawanishi Navy Interceptor Fighter Shiden, Famous Airplanes of the World No.2, Tokyo, 1971 Nipponese Uniquity ... The Story of Kawanishi's Violet Lightning, Air Enthusiast Vol.4, Bromley, 1973 Japanese Navy Air Force Camouflage and Markings WWII, Donald W. Thorpe, Fallbrook, 1977 Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II, Kuhiko Hata / Yasuho Izawa, Shrewsbury, 1989 Kyofu, Shiden, Shiden Kai, Famous Airplanes of the World No.53, Tokyo, 1995 Shiden / Shiden-Kai, Mechanism of Military Aircraft No.1, Japan, 1999 Kawanishi N1K1-J / N1K2-J Shiden / Shiden-Kai, Gakken Vol.24, Tokyo, 2000 The Dark Green Paints of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, Nicholas Millman, 2016 J2M Raiden and N1K1/2 Shiden/Shiden-Kai Aces, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 129, Botley, 2016 N1K1-J Shiden Series - The Imperial Japanese Navy Interceptor, Model Graphix 232067, Tokyo, 2017 * Unfortunately Colourcoats have now abandoned their excellent enamel range Ready for a test flight after transfer to Air Group 201.