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J7W1 Shin Den - 1:48 Zoukei-Mura


Mike

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J7W1 Shin Den Super Wings Series
1:48 Zoukei-Mura Inc.


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The Kyūshū Shin Den (which translates to Magnificent Lightning) was a result of an urgent requirement by the Imperial Japanese Navy for a point defence fighter to intercept the B-29s that were pounding the Japanese homeland on a daily basis. A canard design was chosen, and it was coupled with the powerful Ha-43 engine from Mitsubishi, which drove a 6-blade pusher prop at the rear of the fuselage. The design was successfully tested by the use of gliders, it was ordered into production before it had even flown.

Due to difficulties in sourcing parts and keeping the engine cool during ground running, its maiden flight was delayed until August 1945, and further flights brought a few issues to the surface, most notable of which being the torque of the 2,130hp engine. The issues should all have been fixable, but time ran out for the engineers, and the war ended with only two prototypes completed. One is said to be in storage in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, with the other probably scrapped.

It was a brave design, and if there had been time, it was envisaged that a jet propelled variant would have been simple to design due to the rear-mounted engine. The quartet of 30mm cannons in the nose would have brought immense destructive power to bear on the Super Fortresses if it had seen service, and there was no doubt it was fast, having a top speed of around 470mph and a very good climb rate, which was essential for the task in hand.

The Kit
Zoukei-Mura came to prominence with a 1:32 offering of this aircraft that appeared in the West apparently out of nowhere, and they have gone on to produce a number of very successful subjects in the same scale that have been roundly praised for their quality and accuracy. This is the first scale-down to 1:48, and I hope it isn't the last based upon my first inspection of the kit when it arrived. The kit is presented in a compact box with a painting of a Shin Den with a wounded B-29 in the background, with the Japanese Kanji for Shin Den down the left hand side. Inside are five sprues of light grey styrene, a clear sprue, decals and instruction booklet. The package has an air of Hasegawa to it, even down to the layout of booklet, although the internal detail provided in the kit is far more than you could expect from them.

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As a break from the norm construction starts with the supercharged engine, which has both rows of cylinders fully depicted, plus the exhaust manifolds for both banks leading to the collector ring. The supercharger is made up from four parts and affixes to the front of the engine (in respect of direction of flight), with a long cylindrical driveshaft assembly terminating at the rear bulkhead with an axle for the prop, which can be left to spin freely with sparing use of glue. It is very nicely detailed as you would expect, and as this is my first experience of ZM's products, I was happy to see that the quality has been maintained in the scale-down. The exhausts come together into pairs and are led back toward the rear of the aircraft, with separate pairs attaching to the rear of the engine and running along the line of the extension shaft. Scrap diagrams show how they should sit once completed, which should save any confusion along the way. The completed engine is then installed in the rear of the fuselage with further support struts and a large square double exhaust trunk mounted underneath. You might think that some of this detail is unnecessary, but it will be clearly visible through the main gear bays once the model is complete, and more so if you choose to leave the top cowling panel open.

The cockpit is a straight forward affair as you would anticipate in late-war Japanese aircraft, with nicely detailed sidewalls that have ribbing built in above the panels to complete the look of the inner fuselage skin. The seat and its adjuster mechanism is inserted into the stepped floor part, and this is then mated to the large fuselage and spar part. The size of this part is quite impressive, covering the majority of the interior of the fuselage and a large proportion of the wing space. It also includes mounting points for the main landing gear legs, nose gear bay, and above it the gun bay. There are plenty of overflow sprue-sections off the spars to ensure there are no short shot sections, and the fuel tank under the pilot's area has a few tricky ejector pin marks, although those won't be seen on the completed aircraft. The floor of the gun bay has some shallow sink marks in its floor due to the supports for the nose gear bay, but these shouldn't show due to the equipment that will be in the bay, and the fact that the marks coincide with rivet lines, so look more like oil-canning of the surface. The instrument panel mounts on the sidewalls, and is nicely engraved with individual instrument faces, which will respond well to careful painting, unless you would prefer to use the supplied decal. The rear cockpit bulkhead is installed behind the pilot's position, and has a triangular oil tank mounted between two pairs of struts that take part in the engine mounting. A protective roll-bar sits behind the pilot along with gas cylinders that have hollow backs to prevent sink marks. If you think they might be seen, some Milliput will quickly fill the voids.

A perforated bulkhead sits forward of the instrument panel, separating the pilot from the cannon bay, into which a central longitudinal bulkhead and four cannons with their feeder mechanisms are placed, two on each side. The barrels are all stepped, which is shown in scrap diagrams, and another perforated bulkhead is added forward of the gun breeches, through which the barrels project. The barrels will need to be drilled out if you feel the need, as they are moulded closed from the box.

The nose gear bay has a peaked roof, and fits into corresponding recesses in the large ribs under the cannon bay, with a perforated bulkhead positioned forward, and a retaining yoke around one third of the way from the front of the bay. At this point the fuselage can be closed up around the cockpit and nose gear bays, leaving the cannon bay and engine bay open for now. The lower wing is a single part and includes the lower fuselage and engine cowling, which mounts onto pegs in the lower edge of the spar. The upper wing then fits atop the spar and mate with the lowers. The rear cowling has ducting attached to the inside for the exhausts, and the two assemblies are then added to the sides of the fuselage over the wings. The rear lip of the cowling is then added trapping the fan and stator assembly in place, which can also be left to spin with the prop due to the groove in the prop shaft that captures the fan. The intake ducts for the supercharger and upper cowling are then added, although the cowling panel can be left loose to show off the engine. There is no internal structural detail however, so you'll need to busy that up if you intend to leave it with the airframe.

The canards are a single part that clips onto a pair of lugs in the front of the fuselage, and are added before the nose cone and panels are added. Again, the panels can be left off to expose the cannons, but if you are adding them, ensure that you have all four barrels through the forward panel before you apply pressure. At the rear a pair of vertical stabilisers sit perpendicular to the wings at about mid span, and have small castor "bump-stop" wheels moulded in to avoid damage on landing and take-off.

The landing gear on the Shin Den is long due to the big 6-blade prop, and these are well depicted in the kit. The nose gear has the retraction jack built in, and fits into cups in the rear of the nose bay, with a separate section of the yoke allowing you to put the single part front wheel in before trapping it in place. The main gear has a moulded in oleo-scissor, as well as brake hoses, which are nicely done. The retraction jack is a separate item, and the wheels are also moulded as single parts, with a nice circumferential tread on the contact surface. The long nose gear bay doors have hinges moulded in for attachment, and the main gear covers attach to the legs, with a small additional door near the leg's top, glued almost flush with the wing surface. The curved inner doors open toward each other, and are secured by a pair of tubular retraction frames. Again, scrap drawings show the correct orientation and angle once completed.

The flaps are split into four parts, with two small sections outboard of the vertical stabilisers, and can be modelled open or closed. To portray them closed, simply cut off the angled end of the locating lug and you're done. To model them open, they are inserted complete, but there are some substantial ejector pin marks on the inner surface of both the flap bays and the flaps themselves. The bay marks are relatively simple to fix, but to remove the marks on the flaps would require some careful sanding. It might be more expedient to sand all the detail off and reinstate the ribs with styrene rod once they are smooth. I'm unsure as to whether the bay was similarly ribbed, but checking of available reference is advised, and any rib-work could be added before closing the wings up.

The big propeller is moulded as a single part for ease, and has a back-plate and central spinner to trap it in place within the assembly, before it is glued to the grooved prop-shaft, with a pair of splines holding it firmly in place. A pair of antennae are installed under the forward fuselage, with scrap diagrams showing their correct orientation, and a pitot is added to the starboard wing, along with wingtip lights and formation lights just inboard of the stabilisers. The pilot's canopy is typical Japanese design of the time, with heavy framing, curved windscreen with internal bullet-resistant glass, an opening section in the middle, and fixed rear section. If you plan on posing it closed, another complete canopy is included to simplify the job and avoid any annoying gaps. You'll need to scrape off the canopy sill rails to install it properly, and it's best to decide that in advance of construction to avoid any unnecessary repainting.

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Markings
As the Shin Den only progressed to prototype stage, there is just one choice of markings, and that is IJN green over grey. A set of Hinomaru (sun-mark flag) are included if you don't feel you can mask them, leading edge yellow markings, walkways and an instrument panel decal. Decaling is covered on the inside rear page using a finished model with call-outs for each decal number. The rear outer page covers painting of the airframe, which has a wavy demarcation, and throughout the build the colour call-outs are numbered, with a reference chart in the front that converts to Vallejo and Mr Color paints.



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Conclusion
It is without doubt an impressive package, but it should be because it is not a cheap model by any stretch of the imagination. In terms of price it is comparable with the current UK list price of the Hasegawa kit once you have imported it, but I believe that it brings more to the party than the older kit, so is worth the effort. ZM will be at Telford and usually bring a stock with them, but last year that went very quickly, so be prepared to move fast.

Detail is good, and moulding is on a par with any Japanese production, with only a few sink marks and ejector pin marks to deal with. The additional structure inside the model is termed as "over-engineering" by some, but it does teach a little of the construction process to the modeller, and makes for an enjoyable build, whilst giving you the option of leaving panels open to display your hard work. ZM work very hard to produce accurate and easy to build models for the discerning modeller, and with their first foray into 1:48 I think they will do well. Now I'm waiting for a Ta.152H in my favourite scale.



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Zoukei-Mura Concept Notes for the Shinden
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Thanks for this comprehensive review and sprue shots.

Although Shinden is widely translated as "Magnificent Lightning" it has always puzzled me as the first character 'Shin' (震) actually means to shake, tremble, excite or terrify.

There is a brief article on Shinden colours on my blog which might be useful for those building this kit:-

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/10/nasm-shinden-colours.html

Nick

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Good question Nick - my grasp of Japanese extends to about 30 words, so I'm not qualified to say. :dunce:

I'm sure the colour info will come in handy too. Having only built one Japanese aircraft so far (the Meng Ki-98 in 1:72), my understanding of the variations is minimal to say the least. :)

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Is there an English disty/supplier for these kits or is far east/ordering direct the only option? Given the highish initial price of the kit, customs & excise/parcel force would probably have their piece on this one :)

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Good question Nick - my grasp of Japanese extends to about 30 words, so I'm not qualified to say. :dunce:

I'm sure the colour info will come in handy too. Having only built one Japanese aircraft so far (the Meng Ki-98 in 1:72), my understanding of the variations is minimal to say the least. :)

You faithfully followed the instructions on the Meng kit and made an excellent job of it so I can't fault you but at the time it was developed the IJAAF had already standardised factory painting of # 7 for all aircraft which was an olive brown colour very similar to US olive drab! As it never went into service the subject is hypothetical anyway but it is likely that if it had it would have been painted in the olive brown. That paint was being applied to the Mansyu built Ki-79.

Navy aircraft were painted to different colour standards but in Feb 1945 an attempt was made to consolidate Army and Navy standards to ease procurement from the paint industry which in Japan at that time was highly localised. One upshot of this was a discussion with Nakajima about whether Ki-84 aircraft assigned to the mobile defence forces should be painted in IJN "deep green-black colour" - the standard very dark green of the Navy. As it turned out Nakajima continued to apply # 7 to the Ki-84.

I'm working on a guide to IJN Greens as so many IJN models sport greens that are far too bright and light to be representative of the original colour that was often described as 'black' in Allied combat reports.

I'm always happy to answer any Japanese colour queries if I can and any modellers are welcome to pm me.

Nick

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It's going to be a difficult decision what to build next if I'm honest - there's a plethora of shiny new kits out there just begging to be built, and this is one of the front runners :Tasty:

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