In 1942, the Japanese Army asked for
fighter project named 'Local fighter no.1'. Kawanishi co. offered its
float plane Kyofu's fighter version N1K1 Shiden. After a few modifications
the plane
took it's place on the front. It was equipped with a Homaru engine which
was used on the legendary Ki-84 Hayates (2000 HP) Shiden had 4 pcs 20mm MGs.
The Shiden was unusual in this it could absord much more damage than other Japanese fighters.
Many
pilots agreed with it was much better than Zeros and could match the Hellcat
easily. Like the Bf-109K series case it was 'Too little too late!...'
The Shiden was a strong, lethal fighter and the only wrong thing was it arrived
late in the war and was produced in too few numbers which could not effect the destiny of
the air wars above Pacific.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Kit:
There isn't much to say about Hasegawa when it comes Japanese
birds. Guys
worked on it well, no putty needed. I sprayed the cockpit with Tamiya's IJN cockpit
green and installed a pair of Eduard's colored seatbelts for Kawanishi
planes (just waist straps)
I know green may seem a bit lighter, well I used Gunze light green for
sun-faded look. At first, I used Tamiya Xf-16 for all the plane, I
then applied some
salt on the wings and fuselage, waited till it got dry and then I sprayed green and
washed the plane, wiping the salts off. After I found it wasn't enough, I used
a brush
with Model Masters chrom silver and touched up the whole plane like you can
see in my pics. Decals went on well with red-blue microsol....brothers,
I liked them
! :)
Last of All, the Shiden was a great plane and Hasegawa offers a
great kit. Recommended for Modellers who like big red dots on planes like
I do.
By the way; I would like to send my regards to my bro Emad Tabsh and
Ayhan Toplu from here...
Happy modelling..
Zafer
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