Global Scale Modeller

As the Honda ra272 is almost finished I thought I would make a start on my second entry to this group build. As the title says it is the Hasegawa 1/72 Kyushu J7W1 Shinden. I will be glad to get back to my 1/72 comfort zone, although this will only be the second time I have used photo etch.

The Kit

That looks like it will be fun.. Look forward to seeing it come together

The History


The Kyūshū J7W1 Shinden (Magnificent Lightning) fighter was a World War II Japanese propeller-driven aircraft prototype that was built in a canard design. The wings were attached to the tail section and stabilizers were on the front. The propeller was also in the rear, in a pusher configuration.



Developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a short-range, land-based interceptor, the J7W was a response to B-29 Superfortress raids on the Japanese home islands. For interception missions, the J7W was to be armed with four forward-firing 30 mm cannons in the nose.



The Shinden was expected to be a highly maneuverable interceptor, but only two prototypes were finished before the end of war. A gas turbine–powered version was considered, but never even reached the drawing board.



On the ground aircraft was very ‘leggy’ allowing the locals of ‘average’ stature to walk underneath it without ducking. In the United States, the Curtiss-Wright Company and the Army Air Corps also experimented with a canard aircraft, the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender. However, the J7W1 was apparently a more capable design.



Conceived by Captain Masaoki Tsuruno the Shinden was a radical design in response to a Japanese Navy requirement for a land-based interceptor able to counter new Allied aircraft with superior performance over existing Japanese types. From the beginning, Tsuruno believed a turbojet engine would propel the ultimate Shinden. The proposed turbojet was not yet available so the all-metal J7W1 was designed around the 2,130 horsepower Mitsubishi [Ha-43] 12 (MK9D) eighteen-cylinder air-cooled radial engine driving a six-blade metal pusher propeller. Work began in June 1944 and the first of two prototypes was finished ten months later.



Engine cooling problems and delays in the delivery of critical equipment for each airframe, kept the J7W1 grounded until August 3, 1945 when Captain Tsuruno made the first flight. He took the Shinden aloft only twice more, on the 6th and the 9th of August. The Mitsubishi Ha 43-42 was one of the most powerful engines available and generated a great deal of torque, which strongly manifested itself on this first flight. Of the few items to be corrected was the strong torque pull to the right on takeoff and noticeable vibration in the propeller and its extended drive shaft. Solutions were underway to correct these problems, but both would have been negated by the planned use of the 1,984 pound thrust Ne 130 turbojet planned for the advanced model, the J7W2 Shinden Kai. The war ended six days after Captain Tsuruno’s flight and the J7W1 ended it’s career with 45 minutes of flight time on record.



Having the appearance of a futuristic fighter for the World War II time-period, it was the only tail-first design of several throughout the world that was regarded as a production aircraft. Kyushu delivered a second prototype but this aircraft never flew. American Naval Intelligence specialists dismantled and shipped the first prototype of this aircraft to the U. S. at the end of 1945 for testing and evaluation, along with about 145 other Japanese airplanes. There is no record that anyone ever flew the J7W1 in the U. S. The Navy stored the aircraft and then transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1960.

looking forward to seeing this come together now you completed that awesome looking racing car Andrew

Update #1
Cockpit & Assembly

Hello everyone, its been a slow couple of weeks in modelling terms but I have made a start on the Shinden. As with most aircraft builds i started work on the cockpit first. lots of little fiddly bits of etch but It adds much more detail to what would be a relatively barren cockpit without it.









As the shinden was a prototype and only flew a couple of times so I kept the weathering in the cockpit to a minimum, just a simple burnt umber oil wash and a flat aluminium dry brush.









Nose weight added - lead fishing weights and bluetak



The main fuselage is all assembled and a test fit for the prop and canopy - this really is a very good fitting kit.





The next jobs will be to get the canopy masked and cut because I want to show it open and then work on the landing gear and PE details.

Thanks for looking see you in the next update

Update #2
Details, Primer & Pre-shading

Hi chaps very slow progress on this build so far, but hopefully the pace will start to pick up now that I have some primer on.

Might not look like much but the masking and cutting of the canopy took about 4 hours



P.E. ready for primer



the other parts - prop, wheels, landing gear etc



P.E that will probably never be seen when the model is assembled











I might have got a bit carried away with the pre-shading hopefully it will work to add a bit of interest when the base colour dark green goes over the top. as the aircraft was a prototype I will be going for quite a clean paint job with little in the way of weathering or bleaching. I am just after a bit of tonal change to stop it being one big block of dark green, fingers crossed.





cheers for looking and any comments/suggestions

looking great, mad skills with the photoetch on that tiny model, great stuff ...

Aliktren wrote:looking great, mad skills with the photoetch on that tiny model, great stuff ...

Thanks mate, I have knocked off the small PE parts on the front wings about 10 times already should have left them off until the end

Update #3
Painting & Decals

First up Tamiya XF-12 on the underside and then masked with Tamiya tape and white-tac





Next XF-3 yellow on the wing leading edge and prop tips





Other detail parts painted cockpit green



Then time for XF-11 and XF-10 brown on the prop





Gloss coat and decals on - it is the first time have tried cutting the decals to get them to conform to the panel lines. a bit scary but worked very well





Thanks for looking, the end is in sight now but still lots of little details still to go. hoping to get finished before I go away with work for a week on the 22nd and going to the cricket world cup quarter final on the 21st so a week and a half to go on my self imposed deadline. I want to have my desk clear for the eggplane and the In the navy builds starting April 1st

fantastic

Aliktren wrote:fantastic

Thanks again (I think you might be the only person following this build )

Update #4
Painting Details & Start of Assembly

A small update this time. After the relatively easy job of putting on the Hinomaru decals, next up was the wing walk decals. quite large clear decals with a red edge. I could see trouble coming but thought I would give them a go, and sure enough major silvering problems even after multiple applications of micro sol and set. I took them off and decided to try and airbrush them on. you can see the results below.









After a day of drying it was time for a pin wash made from oil paints



the same wash was used on the bottom as well as some streaking also done with oil paints.



Next once the oil paint was dry I put a semi gloss clear over the top to seal everything in. then one of my favourite parts of any build - unmasking the canopy





I still have a few of the smaller parts to paint before I can assemble the landing gear. but I am looking forward to getting this bird finished.

cheers for looking

cracking job, I really liked the way you masked the wing walk markings

rgds
John (shortCummins)

That's a strange looking craft, but it's looking the business!

shortCummins wrote:cracking job, I really liked the way you masked the wing walk markings

rgds
John (shortCummins)

cheers mate, I thought the lines looked a bit thick myself - I just copied the decals. I lost some of the Japanese writing from the decals which would have been nice to keep. but hey, no build is perfect.

UKguyInUSA wrote:That's a strange looking craft, but it's looking the business!

thanks mate, sure is a strange looking bird for ww2. they must have thought it was fling backwards

Update #5
Final Assembly & Weathering

well I have managed to finish. After the assembly of the landing gear I added the antenna masts and line (ez line I the best stuff ever ). Then it was onto the weathering, early on I decided to keep it quite clean. having already done the pin wash I added some light green and yellow pastels to the horizontal panels on the upper surfaces to give a very faint sun bleaching effect and break up the dark green. some engine and exhaust staining was done with Tamiya weathering master and as a final touch I did a little chipping and highlighting with a silver pencil. below are a couple of shots of the finished Shinden, more in the reveals section.

Thanks for following my build

Superb job - I love this plane and I have the 1/48 which I hope to build next. Hopefully I can do it as much justice as you have yours.

super job! she looks amazing, what an incredible looking aircraft, amused the heck out of junior as well