Hasegawa 1/72 Kawanishi N1K2-J Shidenkai "George"

HASEGAWA 1:72 KAWANISHI N1K2-J SHIDENKAI "GEORGE"

Reviewer: Mark B (SMAKR Webmaster) (smakr1@optusnet.com.au)
Kit Built + Review Submitted: 30 April 2008

Kit Details:

Hasegawa 1/72 - B1 - N1K2-J George (#B001:350).

Aircraft History:

The Kawanishi N1K2-J Shidenkai (Allied Codename: George) was the final operational version of an interceptor that began its career as a floatplane. Developed from the N1K1 Kyofu (Rex) initially as a private venture by the Kawanishi Company, the Shidenkai addressed some of the problems of its immediate predecessor, the N1K1-J Shiden. The earlier Shiden sported a mid-wing configuration like the Rex and required long, complicated main landing gear struts that became quite problematic in use. The Shidenkai was introduced with a low-wing configuration that solved the gear problem. The fuselage was lengthened and the tail redesigned. The result was an aircraft with many superb qualities that gave a good account of itself in the closing stages of the war.

The Kit:

This is an older release of this kit, dating back to at least the early to mid 80's - perhaps even earlier. I tend to guess this era because the panel lines of this kit are at least engraved. There are two sprues of around 34 parts, and again, due to the kit's age and being probably the original boxing they are molded in a dark green. Immediately you notice that the exhaust pipes and surrounding collar is already molded onto the front of the fuselage as are the pitot tubes and machine guns on the wing - this looks like it is going to be a very quick project indeed. On a separate sprue is a very thin one-piece canopy which is heavily distorted.

Instructions:

The instructions come in the form of the earlier Hasegawa type of a vertical strip of photocopy paper. One side has a brief overview of the aircraft and then painting and decalling information for the three versions in the kit. Each of these versions has sideviews. There is only one top/bottom view (and that is half/half) provided apparently for all the versions in the kit. On the otherside are the half a dozen easy to follow assembly drawings. In the right margin is some further model information and a few small diagrams for detail painting of the pilot figure and cutting/locating landing gear doors. Underneath this there is a numbered list of all the parts in the kit.

Construction:

As usual this begins with the interior, then follows onto engine, tank and wings before affixing the fuselage halves together. There's very little detail in the cockpit, just a floor with triangle rudder pedals, a control column, a rear bulkhead and very generic seat. An instrument panel is supplied with no detail except for a decal. There is no sidewall detail, nor any detail in the wheel wells. The cockpit was painted in JN cockpit green with a little bit of extra dry brushing to try and least give it some scope of detail. The alien pilot figure supplied will at least fill up the space.

The engine was tackled next which is basic in detail, the engine block and cylinders are already molded onto the rear plate so there is nothing to do other than paint it up. The crank case (or engine speed regulator as it says in the instructions) is a separate component that is affixed onto the engine mounting and trapping the propeller shaft in between. The underfuselage tank was then put together before the main wings, featuring upper halves and a one-piece lower wing were affixed together. This comes already molded with pitot tube and machine guns so be careful not to snap these off.

With the fuselage halves placed together, trapping the cockpit and the tailplanes put on this weekend project was fast becoming a "movie" project (ie: finish in the time it takes a movie to play!). The fit of all the components was very good, and it was a very quick and easy build thus far.

The wings were added to the fuselage which needed a small amount of filler around the roots, followed by the gear doors, tailplanes, underfuselage air intake and fuel tank. The canopy is a nice fit. The engine block was added carefully to the front of the fueslage with the cowling and propeller assembly added at the same time. I could not get the propellor to be moveable.

Colour Schemes:

Three standard IJN Green over IJN Grey machines are quoted in the instructions, all from the 343rd Navy Air Wing and obviously differ in their serial numbers. For the record there is Commando Kano's machine from 301st Squadron, Captain Hayashi from 407th squadron and Captain Sagibuchi from 701st Squadron. I used a concoction of 80% white, 10% H28 and 10% H156 paints from Humbrol for the Grey. H64 is probably close enough for those who don't like mixing paints or of course Tamiya XF-12 is provided. For the upper, Tamiy has XF-11 or you can do another concoction from Humbro, but on this occasion I used H172 which is close enough although now deleted from Humbrol's range (I was lucky to have one in my collection).

Decals:

The small decal sheet is fairly old but has stood up to time very well. It contains bright red hinomaru's and white fuselage stripes and unit numbers/letters (even though the boxart shows yellow!). The problem is the backing paper is also white so it is a hell of a task distinguishing decal and carrier film from backing sheet!

This is also where I get a little annoyed with kit manufacturers. Tamiya produce a lovely Shiden which was an aircraft that the Shidenkai was developed from and the Hinomaru's are very dark red, almost a wine colour. So which is it? One of them has to be wrong. The references I have suggest that Hinomaru's started off being scarlet red and then over time became a more pinkish red later in the war. Anyway a bone of contention and as always very hard to tell when you only have grainy B&W images to go by.

The decals are thick and have a bit of excess film, because they were old they take an age to soak and come off the backing sheet, so increasing the temperature of the water to a luke warm will quicken the process. Delicately they were placed on the model and bedded down very nicely and needed a soft application of gloss cote afterward to seal them in.

Overall Recommendation:

It's an old outdated kit that does have a lack of detail but it also goes together very well and is easy enough for most hobbyists to build. I enjoyed this little project and the finished model looks almost as good as the Tamiya shiden (probably the plane itself) although the difference in detail is noticeable. I have no qualms about recommending this easy little number.

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