Tamiya 60768 - 1/72 Kawanishi N1K1-Ja Shiden Type 11 Koh WWII  [60768]

Kawanishi N1K1-Ja SHIDEN TYPE 11

Evolving from the Kawanishi N1K1 "Kyofu" floatplane, the Imperial Japanese Navy's N1K1-J Shiden had a distinctive pedigree amoung WW2 landplane fighters of the world. In January 1942, the Kawanishi Aircraft firm began adaptation of the Kyofu into a land based fighter, strictly as a personal endeavor. This task had been quickly formally authorized under the designation N1K1-J, using the very first prototype traveling in December 1942. The airframe was basically the same as its predecessor, with primary landing gear and tall wheel changing the floats. As opposed to Kyofu's Mitsubihi Kasei engine, a far more compact and powerful Nakajima Homare motor had been set up. Excellent performance and superb maneuverability ended up being accomplished making use of this engine, nonetheless it caused severe issues. In order to make use of the available energy inside motor, a large diameter propeller ended up being needed. This required unusually long main landing gear feet, because of the midwing setup. This caused problems within the landing gear retraction system. Kawansihi engineers was able to resolve the problem by presenting telescopic primary landing gear feet. The complex gear system and unreliability regarding the motor, plagued the N1K1-J throughout its profession, until the introduction of the improved, low-wing N1K2-J Shiden-Kai. About 1,000 N1K1-J fighters had been produced and were active around the Phillipine islands, Formosa, Okinawa and throughout the Japanese Island of Honshu.