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 an original pedigree amoung WW2 landplane fighters worldwide. In January 1942, the Kawanishi Aircraft business began adaptation for the Kyofu into a land based fighter, strictly as a person undertaking. This was certainly quickly formally authorized beneath the designation N1K1-J, using the very first model traveling in December 1942. The airframe had been fundamentally the the same as its predecessor, with primary landing gear and high wheel changing the floats. As opposed to Kyofu's Mitsubihi Kasei engine, a far more compact and powerful Nakajima Homare engine were arranged. Excellent performance and superb maneuverability completed up being accomplished using this motor, nonetheless it caused severe dilemmas. In order to make usage of the available power inside engine, a sizable diameter propeller wound up being required. This required unusually long principal landing gear foot, because of the midwing setup. This caused problems in landing gear retraction system. Kawansihi engineers could resolve the matter by presenting telescopic primary landing gear feet. The complex gear system and unreliability regarding the motor, plagued the N1K1-J throughout its career, before introduction of the improved, low-wing N1K2-J Shiden-Kai. About 1,000 N1K1-J fighters was indeed produced and had been active across the Phillipine islands, Formosa, Okinawa and through the whole Japanese area of Honshu.