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 genuine pedigree amoung WW2 landplane fighters global. In January 1942, the Kawanishi Aircraft company started adaptation for the Kyofu into a land based fighter, strictly as an individual undertaking. This is undoubtedly quickly formally authorized under the designation N1K1-J, using the initial model traveling in December 1942. The airframe was indeed fundamentally the just like its predecessor, with primary landing gear and high wheel changing the floats. Instead of Kyofu's Mitsubihi Kasei engine, a far more compact and powerful Nakajima Homare engine had been arranged. Excellent performance and superb maneuverability finished up being achieved using this engine, nonetheless it caused severe problems. In order to make usage of the available power inside motor, a considerable diameter propeller ended up being needed. This required unusually long principal landing gear foot, because of the midwing setup. This caused dilemmas in landing gear retraction system. Kawansihi engineers could resolve the matter by presenting telescopic primary landing gear foot. The complex gear system and unreliability about the engine, plagued the N1K1-J throughout its profession, before introduction associated with the improved, low-wing N1K2-J Shiden-Kai. About 1,000 N1K1-J fighters ended up being certainly produced and had been active throughout the Phillipine islands, Formosa, Okinawa and through the entire Japanese area of Honshu.