Hasegawa 1/48 N1K2-J 'Shiden-kai

While the Kawanishi N1K1-J "Shiden" was at the time of its introduction the outstanding fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and remained a potent adversary throughout the rest of the war, the aircraft had a number of shortcomings that Kawanishi sought to rectify. Chief among these was the unreliability of the Homare 21 engine, while the wheel brakes were so bad the aircraft was often landed on grass next to a paved runway to reduce the landing roll without brakes. The result of this upgrade was the N1K2-J "Shiden-Kai", which was without a doubt the finest Japanese Navy fighter of the war; its only competitor for the title of best Japanese fighter of the war was the Nakajima Ki.84 "Hayate."

The Shiden-Kai was a near-complete redesign of the original airframe, with the wing change from the mid to the low position with all four 20mm cannon housed within the wing being the most obvious visual differentiation from its predecessor. The airplane was also simplified for ease of production, using only 43,000 parts compared with the 66,000 of the N1K1-J. The Homare 21 engine was modified, but in the end proved no more reliable in the N1K2-J than it had in the N1K1-J. The prototype flew December 31, 1943, with excellent results. Full-scale production was to begin in the summer of 1944, but - like the N1K1-J before it - the prototypes began experiencing prolonged development troubles which resulted in production line changes which inexorably slowed production. As the American strategic bombing campaign came into its own in the fall of 1944, the program experienced further delays in delivery of engines landing gear assemblies, aluminum extrusions and steel forgings. Kawanishi produced only 60 Shiden-Kai aircraft in 1944, and only 294 in 1945 prior to the end of the war. Japanese Navy 1946 production quotas for 9, 240 Shiden-Kai fighters show how important the airplane was.

The N1K2-J shared with the Ki.84 the ability to be an "ace-maker," with performance such that an average pilot in a Shiden-Kai was the equal of any Allied fighter he met, including the P-51D Mustang. In June 1945, Warrant Officer Kinsuke Muto - a pilot of exceptional skill - was jumped by 12 F6F Hellcats. He succeeded in shooting down four before the others broke to escape back to their carrier and he successfully landed his damaged Shiden-Kai back at Yokosuka airfield. Although the airplane was outstanding in fighter vs. fighter combat, it was a disappointment in the one category that was really needed: high altitude interception against the B-29s. the N1K2-J suffered poor climb above 22,000 feet due to loss of engine power above that altitude.

"The Squadron of Experts":

In March 1945, Captain Minoru Genda, one of the outstanding Japanese Naval officers of the war - he was the man who planned the Pearl Harbor attack - formed the 343rd Air Group, the only IJNAF organization to be completely mounted on the N1K2-J Shiden-Kai. The unit was known as "The Squadron of Experts" because it had the highest concentration of aces of any unit in the Japanese Navy.

On March 19, 1945, the group experienced their baptism of fire when Task Force 58 struck the Japanese naval base at Kure. Genda scrambled all three squadrons of the 343rd; first contact came when VBF-17 F6Fs from the "Bunker Hill" ran into flights from 407th and 701st squadrons. In a vicious dogfight, six Hellcats and six N1K2-Js went down; the battles continued, with the 343rd offering the only defense of the base. According to the group's records for that day, the three squadrons of the 343rd claimed 53 Hellcats and Corsairs, and four Helldivers, for a loss of 13. Chief Petty Officer Katsue Kato - one of the greatest Japanese aces of the war - scored nine of this total. Given that, at this stage of the war, the American pilots did not have the level of training their predecessors who had fought in 1942-44 had, such an outcome against pilots as experienced as those of the 343rd, mounted in an airplane like the Shiden-Kai, is not really that surprising. Had the IJNAF been able to re-equip with the Shiden-Kai in the numbers planned, the air battles over Japan in 1945 might have been very different, though the outcome of the war was no longer in doubt.

One of the outstanding pilots of the 343rd was Lt. Naoshi Kanno, the top-scoring Naval Academy graduate of the war. Kanno first saw combat in the N1K1-J Shiden with the original 343rd Air Group during the invasion of the Marianas in June 1944. Flying from the island of Yap, he shot down several B-24 Liberators using the head-on attack method. He was credited with 30 kills total in the summer of 1944. When the group was reorganized by Genda, Kanno was given command of the 301st Squadron. In the battle of March 19, the 301st initially took on Corsairs of VMF-123; Kanno was among the 13 shot down when he was hit by a Corsair from VBF-10, though he parachuted safely. Under Kanno's command, the 301st suffered the highest casualties of any unit in the 343rd, though it also had the highest score. Kanno himself was credited with 13 more victories while flying the N1K2-J, before being killed attacking B-24s over Yaku Island on August 1, 1945.

Hasegawa has basically "owned" the N1K2-J for 30 years, since they introduced a 1/72 kit of the airplane in the early 1970s that advanced the state of the art with razor-sharp trailing edges and engraved panel detail. This kit is still in production and still the best of this airplane in 1/72 scale. In 1981, a 1/48 version was released that again was as far in advance of the competition in this scale as the earlier kit had been ahead of anything else in 11/72 when it was released. In fact, the 1981 release is so good that - when Hasegawa announced a new kit of this airplane - many modelers said "why?" Admittedly the model has raised panel lines rather than the de rigueur engraved lines, but it still makes up into a very acceptable model.

Well. The new Hasegawa offering is as far in advance of other 1/48 models recently released as the earlier ones were in their day. Last year I said that the Hasegawa Ki.84 Hayate was the best kit they had released. This N1K2-J Shiden-Kai even surpasses that excellent model. On the basis of this quality of kit-making, I personally cannot wait to see how they top themselves with the F4U-5 Corsair - due out in the shops over the next few weeks.

The kit is the N1K2-J, the early-production Shiden-Kai with the larger vertical fin and rudder. The model comes on three sprues of medium-grey plastic, with crisp molding, and a clear 3-part canopy that is almost as thin as a vacuform canopy. Decals are for two aircraft of the 343rd Air Corps, including the aircraft flown by Lt. Kanno on March 19, 1945.