I worked over the Nichimo rendition of a Type 92, or what it's supossed to look like!

I'm really surprised that a Japanese company would be so far off but I decided not to toss it but to try to improve it.

Here ie the Nichimo Type 92 MG straight from the box:

and after my modifications, still needs paint:

I used thin plastic sheet to fashion the grip, brass sheet for the trigger guard, trigger, drum handle and rear grip assembly, stretched plastic sprue for the rear vertical grip, and pe AA sight. The bore was drilled with a #80 drill bit. Should have lengthened the receiver just a tad but it will be partially buried into the rear pit once mounted in place.

PJ, nice gizmology on that gun.

------------------

Thanks Cliff.   No thoughts of catapulting the Claude, but certainly the odd muttering here and there.

regards,

Jack

Yikes PJ, that gun OOB is terrible. Nice recovery.

Thanks Jack and Steve.

Jack

My buddy was building the same plane as you but he gave up and tossed it in the trash. He's been modeling for many decades and is very good but said enough wit it!

I commend your effort in saving the model and looks like you are making very positive marks at it. Keep up the great work.

Steve

I almost ordered some very nice resin ones but was gonna cost me the same price I paid for the kit so the math ruled a definite NO in a replacement. This plane needs some scratch work in the pit to improve it and I'm in the process of that now however, I do want to get a 1/48 Hasegawa Kate with the folding wings detail. I have a 1/48 Hasegawa Myrt coming from Japan so they will make a very interesting Japanese air group along with my Fujimi Val.

PJ,

Man oh man...that gun OOB was horrible. Outstanding job making it look right...true talent sir.

Cliff, yeah, its kind of growing on me the more I read about it. The Japanese did have some very sharp looking aircraft. Unfortunately few performed as good as they looked. I think one of my favorites is the "Tojo". Compact, rugged, and fairly fast. But I'll admit, that I'm growing more interested in them over time. 

Hunter, I've not seen the Tamiya store myself, and this kit came from a satilite store they operate in Tokyo, but she has been there and said it has like 7 floors of various kinds of kits. Wow, 7 floors... Shes actually Filipina, but speaks fluent Japanese having lived there for about 12 years before we met. Her company here, sends her there a few times a year on business and I usually get a present on her return! lol...

Take care all! Doug

Oh, PS... I'll get going soon, its just too cold here now, ( having a freakish cold snap) and I work in the garage. I do have a heater out there but paint and such is out of the question for now.

Rigidrider

The Japanese did have some very sharp looking aircraft. Unfortunately few performed as good as they looked.

Your right, few performed as well as they looked.

Some people may find this interesting though.

After testing a captured KI-84 Frank at Wight Patterson AFB it was found to be an outstanding aircraft and equal to and in some areas better than the P-51. Using American fuel, the Frank could out climb, out maneuver, had better armament and had comparable speed at low altitude. The P-51D was faster and could outdive the Frank but if a one chose to give up their dive energy by turning, the Frank could take it.

The NiK George was also an outstanding aircraft and was very rugged with surprisingly good maneuverability and brutal armament. It was often considered by its pilots and opponents to be one of the best fighters of WWII. It could hold its own against Hellcats, Corsairs and Mustangs, and it started out as a floatplane before they decided to stick some gear on it and make it a land based fighter.

Steve

PJ thanks, and yeah kits like these do put both skills and patience to the test.

----------------------

Steve, or anyone in the know - was there ever a naval version of the Shiden KAI in modelkit form?  Historically only a  prototype for IJN,but can a model be made?

regards,

Jack

MC... Yup, the Frank and George were indeed fine aircraft...Toward the end, the Raiden was also considered a top line interceptor aircraft. 

PJ: Yeah, that is a massive improvement. Your version looks like an actual machine gun. The first looks a ray gun some kid made out of cardboard for a Halloween costume. 

Jack: There was the early model Shiden with the mid-body wing and the complicated landing gear and the later model with the low-wing. I'm thinking the Kai or 'improved' was the low-wing version with some other updates.

And weeeellllllll most of the Japanese aircraft were pretty good. The biggest thing was the lack or armour and self-sealing fuel tanks to increase the agility of their fighters and extend the range of their bombers. Even to the end of the war trying to dogfight a Zero was a bad idea. As the war went on they did build larger more powerful aircraft with better protection but by then they'd expended their good pilots and due to the submarine blockade had no fuel for them. 

The only planes I remember having real issues were the Ki-61 Hien 'Tony' and D4Y Suisi 'Judy' which were of the few aircraft the Japanese had with inline engines. These seemed to be really fussy and prone to problems to the point in the end the Japanese produced versions of both refitted with radial engines. 

Thanks Cliff.   So would adding a tailhook  be enough to convert to a carrier?  Any suggested kit for the Shiden KAI in 1/72 scale?

regards,

Jack

Oh I'm sorry Jack, misunderstood your question. Though the Shiden was a navy aircraft I don't think it was ever designed as a carrier based aircraft but instead was intended to be flown from navy land bases. Probably at least based on the Japanese not having much of a carrier force left by the end of the war. An alternate reality version based on the Japanese navy still having carriers in 1944 with Shiden flying off them would be pretty cool. 

I built the 1/48th Hasegawa kit and enjoyed it. Sorry, no idea if their 1/72nd kit would be just as good. Probably some of the 1/72nd guys would know. 

Unbelieveably I don't have a 1/72 Shiden in my stash. I do have the Tamaya kit on my wish list though if that counts. 

Jack are you asking about the Shiden (George) or ShiNden (no alied code name that I'm aware of)?

Steve

Cliff, a several years back, I made the aquantence of a Navy Lieutenent who flew an F6F Hellcat during WWII in the Pacific. Lt Saunders was quite the character, and would talk your ears off. Every time we got together he would tell me the stories of dog fighting the "Japs", and it would always come around to his 4th and final air combat victory, The all green Zeke. Long story short, They climbed, dove, rolled, and tried everything that they could to gain the advantage on each other... He said it was no more then about 5 min. but seemed like an hour. Then the Zeke's pilot made one small mistake, that allowed Lt Saunders to get on his tail, well a quick burst sent the Zeke to the deep, he would say. He passed on a few years ago at the age of 93, and even though it seemed funny at the time, him cornering me and telling me the same stories over and over, I sure would like to here the story of the"All Green Zeke" again. I know that story has little to do with our building, other then being a dog fighting story, but just thought it would be nice to share. Oh, by the way, Before he died, I built a model for him, it was an all green zeke, on the ocean floor. I think he liked it... 

Take care all ...Doug

I was assuming the Kawanishi N1K2 Shiden Kai (George). I'm not aware of a Kai version of the Shinden canard fighter. Kai btw is Japanese for 'new' or 'improved'.

I had to look it up but the Kai version was the low-wing model. The original Kyofu floatplane fighter had the mid-wing design which wasn't a problem with the floats. But on the conversion to a land-based fighter with retractable landing gear Kawanishi had to use very long gear legs to stretch from the ground up to the mid-wing and still allow the giant prop to clear the ground. They wouldn't fit into a normal gear bay so the engineers designed a novel telescoping design with two part gear legs consisting of a smaller tube that would retract into a larger tube allowing them to become shorter in the bay and longer when deployed.

As you can imagine this was a nightmare in practice. Overly complicated in design they didn't always retract properly to enter the gear bays and worse having the entire weight of a heavy plane on them often would collapse. A pilot making a harder landing than recommended would often find the gear legs collapsing under the plane. 

So the N1K2 Shiden Kai was designed. The wings were moved from mid-body to the bottom of the plane like a F6F or P-47. The landing gear legs were replaced with a shorter single-piece design. This solved the gear problems but of course was so late in the war the plane still didn't make the impact it would have earlier.

I looked around it looks like you have a choice between Hasegawa, Aoshima, and Kora. I don't think I've even heard of Kora before.

https://hlj.com/search/go?lbc=hobbylink&method=and&p=Q&ts=custom&uid=117906243&w=N1K2&af=selectscale%3a172scale%20category%3aair

http://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/has00136.htm

Rigidrider

Cliff, a several years back, I made the aquantence of a Navy Lieutenent who flew an F6F Hellcat during WWII in the Pacific. Lt Saunders was quite the character, and would talk your ears off. Every time we got together he would tell me the stories of dog fighting the "Japs", and it would always come around to his 4th and final air combat victory, The all green Zeke. Long story short, They climbed, dove, rolled, and tried everything that they could to gain the advantage on each other... He said it was no more then about 5 min. but seemed like an hour. Then the Zeke's pilot made one small mistake, that allowed Lt Saunders to get on his tail, well a quick burst sent the Zeke to the deep, he would say. He passed on a few years ago at the age of 93, and even though it seemed funny at the time, him cornering me and telling me the same stories over and over, I sure would like to here the story of the"All Green Zeke" again. I know that story has little to do with our building, other then being a dog fighting story, but just thought it would be nice to share. Oh, by the way, Before he died, I built a model for him, it was an all green zeke, on the ocean floor. I think he liked it... 

Take care all ...Doug

 

Thanks Doug! Always love hearing stories like this from vets. My uncle was in the Pacific but didn't seem like he ever wanted to talk about it so I never pressed him. I wish I'd known some way to ask without bringing up any bad memories.

That was one interesting story Doug. We keep loosing these old vets each day that passes.

My first job right after high school was selling shoes at a big Dept. Store in Miami. My boss had been a P-38 recon pilot in the Pacific 30 years earlier. He always had a war story to tell. As he used to say, "the Japs shot at me with bullets and I shot at the Japs with a camera!"

Then I met another shoe salesman that had been a Marine BAR Gunner at Guadalcanal. He also had some really eye opening stories, some too gruesome to go into details and he had the pictures to back them up.  

Well back to modeling, been doing things to the Kate pit to make it more presentable. I closed off the floor sides along with adding plastic sheet to the pit walls meeting the floor and made a bulkhead right behind the pilot's seat. I also made the throttle controls and console from plastic parts and pe pieces.

This is how Nichimo's pit looks like out of the box, not even close to the real thing!

Then there are the gaps where the floor meets the pit walls

Plastic sheet was used to extend the floor sides

Throttle controls and console scratched out from plastic and brass

A bulkhead was fabricated from plastic sheet behind the pilot's seat and more plastic sheet was added to the floor and the wall sides. All the little bits and thingies are ready for paint. I even got the torpedo together and thinned down the tail fins. 

I also thinned the seat backs and drilled out the backs

That's some major work needed PJ

modelcrazy

That's some major work needed PJ

 

Like the old Carpenters song says, we've only just begun. This is a lot of work and should have gone with Hasegawa's Kate instead.

PJ, that is definitely some great attention to detail.

-----------------------

Doug, that was an interesting story.  It's amazing how events long ago can still be quite vivad to one's memory.

-----------------------

Steve and Cliff, yes it's the Shiden (George) I'm interested in.  I know next to nothing about it, so am relying on you guys - and hope wiki isn't leading things astray:

N1K3-A Shiden KAI 2, Model 41: Prototypes: Carrier-based version of N1K3-J, 2 built.
N1K4-A Shiden KAI 4, Model 42: Prototype: Experimental conversion of N1K4-J example with equipment for use in carriers, 1 built.

Any idea what the 'A' and 'J' variants refer to, and as far as a model kit of the N1K2 - what needs to done to covert to N1K3 or N1K4?

regards,
Jack

PJ, 

Very impressive attention to detail on that Kate! 

PJ: That is a massive improvement! Love the creative use of PE on the console there. 

Jack: I'm going to have a take a pass on this one. I haven't seen much of any information on anything other than the N1K1 and N1K2. Maybe someone else here can answer your questions? If not it may be one of those things were no one knows much about it and you can get away with a little creative 'this seems like the most practical way of doing it' common sense modeling and just add an arrester hook etc from a bomber (I think one from a Zero might be too small considering the Shiden's extra weight). I'll see if I can root around this weekend with my experimental Japanese aircraft books and the internet. Sorry not to be any more help- I think I just told you before stuff you already know. 

Cliff, no worries.  My interest in the navalized George arose from the WorldofWarships game while playing the Shōkaku, though there it's fighters are N1K5-A.

regards,

Jack

Good luck with your research Jack. If you go ahead I'd love to see what you come up with. 

Jack, Cliff, PJ, Yeah, What made it kinda funny was my wife worked for a Hotel/Motel chain when she first got here, and Ole Mr. Saunders wife would drop him off at the Hotel for the weekend when ever she and her their daughter did any thing around the house. I now know why! LOL... Well I would drop my wife off and pick her up when her shift was done, and thats how I met him. He would stand at her office door and pester her all day, The poor ole guy just wanted someone to talk to. Well that day I came to get her a bit earlier then usual, she introduced us, and her having told him I was a Marine... Well, thats all it took. From then on, whenever He was "dropped off" he would ask my wife, when is your husband coming? And I would come sit and listen to him sometimes for hours. He was old and unfirm in body and often I would help him to his room, But his mind ran like a well oiled machine. As far as getting old vets to share their stories... some do and some don't. I myself will talk freely with some vets, but only if I feel comfortable around them. Its like the old saying, If I need to explain, you wouldn't understand...

Any way, take care guys...

Thanks for reading my little story, And yes, we loose more every day, and thats a whole era of history we can never retrieve again. I'm honored to have herd some of it first hand, from those who lived it.

Doug

Doug, that in itself was a a good story of your personal interaction with that vet, I got a good chuckle too.

-------------------------

Back at the Claude, had trouble finding the correct angle and length for some home made exhausts were to sit on this one, so had to progress to the engine and cowl:

1. -  added little blobs of putty around the engine, as the cowl really has no attachment points.

2. - back view, now to clean up the excess putty, a scriber came in handy for that.  Also note the three notches on the lower cowl, the outer ones are to accomodate the exhaust pipes, but no idea what the center notch is for?

3.  - left over putty used to fill in the step created from joining the two cowl halves.

regards,

Jack

Jack, your Claude looks to be an 'interesting' build. I like those challenging kits.

I've built the Tamiya 1/72 N1K1 George, it's a beautiful kit as you would except. I then bought the Aoshima N1K2 as I wanted the see the comparison between the low wing and mid wing variants. It looks to be a very nice kit with engraved detail. Doing one of each variant is something that I would do, I'm interested in the answer to your question too.

Excellent story RR, I like the interaction with the Mr Saunders as much as his story.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks Tony, and interesting you mention the Aoshima brand, because I did find a candidate for a carrier version of the Kawanishi N1K .

According to Nick Millman and his blog Aviation of Japan, Aoshima had released a few boxings of the N1K3, but are really the N1K4. 

Here is a pretty sweet build in overall yellow:

http://hobbycom.jp/my/351c960165/photo/products/37410

... and I think this one of lowest prices to be found, at PlazaJapan:

https://www.plazajapan.com/search.php?search_query=n1k3

--------------------------------

Have also learned what the 'A' and 'J' designations refer to (according to wiki):

A = carrier fighter

J = land-based fighter

regards,

Jack

Veery Interestink.........

I was unaware of a George carrier version. I have 2 Hasegawa 1/48 J Georges and one Bandai 1/24 J in the stash. The Bandai one is HUGE.

Jack: Heck of a job there on the Claude, clever idea with the putty. And thanks for sharing your research on the Shiden. Frankly I didn't have a clue there. 

Doug: Had to be pretty awesome to get to hear the old vet's stories.