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Shinden!

history

The Kyūshū J7W1 Shinden (震電, "Magnificent Lightning") fighter was a World War II Japanese propeller-driven aircraft prototype that was built in a canard design. The wings were attached to the tail section and stabilizers were on the front. The propeller was also in the rear, in a pusher configuration.

Developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a short-range, land-based interceptor, the J7W was a response to B-29 Superfortress raids on the Japanese home islands. For interception missions, the J7W was to be armed with four forward-firing 30 mm cannons in the nose.

The Shinden was expected to be a highly maneuverable interceptor, but only two prototypes were finished before the end of war. Building a gas turbine–powered version was considered but never even reached the drawing board.

the kit

Zoukei-Mura's kits are legendary for the amount of detail they include. Such things as pistons inside the engines, spars and ribs in the wings and incredible detail stuffed into the fuselage are commonplace in Z-M kits. In this case, it was a shame to cover it all up, so many access panels were left off the model to show some of it off. The model was finished as one of the prototypes, a boring scheme but it has the benefit of being accurate.