The J2M was designed by Jiro Horikoshi, who also designed the A6M Zero, to meet the 14-Shi Specification for a local defence fighter to counter the threat of high-flying bombers, relying on speed, climb performance and armament at the expense of manouverability. The first few J2M2s were delivered to Development Units in December 1942 but severe problems were encountered with the oversized Mitsubishi Kasei engine. Something that was to trouble the a/c throughout it's use. The first batch of serial built J2M2 Model 11 were delivered 381st Kokutai in December 1943. Parallell to the J2M2 work was started on the J2M3 Model 21 and here's where the fun with the kit begins.
Not having built a Sword kit before when I saw this as a remainder in the Don collection sale I thought I'd give it a go. The box says it's a J2M2 Raiden Raiden Type 11 (late version) but closer inspection of the parts and the versions therein show in to be a 'one size fits all' release with alternative parts for the propeller, cockpit bracing and canopy amongst others with no indication in the instructions as to what fits which version. Don had already started (and abandoned) it and unfortunately had superglued one of the cockpit resin pieces in the wrong spot, as well as removing the angled pieces on both. This caused some head scratching later but I worked around it. I built the cockpit tub up but due to the above mentioned problem fitted the the internals seperately starting at the rear bulkhead to give me 'wiggle' room. Also put inplace was the rear engine plate. This is definitely a kit where multiple dry runs are carried out before committing to glue.