The Kyushu J7W1 Shinden 'Magnificent Lightning' was developed for the Japanese Navy from a design theory by Capt. Masachika Tsuruno. The Shinden adopted a 'pusher' type fuselage due to the high efficiency propellor used to meet the Navy's specification for a top speed of 750Km/h. With the engine at the rear the nose was made more aerodynamic and 4 30mm m/gs were fitted. The propellor could be jettisoned by explosive bolts should the pilot need to bail out. The first prototype was completed in July 1945 with the first flight, of 45 minutes, on August 3rd. Two more test flights were made with the fuselage being badly damaged on the last one. The war in the Pacific ended before production of the planned initial batch of a/c could be started.
The kit is the 1970 reboxing of the initial 1966 Tamiya release and has 'new' parts. The 1970 kit is definitely not up to Tamiya's current standards so the 1966 release must have been sparse as there's no cockpit detail, you're supposed to just stick the pilot to the pegs and that's it. The wheel wells are shallow and have no detail either. Due to the kits age the decals (transfers from that age) are showing signs of cracking. A kit of not many parts which will need some detail adding and a little TLC. I started working on the cockpit at PlayDay 10.
