Zoukei-Mura Shinden
- Details
- Published on Fri, 8 Jan 2010 James Hatch
1/32 Zoukei-Mura J7W1 ‘Shinden’
This company and its new product have seemed to spring up from nowhere. There were a few test shots hawked around model shows in Asia for a while, and the company, almost notorious in their secrecy, kept tempting us with a few photos of the prototype kit. The Shinden is one of those aircraft which has been seen as a ‘Holy Grail’ for large scale modellers of the esoteric for a while, so this release, rightly so, is very exciting indeed.
I don’t know too much about the Shinden apart from the fact that it never saw active service. The A-Bomb fell on Japan and the Japanese surrendered before this bizarre looking machine could proceed past prototype stage. Would it have made an effective fighter against the new Mustangs or other Allied developments? Who knows? The fact remains that this is probably one of the most unusual aircraft actually approved for active service. The J7W2 was a further development of the Shinden, known as the Shinden Kai, and powered by a single jet engine. This enterprise never existed beyond the draughtsman’s papers.
The Kit:
Since the Matchbox kits of the 1980’s, I have never seen a model moulded in 3 different colours! This kit is moulded in grey, black and silver styrene, perhaps in keeping with the odd subject matter! There are 4 sprues of pale grey styrene, three of silver and one of black. Some of these sprues are quite large too. The last sprue is the transparent one which has mouldings to depict the canopy in either open or closed positions.
I can tell you that there is very little in the way of any ‘English’ inside this kit. Almost everything on the box and the instructions manual is in Japanese, including the name of the aircraft on the box lid. The box states (in English) ‘For Japan Only’, so while there is no doubt that this kit can indeed be bought directly (only from Volks.jp), it is primarily intended for the Japanese home market. Upon opening the box, the bagged sprues are protected by a thick layer of bubble-wrap.
Since my Japanese is rusty(!), an included sheet appears to be either an amendment or other, but luckily there is a drawing including. In the same plastic bag, there is a sheet for joining Zoukei-Mura’s SUPER WINGS SERIES ‘Fan Club’. A third sheet depicts extras which can be purchased for this kit, in the form of the pilot, ground crew with ladders, and what looks like an ‘inspection team’ of some sort. A beautifully cast resin pilot is included with the kit, and he even comes with a ceremonial sword. The detail on this figure is stunning, and that is perhaps an understatement. A pity that the other figures aren’t included with the kit.
Two more printed sheets are included, one of which shows options to ‘upgrade’ the kit to the Shinden Kai jet-powered version. These parts include different resin tyres, oleos etc. I’m a little disappointed that these weren’t included as options in what is already quite an expensive kit. When this kit was pre-ordered and paid for, these items weren’t available, thus making yet another purchase quite pricy if you include the postage. The last sheet is totally in Japanese, but looks like it’s a form for getting extra/replacement parts.
Ok, onto the instruction manual. This looks gorgeous and is made to look like a wartime Japanese document. Surprisingly, there is a page at the beginning printed in English, with information about this most unusual machine. The remainder of the manual is very high quality indeed, and shows the constructional sequences in superbly drawn renderings, complete with photos showing the model at that stage of completion too. Not to worry too much there as some selected Japanese text inside the assembly sequences do have an English subtext.....not all mind. Still, I can’t see anything at this point which looks like it would be confusing to build.
The kit itself consists of 252 parts, of which 16 of these are moulded on the transparent sprue. The main outer aircraft mouldings, such as wings, fuselage etc are moulded in the grey styrene. Panel lines are restrained and subtly rendered, and as for rivets, these are small and subtle. They aren’t festooned all over the exterior either. I can see one or two spots of flash here and there, but it is very small and fine; in fact the majority of the parts won't need too much in the way of cleaning up. However, the most affected parts are the smaller ones. Some of these parts are also a little softly moulded in terms of detail. Some parts do possess seam lines, but these aren’t in any quantity that you wouldn’t see on any other kit from the likes of Dragon and Trumpeter. A sanding stick will make short work of any seams.
The silver sprues contain interior parts. The first thing you’ll notice is a quite a large skeletal piece which forms the basis of the fuselage and the wings themselves. This is nicely moulded for rivet detail and what forms the girder sections of the wing structure. Two pilot seats are included; one without a seatbelt and the other with. These seats are a little disappointing though as they look quite rudimentary. Cockpit sidewall detail is very comprehensive, but perhaps a little overstated in terms of depth of the moulded detail. This could be remedied with a little surgery.
The engine is beautifully moulded and the detail on the cooling fins of the radial engine is very fine indeed. All the engine ancillary parts are equally well detailed and moulded. Certainly nothing to disappoint here. The engine actually takes 2 whole sprues and is a nice little project in its own right.
The black sprue holds that amazing 6 blade pusher propeller. I’m no expert on the Shindens prop, but this looks a little paddle like, and no aerofoil profile seems to be present. Both edges of the prop are sharp, whereas you would expect only the trailing edge of the prop to be relatively sharp. The detail on the black parts, from the guns to the oleos looks very crisp. No sign of flash anywhere. A disappointment shows on the tyres though as they aren’t weighted. The resin upgrade set are weighted though, and there is simply no excuse for these being the way they are. I’m very disappointed at this aspect.
The instrument panel looks of reasonable quality, and is moulded entirely in clear styrene. The clear parts are of very good quality and the detail is crisp throughout. A set of canopy masks is also included and are pre-cut for ease of use.
The decals come on a single sheet and are very nicely printed and in good register. I can’t tell from inspection how good these are, but with regard to thickness, look about the same as some of the older Tamiya releases.
So what do we think?
This is a very good kit, but not a superlative one. The subject itself makes this worthy of purchase, but I feel that there are areas of what is already an expensive kit (especially with regard to additional import duties which are liable) which could have been improved upon. Why no weighted tyres in the kit, but you CAN get them as upgrades? I almost feel like there should be another sprue of detail parts included, but perhaps my recent build of the Tamiya Spit has spoiled me? Having said that, this will build into a great looking and very unusual subject. Your wallet will quake though.....
AMMENDMENT of 28th August 2010
I am currently building this kit in order to deliver it to Zoukei-mura in Kyoto, Japan. Having now spent 4 days in assembly and dry fitting, I have to say that this kit really deserves a higher rating than I originally gave it. The detail, when you see it in construction, is as good as you would expect from an aftermarket supplier. I can't see how what appears to be a very busy cockpit, can be bettered. I have the cockpit and gun bays assembled in a dry fit format without any glue. That is testament to the models design and accuracy.
Zoukei-mura have now released several new detail sets of their own to show their commitment to their range...some of which I will be using on my own model.
At this point, if I was to review this model again and re-score it, bearing in mind that ZM have NEVER released any other kit before, and the detail of this kit, I have to give it full marks.
Review item courtesy of my own pocket. This item can be purchased directly from the Zoukei-Mura website HERE
