AZKevin Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 The Kawanishi N1K1, Allied code name 'Rex' was initially designed as a high speed offensive floatplane fighter. Its intended mission was to cover Japanese ground troops as they advanced from island to island. Using floatplanes allowed the Japanese to cover these forces without using aircraft carriers of constructing air fields. Floatplanes could be supported by seaplane tenders and use any lagoon or smooth body of water for operation. The N1K1 was originally designed with two 2-bladed contra-rotating props. Problems of excessive vibration in the gearbox led the Kawanishi engineers to redesgn the production version of the Rex with a single 3-bladed prop. With the war turning 'unfavorably' for the Japanese the need for an offensive floatplane fighter was no longer an issue, and the need for Home Defense fighters became predominant. As such the floats were removed from the N1K1 producing the N1K2 land based fighter and ultimately the N1K1-Ja fighter coded named 'George' by the Allies. This kit is built straight from the box, panted with Tamiya acrylics, and decaled with the kit decals. Like any typical Hasegawa kit there were no significant fit issues. I did wind up with a bit of a step between the main float support and the fuselage- but that was probabaly the fault of the builder. The decal placement guide says this paint scheme is for a service test aircraft. Not the factory prototype but an airframe presented to the navy, maintained by Kawanishi factory mechanics, and flown by a navy test pilot before being accepted into service. Hence the lack of weathering (although I will give it a light coat of fflat), and the lack of tail codes. Did anyone catch the fact that I forgot to cut all of the tape when painting the canopy framing?? Hence the incomplete frames. Ah well , just one more little thing to fix. Comments, questions, critiques, suggestions are always welcome. Happy modeling to all, Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montgomery Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Cewl! These are big aircraft. The Museum of the Pacific (Fredricksberg, Tx) has one on display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZKevin Posted September 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Cewl! These are big aircraft. The Museum of the Pacific (Fredricksberg, Tx) has one on display. Dick, would you happen to know if the one on display in Texas is the same one that was at Willow Grove NAS in the '60's? Or if not, where the Willow Grove example might be now? I grew up not far from Willow Grove - if only I knew then what I know now I'd have taken a lot of pictures!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Nice work, and that's a cool looking plane! The tapered cowl and the contra-rotating props combined with the paint scheme give it almost a race plane quality. Congrats, and thanks of posting! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montgomery Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Nope. I do not know anything about the origins of the aircraft. You can visit the website at http://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/index.asp or go old school and call them atv(830) 997-8600 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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