Kyushu J7W3 Shinden Japanese “Jet Ace” 1947

[garybrantley]

Well, how about a what if history project? 😃 I hope you don't mind. This started off as just a regular build of the old 1/48 Hasegawa Kyushu J7W1 Shinden. This aircraft had long fascinated me, with its unorthodox canard design and sort of “Star War”ish appearance. I wanted to build the prototype which actually was briefly test flown in the waning days of the war. The build was progressing along nicely when disaster struck. I was using a desk lamp to speed up the paint drying.  I left the plane unattended for a few hours and when I returned, the lamp had dropped down several inches and had melted the upper rear fuselage. 😳  Yeah. Ooops!  After much gnashing of teeth, a “fix” came to me. I could try to adapt the aircraft to turbojet power which was a long-term plan for Kyushu anyway had time allowed for this development.

I used body shop spot filler putty to build up the damaged area, deleted some features, added a few more and jumped whole hog into this conversion process.  I used the canopy from some long-lost P-47, cutting it in half and using the rear-most section for the windscreen.  A drop tank from an unknown source was pressed into service too.  The prototype had featured some rather long and spindly landing gear to provide ground clearance for the six-bladed prop on the pusher radial engine.  I didn't need that clearance now and so decided to shorten the three landing gear.  That led to another problem.  When the main gear was shortened, the wheels wouldn't mate with the recesses in the wings and forward fuselage.  So, I had to relocate the attachment positions for all three.  I also shortened the rather tall vertical stabilizers/rudders and created new broader rudders.

I envisioned that the J7W1 would've first evolved into the J7W2 with jet power, and then later into the J7W3 with the bubble canopy, shortened rudders and lowered stance. The planes would've been delivered to units in an unpainted form with Hinomarus intact and field expedient camouflage then applied. This model was built back in 2004 and upon close inspection, reveals a lot of flaws. I had a bit of trouble blending the new canopy into the fuselage and in general, the build shows my limits then as a modeler (and those haven't changed as much as I would like even now, 😁). But it was my first conversion of any kind and my first “what if” project too.

I have imagined that this aircraft was based in Korea, circa spring of '47.   Quite unusually, it was part of a unit that had adopted the shape of Texas as an insignia...🤠 😄 This jet fighter is wearing 5 kill markings, 3 American victims and two Soviet kills, making her pilot a “Japanese Jet Ace”.   I hope you enjoy my little World War II fantasy exercise.   These photos are so old that they taken with our very first digital camera, a Sony 2-pixel model!  I'm sorry that they're not up to my usual standard, but they are all I have.   And as always, thanks for taking a look, and please let me know what ya think!
Gary

[stikpusher]

Oh that is gorgeous Gary!!! Beautiful!!!

[tcoat]

And THAT is why I would never bin a kit no matter how bad it is or what disaster struck!

What a beautiful build and incredible story to go with it even if fictional.

[jeaton01]

Well, that is certainly one XXL size relief tube....

[garybrantley]

Apr 25, 2024 18:46:08 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Oh that is gorgeous Gary!!! Beautiful!!!

Thanks, Carlos! 😃 I really appreciate that!   It is an oldie, but kinda goodie too. 😁

Apr 25, 2024 19:10:39 GMT -5 tcoat said:

And THAT is why I would never bin a kit no matter how bad it is or what disaster struck!

What a beautiful build and incredible story to go with it even if fictional.

Thanks tcoat! 🙏🏻  What a great compliment, much appreciated!   I was pretty downcast after that accident, but I endeavored to persevere! (shout out to Lone Wadie  )

Apr 25, 2024 19:14:14 GMT -5 jeaton01 said:

Well, that is certainly one XXL size relief tube....

John, I gotta say that I actually did "laugh out loud" when I read that.  😄  I was trying to scratch out an oxygen mask, and like Topsie, it sort of growed!  😉 Thank you so much for the good belly laugh, my friend! 👍  You don't know how much I needed one. 😊

[TJ]

Gary, cool story and an even better build. After the desk lamp incident your imagination took over and pulled off a great idea

[garybrantley]

Apr 26, 2024 3:28:29 GMT -5 TJ said:

Gary, cool story and an even better build. After the desk lamp incident your imagination took over and pulled off a great idea

Thanks, TJ! 👍 

What a great comment to wake up to today, much appreciated, I assure you, buddy! 🙏🏻

[handiabled]

What a great concept! Way to take a build ruining accident and turn it into a really cool "what if" aircraft! I really like your attention to all the details that would change with the modifications you made

[garybrantley]

Apr 26, 2024 8:14:46 GMT -5 handiabled said:

What a great concept! Way to take a build ruining accident and turn it into a really cool "what if" aircraft! I really like your attention to all the details that would change with the modifications you made

Thank you, Brent! 👍 I sure appreciate your wonderful comments!  😃 Yeah, when that happened, I was determined to keep going; and after deciding that I would try the conversion it was more fun and exciting for me than the OOB build could've ever been.    I had fun imaging what would or could've been different with a jet-powered Shinden, and it was a bit challenging to make the changes somewhat realistic.  I believe Hasegawa released a jet version of this plane in 1/72, but I don't believe it incorporated all my changes. 

Thanks again for your support and encouragement, Brent! 

[tcoat]

Apr 26, 2024 8:29:07 GMT -5 garybrantley said:

Apr 26, 2024 8:14:46 GMT -5 handiabled said:

What a great concept! Way to take a build ruining accident and turn it into a really cool "what if" aircraft! I really like your attention to all the details that would change with the modifications you made

Thank you, Brent! 👍 I sure appreciate your wonderful comments!  😃 Yeah, when that happened, I was determined to keep going; and after deciding that I would try the conversion it was more fun and exciting for me than the OOB build could've ever been.    I had fun imaging what would or could've been different with a jet-powered Shinden, and it was a bit challenging to make the changes somewhat realistic.  I believe Hasegawa released a jet version of this plane in 1/72, but I don't believe it incorporated all my changes. 

Thanks again for your support and encouragement, Brent! 

Actually there is a 1/48 but it looks like all they did was take the regular kit and slap some intakes and an exhaust on it. Your detailing is far better.  ipmsusa.org/reviews2/misc/kits/hasegawa_48_j7w2-jet/hasegawa_48_j7w2-jet.htm

[Tojo72]

Very cool,and as always,great pics.

[garybrantley]

Apr 26, 2024 8:43:55 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Apr 26, 2024 8:29:07 GMT -5 garybrantley said:

Thank you, Brent! 👍 I sure appreciate your wonderful comments!  😃 Yeah, when that happened, I was determined to keep going; and after deciding that I would try the conversion it was more fun and exciting for me than the OOB build could've ever been.    I had fun imaging what would or could've been different with a jet-powered Shinden, and it was a bit challenging to make the changes somewhat realistic.  I believe Hasegawa released a jet version of this plane in 1/72, but I don't believe it incorporated all my changes. 

Thanks again for your support and encouragement, Brent! 

Actually there is a 1/48 but it looks like all they did was take the regular kit and slap some intakes and an exhaust on it. Your detailing is far better.  ipmsusa.org/reviews2/misc/kits/hasegawa_48_j7w2-jet/hasegawa_48_j7w2-jet.htm

Hey tcoat, thanks for finding that one; I didn't remember that there was a 1/48 version as well.  👍 And thanks for the compliment too! 😃

[garybrantley]

Apr 26, 2024 9:33:29 GMT -5 Tojo72 said:

Very cool,and as always,great pics.

It's great to hear from you, Tony! 👍 Thanks for having a look and thanks for the kind comments, much obliged! 🙏🏻

[deafpanzer]

Way too cool! I am positive I haven’t seen this before and I love it when I am still learning stuff here at MSC.

[garybrantley]

Apr 27, 2024 10:08:26 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Way too cool! I am positive I haven’t seen this before and I love it when I am still learning stuff here at MSC.

Aw man, thanks so much! 🙏🏻  I'm glad it was new to ya; it's made the rounds at various model sites over the years.  On a Google image search for J7W3, it's the first image that shows up.   It's become sort of notorious, I guess. 

[406 Silverado]

Jeez Gary. Excellent modeling of a “what if” build brother. Your modeling skills along with your excellent photography puts like into most anything you build and buddy……you sure did THAT here. You’re gonna have to lay out your photo takes for us pal. I would LOVE to do stuff like that with my builds.

[garybrantley]

Apr 27, 2024 11:29:51 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Jeez Gary. Excellent modeling of a “what if” build brother. Your modeling skills along with your excellent photography puts like into most anything you build and buddy……you sure did THAT here. You’re gonna have to lay out your photo takes for us pal. I would LOVE to do stuff like that with my builds.

Thanks, buddy! 🙏🏻


  I so appreciate your wonderful compliments, Joe; they make sound like a better model builder than I am! 😁  Great inspiration for me and motivation to get off my old butt and get something going.    Believe it or not, I'm seriously thinking about an auto model.   It would be my first resin kit, and my first car model since 1976!   

I've always been fascinated by the Auto Union racers from 1933 to'38.    They were advanced, ultra-high-performance machines, reaching top speeds of 260+mph.  Anyway, several years ago, I bought a couple 1/24 Fernando Pinto resin kits.   Man, was I intimidated!  The instructions were vague, to say the least and many parts were just unrecognizable.  But they do make beautiful models; here's a pic of a finished Auto Union model, like my kit, from his FB page, I believe.   I think I might take a fresh look at the kit and see where that leads.



Here's a poor pic of my Pinto kits:

[kyledehart5]

Love this Gary!! Super fun. What a great way to recover too. And a great back story to go along with it. Love the auto Union too…perhaps our upcoming open wheel group build will push you further that direction if you haven’t dove in yet. 😂

[garybrantley]

Apr 29, 2024 23:17:31 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Love this Gary!! Super fun. What a great way to recover too. And a great back story to go along with it. Love the auto Union too…perhaps our upcoming open wheel group build will push you further that direction if you haven’t dove in yet. 😂

Thanks so much, Kyle!  I'm glad you like this Shinden.   And no, I haven't started the Auto Union yet; heck, I've only had that kit since 2016.    Heh, heh and it still scares me! 😄

[kyledehart5]

Apr 30, 2024 8:45:08 GMT -5 garybrantley said:

Apr 29, 2024 23:17:31 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Love this Gary!! Super fun. What a great way to recover too. And a great back story to go along with it. Love the auto Union too…perhaps our upcoming open wheel group build will push you further that direction if you haven’t dove in yet. 😂

Thanks so much, Kyle!  I'm glad you like this Shinden.   And no, I haven't started the Auto Union yet; heck, I've only had that kit since 2016.    Heh, heh and it still scares me! 😄

I have exactly 1 of Pinto’s kits and am not sure when I’ll get around to it. Certainly they are not easy.