Volume 43 Number 10 Website: http://www.aerohistorians.org October 2009 Tamiya Kawanishi N1K Kyofu (Rex) by Mark Rossmann Kawanishi N1K1 Aircraft plane and the N1K1-J Shiden sea- Mitsubishi MK4D Kasei 14 radial by Mark L. Rossmann plane fighter, which first flew in May engine driving a pair of counter- of 1942. The Kyofu (Powerful Wind) rotating two-bladed propellers. The was fast, and powerfully armed. By production version started in spring the time this plane made it to the of 1943 and ceased production in History: Kawanishi N1K Kyofu field in 1943, Japans offensive ca- March of 1944 and was changed to (Rex) pabilities turned to defense and a 3 bladed Mitsubishi MK4E Kasei In 1940 the Japanese Navy ini- only 97 were built. First prototype 15, 14-cylindar radial air-cooled en- tiated a seaplane project, out of was a mid-wing monoplane with gine, creating 1530 h.p. Max speed which came the A6M2 Reisen sea- large floats, powered by a 1460 hp (Continued on page 3) Page 1 TCAH Officers Airline Chatter by Terry Love Delta Airlines has cut the follow- President , Dave Nelson ing routes from their system due to Spanair, the Spanish charter lower demand – Atlanta to Seoul, Vice-President , Larry Donovan and leisure travel airline, will re- Cincinnati to Frankfurt, Atlanta to place 11 MD-82s and MD-87s with Shanghai, Atlanta to Cape Town, Secretary , Merrill Anderson Airbus A-320s next year as their Cincinnati to London, and New leases run out. York to Edinborough. Treasurer , Dave Hueffmeier Southwest Airlines lost out on a Delta Airlines painted its first ex- Historian , Tom Norrbohm bid for Frontier Airlines. But South- Northwest Airlines Airbus A-330 west is on the hunt for another air- and delivered it to the line on Sep- line to buy. Are we seeing a new tember 11, and it then entered ser- Newsletter Info aggressive Southwest Airlines? vice shortly afterwards. Article Submission Deadline: 22nd of each month. CSA, the Czeck Airline, lost Delta Airlines floated a stock $102.8 million in the first six months sale recently for around $500 mil- Editor of 2009. lion. Delta likes the Asian network Bob Arko of old Northwest Airlines so much, 6417 Rice Court Air India lost a whopping $1.03 that they want to expand its influ- Lino Lakes, MN 55014 Billion for the fiscal year that ended ence in Asia. Therefore, Delta is 651-481-8887h recently. They have too much ca- investing in JAL, Japan Air Lines, 763-496-6742w pacity for their markets. who has lost a lot of money in the [email protected] last couple of years, and is in des- JAL, Japan Air Lines, lost over perate need for cash. Delta is now Distribution Editor $900 million last year, and they pro- the largest single share holder in Rick Schmierer ject to lose at least that much this JAL. Merger? Probably not. Mesh- 1852 E. 39 Street year. Therefore, JAL plans to lay off ing of schedules? Probably. Minneapolis, MN 55407 about 5,000 more employees or 612-721-8787 about 10% of their workforce. Airbus, as of September 15, [email protected] has sold 147 airliners for 2009. Af- American Airlines has now re- ter deducting cancellations, the to- Send articles to: tired all of their Airbus A-300s. tal comes to 125. However, as of Bob Arko American had 35 of them at one September 15, Airbus has delivered 6417 Rice Court time. 320 airliners for the year. Rival Lino Lakes, MN 55014 Boeing has sold a net of 70 airlin- [email protected] Philippines Air Lines may cut ers, but they are generally larger in more than a third of its 8000 em- size than the Airbus airliners. Boe- Send Change of address notice to: ployees due to a sharp decline in ing has delivered 307 airliners Dave Hueffmeier travel. through September 15 of this year. Boeing will deliver between 480 th Airbus delivered its 4,000 A- and 485 aircraft this year. 320 family aircraft to TAM – the Brazilian Airline. TCAH This Month Boeing received 11 new orders The monthly meeting will be held for the Boeing 737-800 the first Saturday October 10, at Fleming week of September, but 2 orders for Field, South St. Paul, beginning at the Boeing 777 were cancellations. 1:30 pm. Vendor baiting will begin Boeing did not disclose what air- about 12:30, so come early. lines were involved. So far this year, Boeing has received 161 new orders and 91 cancellations for a net gain of 70 orders. Orders last year and the previous year were well into the 400s. Picture your model someplace in the Newsletter! Embraer delivered its 600 th Em- braer 175 to LOT, the Polish Airline. Page 2 (Continued from page 1) and up to 264 lbs of bombs. History: Kawanishi N1K2-J Shi- 304 mph at 18,700 ft., ceiling den Kai (George) 34,645 ft., and range 1,036 miles. It is recognized this fighter With the short comings of the Armament was 2 20-mm cannon, 2 matched the capabilities of the Hell- original design, the Shiden Kai took machine guns and up to 132 lbs. of cat and Corsair when in the hands to the air in December of 1943, bombs. of experienced pilots. It is noted sharing the same engine as its predecessor, but was different in a lowering to the wing system, to shorten and simplify the landing gear and the tail wheel. The redes- ign created an exceptional aircraft that the Japanese Navy accepted immediately as its standard fighter and fighter-bomber. Major produc- tion began in June of 1944. With the increase in U.S. bombing raids only 415 of this version could be built. Production version was pow- ered by a Nakajima NK9H Homare 21, 18–cylinder cylinder radial air cooled engine creating 1,990 hp. Max speed 369 mph at 18,375 ft., ceiling 35,300 ft., range, 4881 miles. Armament was 4 20-mm cannons, 1100 lbs of bombs. Construction: N1K Kyofu Sea- plane is a Tamiya kit no. 61036. that Lt. Kinsuke Muto engaged a (Built 2005) History: Kawanishi N1K1-J Shi- dozen Hellcats in February 1945, It was built OOB and as with all den (George) downing 4 of them and driving the Tamiya kits they are well thought The Kawanishi Shiden may be rest off. out and went together very straight the only case in history of a land based combat aircraft derived from a seaplane. This was a privately developed aircraft which was fast, well protected and heavily armed. It was among the few Japanese planes that could compete on the same level as the Corsair and Hell- cat. The Shiden (“Violet Lightning”) were built to the tune of 1,435 dur- ing the last two years of the war, but were used sporadically. Since this was a private venture the Japa- nese military was reluctant to ac- knowledge the virtues of the plane, even with its initial problems with landing gear and engine. Once ironed out the plane went into pro- duction in mid 1943. Production version was powered by a Naka- jima NK9H Homare 21, 18–cylinder cylinder radial air cooled engine creating 1,990 hp. Max speed 363 mph at 19,335 ft., ceiling 41,010 ft., range 1,581 miles. Armament was 4 20-mm cannons, 2 machine gun (Continued on page 4) Page 3 (Continued from page 3) designed with a great fit. The inte- snug them down. forward. As noted a very nice dolly rior is adequate and the kit builds to is included along with the mounting a nice scaled version of the aircraft. Conclusion: This series of air- ladder for the climb to the cockpit . Lower wings and upper wings craft kits is relatively easy to con- Painting: Tamiya synthetic Lac- sprayed separately then matched. struct. If you like Japanese aircraft quer spray-paints AS-2 Light Navy Body sprayed separately then the this series of aircraft were fun to Grey and AS-1 Navy Green. wings were matched to the body. build providing a unique history of a Decals: From the kit and repre- Painting: Tamiya synthetic Lac- specific aircraft type. sent No. 103, “Ohtsu” Kokutai. De- quer spray-paints AS-2 Light Navy cals adhered fine to the Tamiya Grey and AS-1 Navy Green. References: For all aircraft, paint, using Solve Set to snug them Decals: From the kit and repre- “Rand McNally Illustrated Guide to down. sent No. 45, “343rd Air Group”, re- World War II Airplanes – Volume 2” and each of the kits decal infor- mation’ established at the Matsuyama Air Construction: N1K1-J Shiden Base 12/44, fighting to the end of is an Otaki kit. (Built 1987) the war. Decals adhered fine to the It was built OOB and as with all Tamiya paint, using Solve Set to Otaki kits the interior was lacking detail. However, the exterior works up well providing a drop tank and 3 sets of decals. The fit was good with minimal filler and sanding, in- structions in Japanese, but the pic- tures can be followed if care is taken. Painting: Tamiya acrylic Light IJN Navy Grey and IJN Navy Green hand painted with a brush. Decals: From the kit and repre- sent No. 151, “341 st Air Group”, fighting in Iwo Jima, Formosa and the Philippines, where the unit was destroyed. Decals adhered fine to the Tamiya paint, using Solve Set to snug them down. Construction: N1K1-2 Shiden Kai is Hasegawa kit #J5.