Yellow Hammer Decals

1/48 (and 1/72) Genda's Eagles  N1K2-J Shiden-Kai 

Product # YHD48029 for $8.99

Product Article by Steve Bamford on Apr 21 2004

 

 

 

This new decal sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks includes markings for four different 1/48 N1K2-J Shiden-Kai 's.  The recommended kit for these decals is the 1/48 Hasegawa kit.

The first aircraft is a N1K2-J Shiden-Kai # 343-A-11 flown by CPO Shoichi Sugita of 343 Kokutai, Hikotai 301 in April 1945.  The paint scheme for this aircraft is overall Dark Green (aprox. FS 34092) on top and natural metal on the underside.  On the tail is the yellow letter "A" with the yellow numbers 343-11 below it.  There is also a yellow diagonal band on the fuselage behind the cockpit.  The red national insignias on the fuselage have a white border.  This plane has 16 kill symbols.  After Sugita's death this machine was flown by Lt. Masaji Matsumura when his assigned aircraft was not available.   

The second aircraft is a N1K2-J Shiden-Kai # 343-B-17 flown by LA Ikuji Matsumura of 343 Kokutai, Hikotai 407 in March 1945.  The paint scheme for this aircraft is overall Dark Green (aprox. FS 34092) on top and natural metal on the underside.  On the tail is the yellow letter "B" with the yellow numbers 343-17 below it.  The red national insignias on the fuselage have a black border.  This plane has 3 kill symbols.  This plane was flown in the major air battle over Matsuyama, March 19, 1945 and was later flown by LCPO Watanabe to intercept B-29's on April 21, 1945.  The white fuselage numbers in the centre of the fuselage national insignias were painted out at the time mission markings were applied, the white numbers just barely showing through.  The numbers are included if you want to show this plane before the numbers were painted over.  Or you can do this plane without the numbers. 

The third aircraft is a N1K2-J Shiden-Kai # 343-A-15 flown by Lt. Naoshi Kanno of 343 Kokutai, Hikotai 301 from Omura airfield in May 1945.  The paint scheme for this aircraft is overall Dark Green (aprox. FS 34092) on top and natural metal on the underside.  On the tail is the yellow letter "A" with the yellow numbers 343-15 below it.  The red national insignias on the fuselage have a white border.  This plane has 5 kill symbols.  Kanno, the commander of Squadron 301, ordered that two fuselage bands be applied to his aircraft with the intend they would attract enemy fighters to him allowing him the opportunity to destroy them.  The white fuselage numbers in the centre of the fuselage national insignias were painted out at the time mission markings were applied, the white numbers just barely showing through.  The numbers are included if you want to show this plane before the numbers were painted over.  Or you can do this plane without the numbers. 

The fourth aircraft is a N1K2-J Shiden-Kai # 343-B-03 flown by WO Hiroshi Ohara of 343 Kokutai, Hikotai 407 in 1945.  The paint scheme for this aircraft is overall Dark Green (aprox. FS 34092) on top and natural metal on the underside.  On the tail is the yellow letter "B" with the yellow numbers 343-03 below it.  The red national insignias on the fuselage have a black border.  This plane has no kill symbols.  There is a white diagonal fuselage band just forward of the tail.  The meaning of the white fuselage band is unknown but author Henry Sakaida cites speculation that it may designate the division leaders in Squadron 407.  The white fuselage numbers in the centre of the fuselage national insignias are 03.  

As a special bonus....all the markings for these 4 planes are also included in 1/72 on this decal sheet.

The decals were flawlessly printed and the clear carrier film is trimmed very close to the crisply printed colored areas.  The colours look good and will cover very well.  The artwork is quite appealing.  All of the larger white numbers come in duplicate sets to provide extra coverage to avoid any opacity problems.

The instructions are clear and includes 2 view drawings. 

A very nice decal sheet and a treat to see some markings for Japanese Aces from WW2.

I would like to thank Cutting Edge Modelworks for providing me with this review sample.

Steve

Click on images below to see larger images of the instruction sheets

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford