1/32 J2M3 Raiden (Jack) Type 21 by Zoukei-mura - PREVIEW

[Thomas_M]

Masks:


Pre-cut canopy masks

[Thomas_M]

Decals:



Decals are given for two schemes:

352 Naval Air Group
3rd Divisional Officer
Lt. JG Yoshihiro Aoki
Mar. 1945, Ohmura AB, Nagasaki

302 Naval Air Group
2rd Divisional Officer
Lt. Susumo Ito
Apr. 1945, Atsuki AB, Kanagawa

Additional numbers are given to do an aircraft of your choice.

[Thomas_M]

Assembly manual:



The typical Zoukei-mura style of making these manuals look as official documents. Gives an overview on the aircraft's specifications, engine and armament.

Following this is a two page overview on the assembly of your kit, nicely illustrated and informative.



The next seven chapters are the assembly instructions themselves. Please read them carefully, especially all the information and hints given!
Painting and decal information then are followed by a two page sprue and parts list.

Here are some sample pages. I guess there will be more pages offered to be downloaded on Zoukei-mura´s website as soon as the kit will be available.













Some picture from Zoukei-mura, showing the kit during and after assembly:

[Thomas_M]

We also received prototype samples of main landing parts cast in metal and the wheels in resin. I added a match to the wheels to show you how tiny the tail wheel is in this scale!

[Thomas_M]

Final remark

Getting this final test shot as a full kit made me wonder what, if at all, could still be improved. If I hadn´t been advised in advance that this was one of just twenty final test shots I would firmly believe this was the final kit itself! The attention to detail to be seen everywhere on almost each part is fascinating.

Aside from some flow marks and scratches on some of the canopy parts I am very impressed by this new kit by Zoukei-mura (again!). The assembly manual is crammed full of information and hints, guiding you to the assembly of this kit. The decals on my sample look great; the colours are rich and the fit faultless.

The resin wheels only need a very little bit of clean-up before they are ready to be used. The metal landing gear parts on my pre-production sample show some fine lines of mould mismatch. Also the surface of the metal looks a little bit grainy. The metal itself is different and softer than the Super Wing Option metal landing gear for the Heinkel He 219, for example.

The He 219´s metal parts reminded me to some I used from G-Factor, being very strong and perfectly cast. The metal parts in this sample for the Raiden remind me to some I have from Scale Aircraft Conversion; the cast will need some attention and the metal is bendable.

What we have got here are pre-production samples! So, for a final evaluation we will have to wait until the kit and all additional Super Wing Option parts will be available.

Until then I have to thank the fantastic team at Zoukei-mura for sending this final test shot over to Germany!

有り難うございます!