SPA Modeler

Going to be doing a WIP on the Hasegawa 1/48 J7W1 Shinden but in Luftwaffe colors as a “what-if.” Basically if the war went longer and if the Luftwaffe was in the trial stage of testing the Shinden for it’s possible use. The kit is pretty basic, raised panel lines, sparse details, you know. This is going to be something I work on while waiting on parts or when I am in a waiting period on my other build. Yes, I do build other aircraft other than 109s... Shocker I know! Lol.

Anyway the ironic thing is this kit could be built and completed over a weekend, I am going to spend more time with this than my other builds. She may not be a ZM kit (those are amazing kits btw) but it still is a great kit considering how old the molds are. Armed with my ZM book I got with my 1/32 Shinden kit from them, I will see what I can add to this one to make it pop on the shelf. Since I am in a “what-if” phase right now, it would only be appropriate for me to make it look like it is a Luftwaffe bird. I actually have been wanting to do this build for a very long time, figure now is a good time to shit or get off the pot with this.

Color scheme? I have bounced between many schemes for this, last time I thought about it was supposed to be similar to the Do 335. But for now I am digging the completely random paint scheme you see on the Ta 152, late model 109s, etc. Still up in the air but for certain is it will be a Luft aircraft... Stay tuned if you like this sorta build, hoping I do this justice and further build outside the box.

This should be VERY interesting. Will be following this one as well.

Wondered when the Shinden would pop up...

Such a cool looking aircraft! A Luftwaffe “what if?” version could be lots of fun! Especially with the variety of color schemes possible...

Played with the Shinden last night while I was battling the use (deciding on, the paint is amazing to work with) of RLM66 on the other build so while I kept thinking of whether to use it or not the Shinden got attention.


Now if I recall the Shinden had cooling issues (could be wrong) so this being a licensed build it got improvements! What is normally the supercharger intake on the Japanese version is now the inlet for the oil coolers, though you just cannot see them in this kit. The new supercharger intake is mounted below the aircraft and direct fed into the BMW radial’s supercharger. The Germans and their wisdom also decided on this aircraft getting more rivets over the Japanese prototype!


The intake looks a hair to small... Going to swap it for one slightly bigger. Added rivets to the left side fuselage, going to add more. Minus the intake, everything else is dry fit, for this old kit it fits snug like a glove!