56 – Mitsubishi J2M2 “Raiden” (Jack)
BAPTISÉ Jack II par les Américains, cet avion d’un remarquable dessin aérodynamique remplaça les célèbres Zeke-52 Zéro, dont la vitesse de pointe était devenue insuffisante par rapport à celle des derniers appareils américains. Comme tous les chasseurs japonais, le Raiden-11 faisait preuve d’une étonnante maniabilité. Il était redevable de cette précieuse qualité à sa légèreté, à la surface de ses ailes et à son moteur puissant. Il ne comportait aucun blindage, ni au poste de pilotage, ni aux réservoirs. Touché, il se comportait comme son aîné, le Zéro : il se disloquait ou explosait en plein vol!
Encore fallait-il réussir à l’atteindre! Le Raiden-11 fut chargé, vers la fin du conflit, de s’opposer aux incursions aériennes sur le Japon. Il se spécialisa dans l’attaque à la bombe (il en portait une sous chaque aile) des B-29 américains. Une deuxième version de cet avion, le Raiden-21, Comportait une crosse d’appontage lui permettant d’être basé sur porte-avions. Plusieurs exemplaires de ces deux types furent capturés par les Américains à la fin de la guerre. Expédiés aux U.S.A., ils y furent essayés et analysés, ce qui permit aux pilotes et techniciens américains de constater les extraordinaires qualités de ces appareils. En 1945, ceux-ci auraient pu encore, s’ils avaient été en nombre, inquiéter très sérieusement l’U.S-AIR ForCE. Heureusement les pilotes yankees n’eurent jamais beaucoup à faire aux Raiden-11 que l’État-Major japonais conservait dans la métropole pour parer à l’assaut des côtes de la Métropole, assaut que la bombe atomique rendit inutile.
Caractéristiques : Envergure : 10,80 m. – Longueur : 9,70 m. – 1 moteur Mitsubishi MK 4 R-A Kaseï 23 de 1.800 C.V. – Armement : 2 mitrailleuses + 2 canons de 20 mm. – Vitesse maximum : 630 km/h.
The finished model:
The kit:
The vision:
I’m not quite sure why I bought this box. I got it for about W4,000 ($4) at a local model/hobby show in Seoul a couple of years ago. At the time, I really didn’t have any plan for it… but two DIFFERENT kits… and cheap… why not?
As it turns out, it was a wise investment. I set up the Voir et Savoir section when I first started my blog, but it’s long been an under-supported area of my builds. It’s a great idea… 60 WWII-era planes, with a strong connection to Hergé’s work. But I never really seemed to find the time (or more precisely, the interest) in pursuing the projects. My Tintin and Area 88 projects always came first.
Of course, some of that has to do with the fact that I’d originally planned to do all these builds in 1/72 scale. However, after finding the joy of “mini dioramas” with my Area 88 1/144 scale project, a light bulb went off… why not turn my Voir et Savoir build into a 1/144 scale project instead? All of the planes are depicted in-flight anyway…
So, just like that, suddenly, this box had a purpose in my stash. The J2M2 “Raiden” (Jack) is Voir et Savoir entry #56, so I was already ahead of the game (for once). Only one problem remained… what about the A7M2 “Reppu” (Sam)?
The A7M2 isn’t listed among the 60 planes of the Voir et Savoir series. That’s too bad… but nor is the Polikarpov I-16, or the F4U-1 “Crusader”, or several others among my personal favourites. What to do? Well… why limit yourself? I just created a new section called “Voir et Savoir Plus” and now, pretty much anything goes! I might even extend it to include “Voir et Savoir Moderne” to incorporate whatever jet fighters don’t get to play in my Area 88 1/144 scale project! Why not? it’s the perfect (unnecessary) solution to a (non) problem.
The build:
Even though this was a twin build, I’ve created another page for the A7M2 side of the build. So if you’re interested, feel free to check it out here.
Since I decided to depict the planes “in action’ as closely as I can with the Voir et Savoir chromos, the first thing to do was close up the wheel wells and outfit it with a small 4mm diameter DC motor. The kit isn’t intended to be displayed “wheels up”, so there’s some work involved in closing them up, but it was manageable. For the motors, getting them to spin straight is always a challenge. If the hole (or the propeller itself) isn’t dead centre, there’s going to be a bit of a wobble. So trying to get the least amount of plastic between the motor drive shaft and the propeller head is the way to go. To keep it centred, I added a bit of a support structure on the inside of the engine cowling and then drilled out the props as best I could.
I also decided to go “wireless” on powering the motors, so I added some pre-soldered micro usb jacks. The nice thing about them is that I don’t have to try and make a tiny little solder connection with the wires, but the circuit board square does take up a bit of space. Luckily I found some wooden chopstick rests at Daiso that did the trick in terms of look and space to hide electronics.
The kit itself was pretty easy to put together. There’s not a lot of parts, but I did manage to forget the air intake on the underside of the engine cowling. I only noticed after it was painted, so I scratched up a replacement and did some very careful glueing. It look alright to me.
Speaking of painting,.. I did my best to replicate the scheme from Voir et Savoir Chromos No. 56. I used a couple of layers of blue tack for masking the organic look to it. It’s not a perfect match, but I think you can see the inspiration. I even added the Japanese characters on the engine cowling by creating my own decal. For their part, the kit decals worked like a charm.
All in all, I’d say this was a pretty successful outing for my first Voir et Savoir project. Feel free to leave me a comment and tell me what you think.
