Continuing the IJN floatplane season Jim Anderson has very kindly shared these images of his splendid Kawanishi N1K1 Kyofu 'Rex' model in 1/72 scale built from the Hasegawa kit. Jim's model neatly compliments Guillermo's Rex (shown here in February) as it represents サ-134 ('Sa'-134) of the Sasebo Ku, a late production stablemate with individual exhaust stacks (variant and tailcode for each confirmed by photographs). A total of only 89 Kyofu were built before deliveries ended in March 1944. It is apparent that Sasebo Ku operated both variants but how many of each were made seems uncertain. Jim has described the build as follows:-
'This nicely detailed kit of the Hasegawa Kyofu “Mighty Wind” N1K1 ‘Rex’ Late Type was started in September of 2010 and finished that November. The fit was excellent as was ease of assembly. No modifications were made except for replacement of the kit supplied running boards on the beaching trolley with some handy HO scale lumber. Kudos to Hasegawa for including a nicely executed scale access ladder for the kit.
'Kawanishi’s ‘George’ lineage is apparent in the ‘Rex’. It makes me wish that the four bladed propeller could have found its way onto one or two of the handsome floatfighters. As you can see this Late Type model has a smaller spinner and an air intake on the face of the upper cowling. I’ll move on to painting.
'Interior color is a three-way mix of Testors Flat Green 1171 (50%), Testors Flat Yellow 1169 (35%) and Testors Flat Brown 1166 (15%) of the still common little 1/4 ounce bottles. Exact measuring? No, just an idea, but it did produce a nice springtime bamboo green. And since it is a seaplane, there isn’t any landing gear to mess with (another reason to build floatplanes!). Topsides are Tamiya XF-11 Japanese Navy Green (70%) with Tamiya X-4 Blue (15%) and the remainder being Tamiya X-2 White and Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow equally. The canopy framework was hand painted with the XF-11 that gaves it a darker look. Undersurface color is Pactra IV3 Grey (FS 36622) from their long retired US Air Force Vietnam paint set, with Testors Gloss White 1145 (about 10%). The propeller was painted with Testors 1166 Flat Brown. Kit supplied decals were used.
'The instructions didn’t call for the usual yellow IFF strips on the leading wing edges so they were originally skipped. Having recently learned that there was a much narrower strip of the yellow IFF applied I added that later and took more photos! So even when we finish a model it sometimes remains a 'work in progress' as new information comes to light.'
With very special thanks to Jim for sharing these images of his model and notes on the build. A popular subject this won't be the last Rex in this themed season.
Image credit: All model photos © 2021 Jim Anderson; Box art © 1996 Hasegawa Corp.