Type 31
I managed to complete two Hasegawa Jack's at the same time, the Type 21 and the Type 31, so the reviews for both are identical with the exception of pointing out where construction or parts differ.
The "Jack" has always appealed to me for some reason and now, after having built the 1/72nd Hasegawa offering almost 20 years ago, I finally have a couple in 1/48th for my collection. The name "Raiden" in Japanese means Thunderbolt, and as the plane began to take shape on my various work surfaces, I couldn't help but compare it to Republic's offering of the same nickname, particularly as regards the size of the fuselage. In comparison with other Japanese fighters of the same era, it is indeed a large and hefty looking aircraft. However, in spite of it's bulk, it has a very pleasing shape to it.
The Type 21 was the most common of the Jack series with more more being produced than any other. It had formidable armament with 4 wing-mounted 20mm cannon and saw extensive service over the Home Islands against the B-29s. Only about 500 total were completed before the war ended.
While the Brothers Hasegawa have a little catching up to do with Tamiya in some areas, this is a fine kit nonetheless and goes together very well. The cockpit is loaded with detail and comprises over 15 parts, all the panels and consoles have great detail and it shows up well after painting and dry-brushing. I painted the interior Japanese interior blue and paints the instrument dials and switches black and dry-brushed with silver. The cockpit fit quite well between the two fuselage halves, which after applying Tenax, went together seamlessly.
The wings went together in the same manner and the one piece lower wing incorporates the bottom of the fuselage. If you're going to include the 60kg bombs, you'll have to open holes in the wing bottom. A 250lt drop tank is also included. After the wings were attached and the resulting minute seam polished, the fuselage was completed by adding the tail planes, the nose and the forward cockpit cowling. The Type 21 kit offers two choices of propellers, the standard and a high-performance type. I choose the high-performance type. What I believe to be an armored windscreen fits inside the cockpit quite nicely. The only problem I had with either kit was fitting the canopy. This took a little doing, but in the end, it came out ok. Next the canopy was masked with Parafilm M (which I am rapidly becoming attached to) and was sprayed interior blue and then I was ready for final painting.
Painting and decaling options are for two machines. Both from 1st Squadron 302nd Naval Flying Group and both finished in IJN Green top surfaces and IJN gray lower surface. The second option had the top third of the tail painted yellow. I choose this option solely for a little added color. The decals were ok and that was about it. I sprayed a coat of semi-gloss over the completed aircraft and then added the landing gear, cannon barrels and propeller.
I just love the look of the completed aircraft and highly recommend these kits, as I mentioned earlier the fit is great and even the trouble I had with the canopy didn't detract from the enjoyment building and viewing the completed model gives me. All paints used were Testor's Model Master and I used Tenax and Humbrol cements with Parafilm M for masking.