Shinden (oz1924)

About this Plan

Kyushu J7W1 Shinden. Scale rubber model Japanese WWII pusher, canard fighter.

Quote: "In early August 1945, the most unusual Japanese fighter of World War II began flying from Kyushu Airfield in Japan. Only three short test flights would be completed before the war brought an end to the development of this innovative warplane. The Japanese had high hopes for the Shinden, or Magnificent Lightning, as a short range, high speed, interceptor to help defend against the impending B-29 blitz.

Development work in Japan on the pusher canard configuration began in 1943 with glider and low powered test vehicles. Success with the MXY-6, an all-wood 32 hp aircraft, lead to the decision to design and build the J7W1 prototype interceptor. The J7WI was an all-metal, low wing canard, powered with a rear mounted 18 cylinder radial Mitsubishi engine of 2030 hp. A 6 bladed propeller of minimum diameter was used to keep the landing gear as short and light as possible. The gear had to be long enough to allow for proper clearance when the aircraft rotated at take-off and landing. Even with careful planning, the first flight test attempt was aborted when the, pilot over-rotated during the take-off run and the six bladed prop dug into the runway. As a temporary fix, small wheels were added to the bottom of the fins, which protected the fins and prevented the aircraft from rotating too much at take-off.

The Model. The Shinden makes an off-beat and interesting subject for rubber power free flight scale. It is an outstanding flying model, and because of its unusual configuration is particularly suitable for the popular Flying Aces Club scale events. These scale events reward unusual configurations, such as canards and pushers, with bonus points to make them more competitive with conventional, easier to fly configurations. The model has done well in these competitions, winning the 1980 FAC Nats and several other FAC scale contests in 1980.

During all phases of building the model, keep in mind the importance of holding the model's weight down to a minimum. This is especially important for pusher canard con-figurations such as the Shinden. One peculiarity of any pusher-type model is that there is no high speed prop-wash being blown over the model's surfaces, since the prop is in the back. This means at take-off (or hand launch) there will be much less help from control surface trim sittings, compared to tractors (models with the prop on the front). This is less of a problem if the model is kept very light so that a fairly small, low torque motor can be used. If the model weight is too high, a stronger rubber motor is necessary and con-trolling the initial torque becomes more dif-ficult. So remember to be a little more careful to keep weight down on rubber-powered pushers.

It would be possible to borrow the full-scale Shinden idea of an automatic aileron tab to handle the excess torque problem, especially if the model is overweight. But it's best to avoid this complexity and get better performance by simply using lightweight mate-rials.

Construction follows conventional rubber scale practices throughout. The fuselage is built by the 'half-shell' method directly over the plans. The top and bottom keel pieces are laminated from two strips of 1/16 square balsa, using white glue, and pinned onto the plans. Formers and stringers are added next. The only unusual area is the large side air scoops. Build the nose section first..."

Update 01/03/2017: added article, thanks to Yannick.

Supplementary file notes

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