This aircraft
began as a high speed reconnaissance concept. As the war progressed it became
clear that it would be needed as a fighter/bomber. In late 1944 it was decided
the the R2Y should be redesigned again as a jet attack bomber powered by the
NE-330 turbojet under each wing. The piston engine aircraft Fine Molds has
produced is an aerodynamic prototype for testing until the jet powered version
was available. It was completed in April 1945 and shipped to Kisarazu where on
May 8th it made its only flight. Continuing problems with high oil temperatures
cut the flight short. What I found interesting is the Fine Molds instructions
suggest that the aircraft was blown up by the Japanese to prevent its capture while
western sources claim it was destroyed by an American bombing raid. I tend to
believe the latter as this aircraft was no treasure trove of aerodynamic
secrets!
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The kit quality was
similar to other Fine Mold kits I've purchased being nicely detailed with generally good
fit of the parts and only a little flash here and there. The wing to fuselage
joint was a bit crude but nothing that plastic card and some gap filling Zap
couldn't handle. Though the cockpit is well done I added a little more sidewall
detail that was purely speculative as there appear to be no photos of the R2Y1's
interior. In fact, there are very few photos of the completed R2Y1 and those
that do exist are all poor quality. Some photo etch seat belts were added and
the detailing was complete. The rest of the kit was built OOB.
I finished the model
exterior with Aeromaster Nakajima Navy Green and Modelmaster Japanese Navy Sky
Gray. Again accuracy is somewhat speculative as the undersides may have been
bare metal. It is nearly impossible to tell from the photos of the aircraft.
I just went with Fine Molds color suggestion here. I did keep the gear wells
natural metal using Alclad Aluminum. The kit was coated with Future and
the kit decals were added...all seven of them! The aircraft had only insignia and
a data plate as far as markings go. No tail code seems to have been assigned.
