Kawanishi Type 94 E7K1 by Hasegawa
1/72 scale
Kit No. JS-055-250
Cost: $15.00 -$20.00
Decals: One version – Imperial Japanese Navy
Comments: Older kit; raised panel lines; good aircrew figures but no real cockpit detail; includes rear machine gun and bombs; achieving correct alignment of floats may be challenging
History
The Type 94 E7K1 was a three-seat, twin-float reconnaissance and spotter biplane that entered service with the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in 1937. The firms of Kawanishi and Aichi began development of the type in March 1932 in response to a specification issued by the IJN to replace the Navy Type 90-3 reconnaissance seaplane, the Kawanishi E5K1. Designated the Model J by Kawanishi, and the E7K1 by the Navy, the new seaplane was the work of a team led by Eiji Sekiguchi, which completed the first prototype in less than a year.
Taking its maiden flight on February 6, 1933, the E7K1 was powered by a 500 hp Hiro Type 91 in-line, 12-cylinder liquid-cooled engine driving a two-bladed wooden propeller. Its defensive armament consisted of a fixed forward firing 7.7mm Type 92 machine gun, a second flexible, rearward firing 7.7mm Type 92 machine gun, and a third Type 92 firing downward to the rear. It was fitted with racks for either four 30 kg (66 lb.) bombs, or two 60 kg (132 lb.) bombs under the center section of the lower wing. The crew consisted of a pilot, an observer, and a radio-operator/gunner, seated in three open cockpits. In May 1933, after successfully completing Kawanishi’s flight test program, the first prototype was delivered to the IJN for competitive service trials against another prototype built by Aichi, the AB-6. The E7K1’s performance and handling characteristics were markedly superior, but no order was placed for several months. Finally, in May 1934, after Kawanishi had delivered a second prototype, the Navy ordered it into production, designating it the Type 94 Reconnaissance Seaplane Model 1.
The initial production aircraft were fitted with the same 500 hp Hiro Type 91 engines as were installed in the prototypes, but late production E7K1’s had a more powerful version, the 600 hp Type 91, which had a maximum take-off rating of 750 hp driving a four-bladed wooden propeller. The E7K1 was popular with its crews due to its ease of handling and reliability. It was operated from battleships, cruisers, seaplane tenders and shore bases for maritime reconnaissance and coastal patrol. It was also used for a number of experimental projects, and as a mother aircraft for the Yokosuka MXY3 experimental target glider, as well as a powered radio-controlled version, the MXY4. After overcoming teething problems with its in-line Hiro engine, it performed well for four years but was being phased out to make way for the newer, radial-engined E7K2 by the time of the Pearl Harbor attack.
A total of 183 Type 94 floatplanes were built by Kawanishi as well as Nippon Hikoki K.K. starting in April 1937. In 1940 the Navy signalled considerable interest in a successor type, the E7K2, featuring a still more powerful 870 hp Mitsubishi Zuisei 11 fourteen-cylinder air-cooled radial engine driving a two-bladed propeller. The first E7K2 flew in August 1938, and production began that November with the designation Type 94 Reconnaissance Seaplane Model 2 (later Model 12). By the time Japan launched the Pacific War in December 1941, the E7K1 was an obsolescent design nearing the end of its service life, and had been relegated to training duties, but E7K2’s (code named “Alf” by the Allies) remained in service until 1943, performing convoy escort, anti-submarine patrol, and reconnaissance duties. By 1943 the Aichi E13A “Jake” began to replace the E7K2. Later in the war some E7Ks were expended as kamikazes during the Battle of Okinawa.
Construction
While this is an older kit (initially released in 1970), construction of this floatplane is relatively straightforward — exactly what modelers have come to expect from Hasegawa — but it does not quite fall together. The cockpit, fuselage, tail assembly, and lower wing all came together without incident, as did the floats. But when it came time to attach them to the fuselage, the floats did not align properly with the fuselage despite the machined holes in the latter’s underside for the float struts. To get the floats to align somewhat correctly, I had to disregard the spots where they were supposed to be cemented to the fuselage, and attach them where they wanted to rest.
The cockpit is a simple affair consisting of seats and aircrew, no instrument panel and no control yoke. Hasegawa seems to have focused exclusively on the plane’s exterior detail, as the kit does provide bombs and a machine gun for the rear observer, crude though it may be. I replaced the gun with a detailed all-metal aftermarket version by Mini World, a Ukrainian manufacturer. A note about the other armament — although the Type 94 is supposed to have had both a forward firing and a ventral machine gun, looking over the airframe and the sprues there is no evidence of either; apparently this was a detail Hasegawa overlooked. I put off attaching any of the smaller struts and engine exhaust pipes until after I cemented the floats on at Step 4. Here is where the kit gets a bit fiddly. Kawanishi’s E7K biplane series had a great deal of structural strength, for it required fewer wires to support the struts and wings than many contemporary aircraft (the horizontal tail surfaces, for example, required neither struts nor wires) but it still was not a full cantilever design. The struts attaching the lower wing to the fuselage at first seemed a bit too long, but patience and a bit of sanding were all that were needed for a good fit of these parts. The engine exhaust pipes were particularly challenging to position, especially the one curving over the top right side of the nose and down past the starboard engine exhaust.
The large, load-bearing interplane N struts posed no problem at all, and in fact helped make attaching the upper and lower wings an easy task. The smaller N struts attaching the fuselage to the upper wing were a different story. Their tips required a fair amount of sanding before either of them would fit into the machined holes in the upper fuselage, and one of them was too short for one of its contact points to touch the upper wing. Finally, there is a panel, part No. 9, that is cemented to the fuselage during Step 6 to form part of its rear ventral surface, and that appears to be some sort of ventilation panel. Why this is not part of Step 1, when the fuselage halves are joined is a mystery — that is when I added it to the fuselage, for a dry-fit test showed that it would need a lot of sanding before it fit flush with the fuselage sides, and would need to be dealt with before any painting took place.
Great care must be taken with the struts connecting the ailerons – I managed to break one of them while sanding it and had to do a quick repair job with Tamiya liquid cement. The bombs were a bit fiddly but attached to the fuselage without too much fuss.
Painting
Nearly all the photos I could find of the E7K1 showed the plane in a scheme of overall natural metal, but to my eye the box art featured it in a scheme of overall Navy Grey. The E7K1 is mostly airbrushed in acrylics, beginning with an overall scheme of Tamiya Japanese Navy Grey (XF-12), a color that is decidedly pale green in hue, and not to be confused with another IJN Grey that actually looks grey. The cockpit interior is airbrushed in a Model Master enamel, Interior Metallic Blue (No. 2119). The tail section and stripes on the floats are painted MS Sazabi Red (UG 12), a Mr. Color semi-gloss acrylic, and the anti-glare panel on the nose is Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black (X-18).
The interplane struts were brush painted in a flat Humbrol enamel which I bought thinking it was gloss Metallic Black but which turned out to be flat Gunmetal (HU 27004) (Note: Humbrol are putting glossy surfaces on some of their newer tins for flat colors). The propeller is airbrushed in Propeller Color, another Mr. Color acrylic (No.131), with Testors Silver on the leading edges and tips of the blades. After much debate with myself about whether to paint what appears to be a sliding garage-type door capable of covering the rear gunner’s position a different color than the fuselage, I airbrushed it in Model Master’s Aluminum (TS1418), a non-buffing metallizer, in part based on the three-view drawing of the plane on Hasegawa’s instruction sheet. Engine exhausts are done in Model Master Rust.
Markings
Although I did try the kit decals, they were in too deteriorated a condition from oxidation, and did not appear to have been of very high quality when they were new. I decided on a set of aftermarket decals, Japanese Aircraft of Training Units by Rising Decals, RD 72026. This set provided beautiful Hinomarus as well as appropriate tail code markings that had a nice, glossy sheen and responded well to Micro Sol.
Conclusion
This is a moderately detailed kit of a mostly pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy floatplane that was phased out of front-line service toward the middle of the Pacific War, only to be brought back for the desperate Kamikaze attacks in the final months of the conflict. It assembles without too much difficulty although it does not quite match Hasegawa’s present-day reputation for ease of construction. Highly recommended.
References
Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War by R.J. Francillon; Copyright 1970, Putnam & Company Limited, London.
www.pacificeagles.net