The J2M3 Raiden, Allied code name Jack, was designed by Jiro Horikoshi in 1939 as a defence interceptor for the Imperial Japanese Navy; Horikoshi's other famous aircraft was the A6M Zero. The Raiden was designed specifically to counter the threat of high altitude bombers and was capable of high speed climb and was armed with four machine guns, however the shape of the aircraft proved to limit the aircraft's manoeuvrability. The Raiden was powered by a single KaseiType23 kou 14 Cylinder Radial Engine producing 1,850hp and had a maximum speed of407mph and range of 348 miles. It was armed with four Type 99-2 cannon in the wings. The inboard cannon had a fire rate of 190rpg whilst the outboard had a fire rate of 210rpg. The Raiden could also carry two 60kg bombs or 2 x 200L drop tanks. 307 J2M3s were built by Mitsubishi and 128 were built by Koza KK in Japan. The aircraft saw extensive use during the Second World war by the Imperial Japanese Navy and were used amongst other roles as interceptors for the US Boeing B-29 Bombers. The Zoukei-Mura kit of the J2M3 Raiden comes in a very impressive box, which contains nine sprues of grey and two of clear injection moulded plastic, one decal sheet, one masking seal sheet and one very impressive instruction booklet. The parts are superbly moulded with exquisite detail and clarity to them, are all individually bagged and sealed and have finely engraved panel lines and surface detail.The decal sheet is superbly printed with crystal clarity and registration.
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