I’m confused on the following and need advice.
Most model kits of the Kyushu J7W Shinden that I’ve seen show two antenna masts on the lower fuselage of the aircraft.
One long antenna mast on the bottom of the nose of the aircraft.
And a shorter antenna mast on the bottom of the aircraft underneath the cockpit area.
But when I look at old WW2 historical black and white photographs of the Shinden, there’s no antenna masts on the underside of the aircraft. What gives?
Was the Shinden with the antenna masts supposed to represent a “production/in service” aircraft?
And the photos showing the Shinden without the masts showed the aircraft as a pre-production version for flight testing only?
Are modelers supposed to add these antenna masts from the kit or not?
An interesting and astute observation! It never occurred to me that the antenna masts were absent on photos of the real thing. Hopefully someone knowledgeable of the facts will chime in.
Although many photos and videos of the original Shiden show no attenae, there are a few that do show them. They might have not been installed on experimental versions (which was most of the aircraft). Other than that, I can only suggest that model kit maufacturers thought they enhance the Shiden’s appearance and offered modelers an option to build the aircraft with or without the antennae.
Regardless, they made the CGI Shiden in “Godzilla Minus One” look really cool.
The WWII photos are of the only two ever built. Yes they were prototypes and did not carry the equipment that an in service Shinden would have carried into combat.
