# Old Arii Raiden - OOB review



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

I love eclectic subject matter; whether it’s cars, planes tanks or robots, a model of something out of the ordinary usually gets my immediate attention, not to mention my money and time. However, there are some “famous” and “mainstream” subjects that are just too cool to turn away from. For me, one of those is the somewhat-famous J2M Raiden, known as “Jack” to the Allies in WWII.

I usually prefer Japanese multi-seat or multi-engined planes; most of their single-seaters don’t do much for me. However, the Jack, whick looks almost as much like an air racer as an interceptor has always been a favourite of mine. The problem is, there are almost no good kits of it in 1/72, and I’m not willing to pay what they want for the few that do exist. However, since the Jack is so small, even in 1/48 it’s not a lot bigger than some 1/72 WWII twin-engined planes.

Thus, I was able to finally add a Jack to my collection recently by picking up the old Arii second-hand. I have to say, give the age, it’s a good looking kit. Sure, it’s not as detailed as some more modern ones, perhaps, but for what I paid (and how horrified I was with the Arii Wirbelwind I got was) I was very pleasantly surprised.

Check out my out of box review for this likely mostly-forgotten example of Japan’s pudgy interceptor at the link below! Anyone built this guy?

*https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/mo...148-mitsubishi-j2m3-model-21-raiden-jack-oob/*


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Would you believe I have the instrument panel compass from one of those? Dad scavenged it from a wreck on Okinawa and brought it home from the war. He probably thought it would be cool to install it in his Taylorcraft, but it just ended up sitting on a shelf for 70 years.


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## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

Oh man, that's awesome!

Imagine what a cool display it would be to have a model of it with the compass right beside it! 

That's a very cool thing to have. I have a control stick from a Vulcan (I'm told, given to me by a colleague), which is about as cool, I think. Harder to make a display out of, though.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I have a control stick from an Fw-190 that Dad actually shot down himself! Crazy 22-year old him landed next to it after he shot it down and unbolted the stick from between the dead pilot's legs. He actually used it to replace the control stick in a Piper Cub he owned for a while.


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## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

Wow! 

That's awesome! And yeah, that's a bit crazy, too. Still, can't argue with the results! 

What a neat thing to have in the family. At least you know exactly where it came from!


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The Arii Raiden is a reissue of the old Otaki kit from the early 1970s. The Otaki line was generally pretty nice although the Japanese planes tend to be better than the US and German ones. The P-40 is probably the worst, as it is ruined by swept back wings. On the real plane, the wing leading edge should be about at a right angle to the fuselage side, but Otaki makes it sweep back. The Otaki kits have been sold and resold over the decades by AMT, Airfix and later Arii. Arii is out of business now but the kits are now sold under the Micro Ace brand. These were probably the best kits Otaki ever did aside from maybe their large scale cars. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/949666-otaki-ot2-9-600-mitsubishi-interceptor-j2m-raiden


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## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

djnick66 said:


> The Arii Raiden is a reissue of the old Otaki kit from the early 1970s. The Otaki line was generally pretty nice although the Japanese planes tend to be better than the US and German ones. The P-40 is probably the worst, as it is ruined by swept back wings. On the real plane, the wing leading edge should be about at a right angle to the fuselage side, but Otaki makes it sweep back. The Otaki kits have been sold and resold over the decades by AMT, Airfix and later Arii. Arii is out of business now but the kits are now sold under the Micro Ace brand. These were probably the best kits Otaki ever did aside from maybe their large scale cars. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/949666-otaki-ot2-9-600-mitsubishi-interceptor-j2m-raiden


Man, a P-40 with swept wings? Dude, cut down that razorback, add a bubble top and you've got a heck of a What-If going on! Now I'm going to have to keep my eyes peeled for that one! Is the sweep really pronounced?

I had no idea that Otaki was such a victim of "mould passing". 

At least I got a good one, and that's a nice feeling!


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