Download hereHad Horikoshi Jiro had his way, Mitsubishi would have equipped the A6M Zero with their own Kinsei engine. This engine proved to have far greater growth potential than the anemic Nakajima Sakae, which struggled to break the 1130 hp mark; whereas late-model Kinsei could reliably reach 1500 hp.
JCat has already provided us with an excellent A6M8 Model 54 in his superlative
Zero pack, and had A6M8 been a natural evolution from earlier Kinsei-powered Zeros (as Horikoshi had wished), instead of a total re-engine endeavor (as in real life), it would have entered service in the final months of the war (in lieu of A6M7), instead of being flown as prototypes only.
But even with that more optimistic timeline, A6M8 would still have missed the epic Philippine Sea and Leyte campaigns of 1944. Not to mention the drastic increase in power also resulted in a drastic reduction in range. So which version of the hypothetical Kinsei-powered Zero would have been available in quantity in 1944?
Introducing "alternative" A6M5, powered by Kinsei-4/5 series (1200-1300 hp). It offers considerable better performance than real life A6M5, potentially giving Allies a harder time (it would still end in an Allied victory, though at greater cost). And it would be available in 1944 (if not earlier).
This mod is a self-contained pack, with JCat's A6M5 3D model, plus my own DiffFM, and stationary plane. However, you do need JCat's
weapon pack.
It fills a performance and timeline gap between A6M2 (early versions of Kinsei offered no advantage over Sakae) and A6M8.
Note: since early versions of Kinsei offered no advantage over Sakae, it would be redundant to create Kinsei-powered A6M2.