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Nakajima Ki-43 II Hayabusa (70078) 1:72 Arma Hobby The Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa, known to the Allies as the 'Oscar' was a single-seat, single-engined fighter that was flown by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force from 1941 until the end of the War. The design utilised the same 14-cylinder Nakajima Sakae radial engine as the infamous Mitsubishi Zero, and in fact in the heat of battle, the two aircraft were often confused by Allied aviators. Just like the Zero, the Hayabusa was light, nimble and exceptionally manoeuvrable, and just like the Zero, its Achilles heel was a lack of armour and self-sealing fuel tanks. The Ki-43-II introduced a more powerful engine with two-stage supercharger, strengthened wings with hard-points for fuel tanks or bombs, armour for the pilot and basic self-sealing fuel tanks. In service the Hayabusa at first enjoyed enormous success thanks to its phenomenal rate of turn and lively performance. This was soon countered by the introduction of more advanced Allied fighters with heavier armour and armament, which removed much of the Ki-43's previous advantage. During the war the Japanese supplied their allies with fighters as a matter of course, including Manchuria, a puppet-state of Japan and Thailand. They weren’t used in great numbers because of Japan’s own need, but this changed after WWII, with China operating captured airframes, France, Korea and Indonesia procuring their aircraft from derelict stocks that would have otherwise been scrapped, but which they repaired to flying condition. The Kit This is a new tooling from Arma Hobby, the announcement of which was greeted with happiness from many modellers in this scale. The kit arrives in a small end-opening box, with an internal tray that stops the box from being crushed either in transit, or once it reaches the stash. A painting covers the front of the box, showing a Hayabusa fresh from a victory over a hapless P-40 that will likely to have to ditch if the background ocean vista extends all around. Inside are two sprues of grey styrene, one of which is larger than the other, plus a separately bagged clear sprue, a sheet of pre-cut Kabuki-style yellow tape masks (not pictured), a decal sheet, plus a small Erratum sheet containing just two markings that were bereft of white outlines on the main sheet. The package is rounded out by the instruction booklet, printed in colour on white paper, with the marking profiles on the back pages, and replicated in side-view on the back of the box. Detail is excellent, although a little flash has crept in on our example, possibly due to the finesse of the tail fin, or the moulding operators learning the correct heat and pressure settings that are appropriate to these new moulds. Removing flash is the work of moments however, and infinitely preferable to short-shot parts, but care will need to be taken when removing it from around the fin due to the thin styrene, and a short antenna peg at the top of the tail, so take your time. 3D Printed Accessories There is a QR code on the front page of the instruction booklet, which leads to a file that should permit those of us lucky enough to possess a 3D printer to create some accessories, as follows: Exhaust Pipes – 2 sets Rear Frame with Pilot’s Seat & Belts Gun Barrel Fairings Oil Cooler Fuel Cooler The Oil Cooler is marked as “Soil Cooler” on the Arma site, so I took a leap of faith and assumed a typo. You can print as many of these sets as you like to share for free, but as you’d expect there is a requirement that you don’t share the files publicly, or use them in any commercial manner. Construction begins with the pilot’s seat, which is a two-part assembly that includes the station to which it is attached, followed by the full-span wings, the lower half needing some flashed-over holes drilling out if you intend to fit drop-tanks under the wings, and another pair of holes for two of the decal options that have a centreline pylon. The two halves are mated, and the cockpit floor in the centre is painted Nakajima cockpit green before adding rudder pedals, a throttle cluster, small gaggle of levers, and the seat assembly, using the scrap diagrams as a guide if necessary. The instrument panel has a choice of two styles of gunsight that are pushed through from behind, with a diagram showing the four dial decals to apply over the detail painting that is called out on the same diagram. The cockpit sidewalls have details moulded into the fuselage sides, adding equipment to them as indicated in the large scrap diagrams, taking care to align the part on the starboard side with the moulded-in ribbing. The fuselage halves can be joined together, removing a small raised section on the port side of the cockpit for two decal options, then installing the instrument panel after dealing with the seams in your preferred manner. The forward skin of the fuselage is supplied as a choice of two styles of insert, which again depends on your decal choice, fitting the cooling gills to the peg on the front after inserting one of two styles of exhausts parts to the back, which leaves the tip projecting from the rear. Mating the fuselage and wing assemblies should be done carefully to avoid damage to the detail parts in the centre of the wing, then attention switches to the Nakajima Ha-115 power plant. Both banks of pistons are included, totalling fourteen cylinders in all, adding a two-part push-rod spider to the front, with the bell housing at the very front. It is attached to the nose after painting and wiring if you feel the urge, and the cowling is built around it from four segments and the intake lip, fitting a gun-port insert inside the top section and referring to the scrap diagram if necessary. The elevators are each a single part, and should be left off until after final painting for one decal option, which has a decal applied at the root that is best done before the elevators are attached. Inverting the model allows the main gear to be made from a strut, captive gear bay door and wheel, each one handed, with the wheel facing the centre once installed. A two-part oil cooler intake is made and fitted under the nose, adding the centre pylon and tail wheel, plus two additional square doors to the outer end of the main gear bays. A small three-part headrest is attached to the fuselage behind the pilot’s head, with a decal applied to the side before installing the canopy, which is a two-part arrangement, allowing you to pose it open or closed as you wish. An aerial mast is mounted on the side of the starboard nose, a landing light lens is installed in the leading edge of the port wing along with a pitot probe, and the three-blade prop with two-part spinner is slotted into the hole in the engine’s bell-housing, completing main construction. Two styles of underwing pylon pairs are included on the sprues, both types with sway-braces moulded-in that should be rotated carefully by 90° for later use after building the tanks. There are also two styles of tank, the late-style consisting of two parts each, while the early type are handed, and have two circular inserts with lugs that project through holes in the top-sides, fitting your choice of tank and pylon to the holes drilled earlier in the lower wing surfaces, using the scrap diagram and accompanying text to inform your decision. The penultimate instruction step shows the location of the antenna wire stretching from the tail to the post in front of the cockpit, with a fly-lead leading into the rear of the cockpit through the fuselage side. The last step shows the locations of various IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) stripes on the leading edges of the wings and main gear bay doors. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, as is usual with Arma kits, all wearing substantially different schemes. From the box you can build one of the following: 59th Hiko-Sentai, 3rd Chutai, New Guinea 1943-44 54th Hiko-Sentai, 2nd Chutai, Pilot: Capt. Hisashi Koshiishi, Paramushir, Kuril Islands, 1944 Hiko Dai, 71st Sentai, Hofu Airfield, Japan, late 1944 Decals are by Techmod, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The masks are pre-cut from flexible kabuki-style paper (washi) tape, and are supplied for the canopy and wheels, although they aren’t documented in the instruction booklet. This shouldn’t be an issue however, as the wheel masks are toroidal, and the canopy masks are laid out in the shape of their destination. Conclusion Another high-quality release from Arma Hobby, with plenty of detail, a good choice of decals, with just a little flash to deal with. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Second completed build of the year, the Special Hobby Ki-43 Oscar. This has a somewhat amusing - now, from a distance - history, as my Oscar build was intended to be the AML version, which came with resin parts, etch and vac form canopies. Unfortunately the kit turned out to be one of those that exceeded my modelling skills - such as they are - and due to some fit issues - of mega proportions - I reluctantly abandoned the kit. Which was a shame, as I wanted to use the AML kits' unusual paint scheme and decals supplied, a red brown upper surfaces over a grey undersurface, instead of the usual Japanese gree/mottled/ nmf scemes Japanese aircraft kits seem to come in. Here's the AML painting instructions; Then out of the blue for me at least, Special Hobby re released their 1/72 Oscar in in "Japan's Allies" markings, but crucially with a dual fuselage and exhausts for the both the Ki-43 III ko version, ie the AML version, as well as the cowlings with the single exhausts for the Ki-43 II version used by the "Japanese allies". Enthused, the Big H were duly ordered to supply one such Special Hobby Kit (in exchange for coin of the realm, of course) which arrived before Christmas. Hmmmm, thought I when fondling plastic, isn't this the AML kit re boxed without the resin, - or the AML kit was the Special Hobby kit reboxed? Further checking revealed neither was the case, and preparatory work was done - painting as much as possible on the sprue, etc., before New Year's Day, in tandem with the Revell 1/72 V2 rocket I made between Christmas and New Year. Once I began putting it together, oh dear, some fit issues again, again with the cowling, but nothing this time that couldn't be solved. Eventually. Now my experience with Special Hobby has been varied - ranging from the "it went together fairly well" (10) to "What the &*%*^&&&*&%^$"£ is going on here! (0)" but this one was more a 5. In other words, it needs some modelling skills. That pleased me because it meant I must have some!! There is a build of this model in the supplied Thai air force scheme in a recent issue of Airfix Model World magazine which I found interesting if not terrifically helpful. So here's the Special Hobby Ki-43 III Oscar in the AML paint scheme. I used the AML decals to go with the paint scheme. They weren't very good. In fact, the hinomaru were - let's say, not good at all. However, with some micro sol and micro set, gentle persuasion with a paint brush, they went on in the end. I only had to paint over tears in two hinomaru. Paints by Tamiya, Revell and Mr Color. My biggest disappointment was the Mr Color red brown was far more of a chocolate brown, ie it wasn't the right color.. I decided to leave the paint as it was and look for a different brand paint in that red brown colour for future use. Out of interest, I put the 5 Japanese fighter kits I've made together for this photo; clockwise from top left they are the RS models Ki-87, Hasegawa Ki-61 Tony, Special Hobby Ki-43 Oscar, Hasegawa J7W1, and Hasegawa Ki-44 Tojo. I was quite surprised to see how small the Ki-43, Ki-44 and Ki-61 are compared to the J7W1 and Ki-87. The Ki-87 never got to the prototype stage, though I am pretty sure at least one J7W1 prototype flew, but looking at them, I am still not convinced that the Ki-87 is actually a 1/48th kit mislabelled as a 1/72! Thanks for looking.

Hi all, Just wrapped up my first Japanese fighter i've built since i was a kid. I had a choice from the stash, an Eduard Zero or this Finemold Oscar. I wanted a challenge and the Oscar's schemes looked far most interesting than a boring old zero! I've always liked the look of the Oscar and the way the fuselage tapers down to an almost unbelievably thin section at the tail, such an elegant aircraft to my eyes. The Finemolds kit gives you options to build either a late or early Ki-43 II and i settled on the early version depicting Satoru Anabuki's aircraft from 50th Hiko Sentai in Burma 1943. The build was fairly straight forward although i did encounter a few difficulties in getting the cockpit to fit and with the wingroots. I really struggled to fill the join and sand it smooth enough, especially obvious when the silver was applied (so don't look too hard!). Built OOB, the only additions being the brake lines, ignition lines on the engine and a couple of machine guns made from tubing. Looking at @Zigomar's recent model I wish I'd made the effort to open the engine cowls but mine was all glued on before i saw his excellent build. Looking at pictures of the camouflage, the edges of the paint look quite rough, so smooth airbrush camo wouldn't do. I got round this by applying hairspray first, then free handed the camo with the airbrush and then rubbing away at the edges to achieve the effect i was looking for. A few washes and oils later and here we are. I'm debating on whether to do a little base for this one as an airfield in Burma sounds like it would be fun to have a go at. I've also just finished the airfield scene for it to sit on. You can see more pics here in the diorama section https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235129154-mingaladon-airfield-burma-1943/#comment-4750308, but here's a few anyway That's all and thanks for looking Graeme

Nakajima Ki-43-II Ko/Otsu Hayabusa ‘Japan’s Allies’ (SH72479) 1:72 Special Hobby The Nakajima Ki-43-II Otsu Hayabusa, known to the Allies as the 'Oscar' was a single-seat, single-engined fighter that was flown by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force from 1941 until the end of the War. The design utilised the same 14-cylinder Nakajima Sakae radial engine as the infamous Mitsubishi Zero, and in fact in the heat of battle, the two aircraft were often confused by Allied aviators. Just like the Zero, the Hayabusa was light, nimble and exceptionally manoeuvrable, and just like the Zero, its Achilles heel was a lack of armour and self-sealing fuel tanks. The Ki-43-II introduced a more powerful engine with two-stage supercharger, strengthened wings with hardpoints for fuel tanks or bombs, armour for the pilot and basic self-sealing fuel tanks. In service the Hayabusa at first enjoyed enormous success thanks to its phenomenal rate of turn and lively performance. This was soon countered by the introduction of more advanced Allied fighters with heavier armour and armament, which removed much of the Ki-43's previous advantage. During the war the Japanese supplied their allies with fighters as a matter of course, including Manchuria, a puppet-state of Japan and Thailand. They weren’t used in great numbers because of Japan’s own need, but this changed after WWII, with China operating captured airframes, France, Korea and Indonesia procuring their aircraft from derelict stocks that would have otherwise been scrapped, but which they repaired to flying condition. The Kit This is a reboxing with new decals of the 2009 kit from Special Hobby, and it arrives in a modest top-opening box with a brace of Manchurian Oscars flying over broken cloud with a verdant stretch of land beneath them. Inside the box is a resealable clear foil bag with five sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue in its own Ziploc bag, decals in another resealable bag, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on glossy paper in an A5 portrait form factor. Detail is good throughout with fine engraved panel lines, raised and recessed features in all the usual places such as cockpit, engine and landing gear bays. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is based on a flat floor, to which the two-part seat, rudder pedals and control column are attached, painting them and the sidewalls Nakajima cockpit green, and adding sidewall details depending on which decal option you are building. The instrument panel is fitted to the front of the cockpit opening during closure of the fuselage halves, at which point the single part elevators are fixed to the sides of the tail on twin pegs, with the tail wheel below, then creating the wings from full-span lower, and split uppers that leave space for the fuselage to fill. There are two cowling options for this boxing, both using the same engine part that is moulded into a bulkhead at the rear, fitting into the top cowling with two side panels, lining up on the ribs inside and painting the exhausts that project from under the cooling gills a suitable colour. The completed cowling is mated to the flat front of the fuselage and given a three-blade prop with separate spinner that slots into the hole in the centre of the bell-housing, with decal option A having a chin intake that comprises three parts. The canopy is split between windscreen and opener, first installing the gunsight and headrest at either end of the short opening before gluing it in position, then adding an antenna mast to the cowling on the starboard side in front of the cockpit. A clear landing light and pitot probe are inserted into the leading edge of the port wing, and you are advised to string an antenna wire of 0.02mm between the mast and tip of the tail fin. The landing gear struts are single parts that accept the wheels at the lower end, and have a captive bay door fixed to the outer side, adding another small door almost flush to the wing at the edge of the bay. Decal option C carries a pair of two-part fuel tanks that are held on a small pylon with a pair of sway-braces inserted on pegs, then an additional diagram shows their location 27mm out from the model’s centreline. Markings There are three options on the decal sheet, one Manchurian and two Thai aircraft, all wearing substantially different schemes and decals, none of which could be considered mainstream or common-place. From the box you can build one of the following: Ki-43-II Koh Hayabusa, Manchuka Imperial Air Force, Manchuria, 1945 Ki-43-II Otsu Hayabusa, Foong Bin 15 (15 Air Sqn.), Royal Thai Air Force, Don Muang, Thailand, 1943 Ki-43-II Otsu Hayabusa, Flt. Lt. Therdsak Worrasap, Foong Bin 15 (15 Air Sqn.), Royal Thai Air Force, Don Muang, Thailand, Autumn, 1944 The decals appear to be printed using the same digital processes as Eduard are now using, and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. I mention Eduard because from 2021, the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A different take on a late war Japanese fighter in the hands of lesser-known operators, with some interesting schemes. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

With my Hien nearly finished I have time for a second entry: Hasegawa 1/72 Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon). Sprue shot: I’ll be using Berna Decals for Major Yasuhiko Kuroe when acting as CO of the 64th Sentai in Burma, with the blue arrow on the tail: Made a start today assembling the cockpit and adding a little detail to the side walls even though very little will be seen through the tiny opening: Assembled the wings and tanks as well: This promises to be a very quick build! Thanks for looking. AW

Recently completed in the Turning Japanese Group Build, Hasegawa 1/72 Nakajima Ki-43-II Army type 1 Fighter Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) Allied reporting name “Oscar”. Built OOB with the fuselage bands and tail arrow from Berna Decals sheet 72-117 Oscar Part II. I had to use the kit decals for the Hinomarus as the Berna ones were out of register. Model completed as the aircraft flown by Capt. Yasuhiko Kuroe while acting CO of the 64th Sentai based at Toungoo Burma in March 1943. Painted with AK interactive acrylics, the heavy waring around the wing roots was done using the hairspray technique, smaller areas of chipping done with a toothpick. The Dead Design canopy mask set was also used. Thanks for looking. AW

This is the older but still pretty good Hasegawa Ki 43. The wing to fuselage joint is about the only real issue with the kid that requires some attention, also it seems pretty difficult to have the flaps in the retracted position. Decals come from Dying Sun III sheet which are very nice to use. This aircraft was one of several discovered in the Hollandia area that hosted several airfields. Between May and November 1944 the 5th Air Force, 317th Troop Carrier Group, 41st Troop Carrier Squadron recovered and restored this machine to airworthy status. When the 41st moved on, the aircraft was left. Sometime after it suffered a landing accident and was towed out to the dump where it was probably buried or burned at wars end. This was also my first crack at Alcald. I used airframe aluminium over a Revell gloss black. Pretty good stuff, although I would give more attention to surface and undercoat preparation next time. I was also not expecting the amount needed, this using 3/4 of a small bottle. At 10 bucks per bottle it's rather expensive, but the finish is really nice. Thanks for looking.

Ki-43-IIa "Oscar" | Hasegawa | 1/72 Japan -- 50th Sentai, 3rd Chutai -- Satoru Anabuki, Pilot 1943 Finished this one on Feburary 3rd, 2019. It was done completely on impulse. After reading a complementary review of the old Hasegawa Oscar kit, I pulled that same kit out of my stash and started working on it. The reviewer was pleased with how the kit just fell together, which was mostly true for me, except for the port wing which had some interference keeping it from making a snug fit -- never figured it out and had to do a little filling to compensate. When I looked closely at a build log of this same kit, I couldn't see that person had the same problem, so I guess I'm just lucky. The Ki-43 Oscar was the Imperial Japanese Army's primary fighter until mid- to late-1943 when better types were introduced. It is often mistaken for the Zero by non-enthusiasts, but the Zero was a superior fighter to the Oscar. The Oscar was nimble and in the right hands could be a potent adversary. I like to think of it kind of like our P-40: It was a workhorse that served through the entire conflict and was "good enough". This particular aircraft was flown by Sgt. Satoru Anabuki, who ended WWII with 51 claimed victories (39 officially recognized). After the war he flew helicopters for the Japanese defense force, retiring as a Lt. Colonel in 1971. He went on to fly for Japan airlines, retiring from there in 1984. He passed away in 2005. Finishing: Seams filled with CA (superglue), port wing root seam filled with Apoxie Sculpt epoxy putty. Paints: no primer > Tamiya TS30 Silver Leaf (decanted into airbrush) > Some panels painted with Mr. Color Super metallic stainless steel (darker) > some panels painted with Alclad White Aluminum (lighter) > Dark aluminum used for faint shading > Mottling is a mix of Mr. Color greens to replicate Tamiya IJA green > Tamiya IJA gray for control surfaces > sealed with Testors Metallizer sealer Decals: Kit decals Kinda wish I knew how to make the bottom a little dirtier. It looks a little too clean, but will be OK sitting on a shelf. One thing I noticed in the historical reference photos I have is that the nose cone on most (not all...) Oscars was really chewed up! Sometimes it was the most worn part of the plane. I wonder if it's because of the Hucks starter they used? Backing the starter truck up can't be easy -- maybe they bunged up the nose that way? Anyway, I used salt chipping on the nose and front of the cowl to match the look of the historical photos I had. Painted the engine black, and then went over it with a pencil -- new technique for me, but it worked really well! I treated this build like a full NMF build, even though it might have been completely covered by mottling. This gave me the opportunity to practice a bit more with the Silver Leaf. I found that adding a little Mr. Color leveling thinner and then spraying it so that it wet makes for a much more reflective surface than on my previous build I used it on (Jian Ji-2). Build notes: The Hasegawa kit practically fell together. I was apprehensive about the raised panel lines, but I think they look OK. The eye can be tricked into thinking they are recessed. I think I may be more comfortable with NMF and raised panel lines since this one came out OK, which means there might be a Airfix P-80 on my bench soon! Mottling on the empanage was Tamiya IJA green, but I found that it scratched off very easily! Not easily enough to take it off though, so I switched to Mr. Color for the rest. I found that scratched off fairly easily, but not nearly as easily as the Tamiya acrylic. I'm still not sure about the durability of acrylics, although the slickness of the NMF may partially to blame here. I had the worst time trying to decide how to do the mottling. There aren't many good quality historical photos of the Oscar, and those that are there seem to have mottling styles that are all over the place. Same with models I've seen, some are like mine, some are a fine scribble. I couldn't find any reference photos of Anabuki's plane, so in the end I used the Hasegawa studio model as a reference, hoping they'd done their homework! Thanks for looking! Comments, questions and constructive criticism always welcome!

Hi, Next from shelvs. This is a very vinatge model - I made it in 1976 or 77, when I was about 17 -18 yeras old....This is old LS kit and painting scheme is presenting machine of Head Quater Chutai, 77 Sentai, Burma 43-44. https://weaponsandwarfare.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/zbdfgbdfg.jpg Recently I only wash it carefuly from dust (was really dark) and replaced the hinomarus from top and on fuselage - they were in bad shape... I gave also fresh a bit satin Vallejo varnish cover... Comments welcome and regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hello! Here is my Oscar EW5894 from the movie Hot Shots! Jay Chladek sent me his custom decals. it worked great! Some screenshot: [bMy build[/b] I had a lot of fun building this tiny plane ;D Hope you had too seeing it ^^ Cheers! rom