Special Hobby Nakajima Ki-43-II Otsu Hayabusa - 1:72 Special Hobby

[Paul A H]

Nakajima Ki-43-II Otsu Hayabusa

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 which equipped 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. This was soon countered by more advanced Allied fighters with heavier armour and armament, which removed much of the Ki-43's competitive advantage.

It's six years or so since Special Hobby first released their Oscar, although it has been released a couple of times since then with different decals. This release of the kit sees the inclusion of new decals which have been designed by Pacific Theatre specialist Rising Decal and printed by Cartograf. The kit is fairly simple, being comprised of around sixty plastic parts, although a good handful of these are not actually needed to build the variant depicted on the decal sheet. The parts are spread across three sprues of grey plastic and a single clear sprue. The mouldings look fairly crisp, and feature reasonably fine sprue attachment points and refined, engraved surface detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the cockpit. This sub-assembly comprises a floor with two-part seat and separate rudder pedals and control column. The instrument panel features raised detail and a separate gun sight. The internal faces of the fuselage halves also feature some moulded detail, so although the part count for this area isn't particularly high, the end result is more than acceptable. The only think I would really want to add is some harnesses for the seat, either from spare photo etch (or Special Hobby's own dedicated photo etch set for this kit) or tape. Once the fuselage halves have been joined, the tail planes and wing can be fixed in place. The elevators and ailerons are all moulded in place, and like many kits of low-winged aircraft, the lower wing section is moulded in one span, with separate port and starboard upper surfaces.

 

 

 

The engine is moulded as a single, solid part but looks pretty good nonetheless. The cowling is moulded in three parts, which makes it a little more fiddly to assemble but makes for an accurate overall shape. The propeller is moulded as one piece, so you won't have to worry about aligning individual blades. The landing gear itself looks reasonably good, with the landing gear legs and the main gear wheels each made up of one part. Drop tanks are also provided, but you'll need to take care over their positioning as there are no holes or marks as to where they should go. The injection moulded canopy is moulded in two parts, which means it can be posed in the open position if so desired.

 

 

 

 

Four decal options are provided:
Nakajima Ki-43-II Otsu, 64th Hiko Sentai, 3rd Hiko Chutai, Mingaladon Airfield, Rangoon, Burma, 1944;
Nakajima Ki-43-II Otsu, 64th Hiko Sentai, Burma, 1944;
Nakajima Ki-43-II Otsu, 246th Hiko Sentai, 1st Hiko Chutai, Hollandia Airfield, New Guinea, 1944;
Nakajima Ki-43-II Otsu, 63rd Hiko Sentai, Hollandia Airfield, New Guinea, 1944;
The first two aircraft are finished in a mottled dark green over light grey-green camouflage, while the latter two are finished in a solid dark green colour. In all cases, undersides are aluminium. The decal sheet is both comprehensive and nicely printed.

Conclusion

Although this kit is marginally less sophisticated than the very latest offerings from the Azur/MPM/Special Hobby stable, that is more a reflection of the recent advances made by that manufacturer rather than any lack of quality with this particular kit. As always with kits of this nature, a little care and attention may be required, but I reckon this kit should build into a pleasing replica of an attractive aircraft with relatively little effort. Recommended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

[markkaiser]

I'm not sure but from the photo it seems that the fuselage is incorrectly shaped. The Ki-43 had a very distinct 'concave' sides of the fuselage, the circular shape of the cowling becoming more and more oval, but to the effect that when seen from above, it formed two concave lines converging towards the tail, rather than two straight lines, like for example the A6M, Ki-44 or Ki-84. If this is the case, the kit is a major disappointment, (I have lots of drawing refernces to prove it, and there are also kits that are correct, such as the old Nichimo 1/48, or the new Fine Molds 1/72) Regards /Mark Kaiser