Nakajima Ki-43
"Hayabusa" (Allied codename: Oscar) 2nd
Chutai, 20th Sentai, Japanese Army Air Force Grace
Park Airfield, Caloocan Manila,
Philippines October 1944
Here is my Hasegawa Ki-43
"Oscar" in 1/32 scale. The kit used to be in my
"shelf of doom" in the last two years until I decided to revive it
as its been a quite a while since I built a large scale aircraft.
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It was built mostly OOB and
I did rescribe some of the panel lines on the fuselage. The kit is a
combination of raised and recessed details and some of the engraved lines
are a little out of scale. The only fit problem I encountered was when
I was gluing the lower wing against the upper wing. I filled the gaps
with CA (super glue) and spent a little time sanding and re-scribing some
of the lost lines. The rest of the assembly was straight forward.
The tail wheel was originally molded in the fuselage and it got
"lost" (or detached) so I went to my old trusty spares box and
found a suitable replacement.
After assembly, the
entire model was sprayed with Mr. Surfacer 1000. I painted and masked the
20th Sentai tail markings and the leading edge IFF. Then the entire model was given
automotive gloss black primer color and after considerable drying time, I
used Mr. Color No. 8 (Silver) as the NMF base for the aircraft. I masked
and painted the fabric covered control surfaces with my mix of IJA Light Grey
Green. The camo was airbrushed free hand with Mr. Color No. 129 (Nakajima
Dk Green). I washed the entire model with diluted black paint and
weathered it with exhaust stains and few chipped paint.
I had to go to my
decal spare and lucky enough there were a few "hinomarus" that were up
to scale. The rest of the sub-assemblies were installed the finishing
touch was putting the aerial wires using stretched sprue.
Despite its age, I
had fun building this Hasegawa kit. I am considering of getting another
one soon.
Cheers and Happy
Modeling!
Tony
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