Hasegawa 1/72 Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa "Oscar"

HASEGAWA 1:72 KI-43-II HAYABUSA "OSCAR"

Reviewer: Dave McDougall (CrustyOldSeaDog@aol.com)
Kit Review submitted: April 2001

Ask people to name a World War 2 Japanese aircraft and you are bound to be given the answer “Zero”. The famous Mitsubishi aircraft was the Japanese Navy’s main fighter during the War. However, it wasn’t used by the Japanese Army Airforce. The Army instead used an aircraft built by one of Mitsubishi’s competitors – The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa.

Code-named “Oscar” by the Allies, the Ki-43 Hayabusa (Hayabusa means “Peregrine Falcon”) was the most numerous of Japanese Army fighters during WW2. Compared to the famed Navy fighter it was smaller, lighter and much cheaper to produce. Designed to meet a 1938 Army contract it could out-maneuver every aircraft that was ranged against it.

However, like the Zero it sacrificed protection for manoeuvrability. After a few had carelessly got in the way of Allied fighters the more powerful II appeared with some armour, self-sealing tanks and a slightly reduced span. The mass-produced clipped-wing IIb followed, serving in every Japanese battle.

To the end, this nimble fighter remained totally deficient in firepower, and owing to its very light structure often disintegrated when hit by 0·5” fire. On the other hand, most of Japan’s Army aces gained nearly all their scores on this popular little fighter. It was kept in production long after it was obsolete.

The kit comes neatly packaged in Hasegawa’s typical sturdy box. Sealed in a cellophane bag are two sprues of dark green injection molded plastic (22 parts) and one clear part; the latter sealed in it’s own bag. Also included are a decal sheet (also in it’s own bag) and an instruction leaflet. One thing I do like about Hasegawa’s kits is that they neatly package everything. No scratched cockpit canopy here.

This is a mid eighties kit (copyright on my instructions is 1987). The quality of molding and detail is up to the big H’s usual standard. All the parts are cleanly cast with no flash nor any sink holes or injection pin marks. The aircraft body has finely scribed panel lines. A nice representation of the engine is provided. The wheel-wells are properly done (no being able to see out through the top of the cockpit here.) The cockpit interior is pretty standard. – You get a nicely molded chair (not the usual generic lump that’s often provided by kit manufacturers), stick, pedals (molded onto the cockpit floor) and a decal sheet for the instrument panel. The cockpit canopy is crystal clear and reasonably thin I’m glad to say.

Paint schemes and decals are provided for two aircraft: –

“50^th Sentai, 3^rd Chutai, Sergeant Anabuki 1943”
“59^th Sentai, Sergeant Major Hirohata, New Guinea 1943”

The two aircraft have slightly different shaped engine exhausts (2 different parts are provided). You are also given the option of fitting two 250kg under-wing bombs.

The Instructions comprise a small folded leaflet comprising eight sides in total. A small potted history (in Japanese, French, German, English and Italian) is given; along with a sprue diagram. Instructions for building the kit are given as a seven stage diagram. This is perfectly adequate for what is basically a simple kit. Colour call-outs are given in three forms - Mr. Color, Gunze Sangyo, and as generic colours; e.g. silver. Speaking of which, a word of warning. – Hasegawa have a rather strange trend of telling you to paint some of their World War 2 Japanese aircraft in silver, when they actually should be light grey! This is one of these kits. Don’t paint the basic aircraft body colour silver as instructed. It should be a light grey colour. Ok? (The photographs provided on the side of the box of the studio model show the correct colour.)

This kit’s an easy build. I followed the stages given in the instructions. Summarized these are: -

1. Build and paint cockpit interior.

2. Ditto the engine.

3. Fit the cockpit interior and engine into the fuselage and attach the engine exhausts.

4. Build the wings.

5. Fit the fuselage into the wings. The wings come in three parts. One bottom part and two upper halves. Assembled together they leave a gap for the fuselage to slot into. This was a very good fit although I was left with a slightly raised lip on the underside of the aircraft where the rear centre of the wing met the fuselage. A little bit of gentle sanding soon took care of that.

6. Build, paint and attach the undercarriage (assuming you’re building a wheels down example, as I was).

7. Ditto propeller, aerial, cockpit canopy and a few other bits and bobs. (I left my canopy off until after I had finished painting the aircraft. However, I did test fit it at this stage.)

Taraaa. That’s your kit built. Very nice and easy with a minimal bit of sanding to do just to tidy things up a little bit.

Both paint schemes offered in this kit are basically the same with only the decals being different. These are the usual Hasegawa offering. Pros: Crisply printed and thin. Go on the kit very easily. Cons: They move around a lot on the kit and need plenty of setting solution to stop them wrinkling.

Note that no decals are provided for either the anti-glare panel around the cockpit or the yellow warning lines along the leading edge of the wings. Time to get the masking tape out.

The kit succeeds in capturing the look of the actual aircraft although I can’t help but think that when you look at the kit from the side, the fuselage looks slightly too thin and a bit too long. However, stats wise the swing span and fuselage are spot on, so it must be my imagination I suppose J

Overall, a nice little kit, certainly up to Hasegawa’s usual high standard. This is a simple kit to build that I recommend for beginners who would like to get some practice in at masking.

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