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Kit Review - Special Hobby 1/72 Nakajima Ki-43-II Ko/Otsu Hayabusa

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Brad Cancian:
Special Hobby 1/72 Nakajima Ki-43-II Ko/Otsu Hayabusa ‘Japan's allies’
Reviewed by Brad Cancian



Item: SH72479
scale: 1/72
Price: 18.89 Euros, direct from Special Hobby

Review kit kindly provided by Special Hobby at https://www.specialhobby.eu/nakajima-ki-43-ii-ko-otsu-hayabusa-japan-s-allies

The “Oscar”

The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Peregrine falcon"), was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in World War II. The Allied reporting name for the KI-43 was "Oscar", but it was often called the "Army Zero" by American pilots because it bore a certain resemblance to the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the Imperial Japanese Navy's counterpart to the Ki-43. Both aircraft had generally similar layout and lines, and also used essentially the same Nakajima Sakae radial engine, with similar round cowlings and bubble-type canopies (the Oscar's being distinctly smaller and having much less framing than the A6M). Like the Zero, the Oscar was light and easy to fly and became legendary for its combat performance in East Asia in the early years of the war. It had an excellent rate of climb, could outmaneuver any opponent, but did not initially have armour or self-sealing fuel tanks, and its armament was poor. Allied pilots often reported that the nimble Ki-43s were difficult targets but burned easily or broke apart with few hits.



The Ki-43 (Oscar) was initially produced in November 1939, given the designation Ki-43-I. Deliveries from Nakajima's Ota factory commenced in February 1941. Prototypes for the Ki-43-II flew in February 1942. The Ha-25 engine was upgraded with the 2-stage supercharger, thus becoming the more powerful Nakajima Ha-115 engine, which was installed in a longer-chord cowling. The wing structure was strengthened and equipped with racks for drop tanks or bombs. The Ki-43-II was also fitted with a 13 mm (0.51 in) armour plate for the pilot's head and back, and the aircraft's fuel tanks were coated in rubber to form a crude self-sealing tank. This was later replaced by a 3-layer rubber bladder, 8mm core construction; with 2mm oil-proof lamination. The bladder proved to be highly resistant against 7.7 mm (0.303 in) bullets, but was not as effective against larger calibres. The pilot also enjoyed a slightly taller canopy and a reflector gunsight in place of the earlier telescopic gunsight. Nakajima commenced production of the Ki-43-II at its Ota factory in November 1942.

KI-43s were well liked in the JAAF because of the pleasant flight characteristics and excellent manoeuvrability, and almost all JAAF fighter aces claimed victories with the aircraft in some part of their career. The aircraft was operated not only by Japan during WW2, but also by Manchuko and the Thai air forces. Post war, Oscars were operated by China, Indonesia, North Korea, and even by the French in Indo-China.

The Kit

Unsurprisingly, the KI-43 has been kitted a number of times over the years in 1/72. There is the Revell offering, dating back to the 1960s, which held the fort for a number of decades. In the early 1980s, Hasegawa released their nice yet somewhat simple little kit, which has been reboxed many times in the intervening decades. Fujimi jumped in with a release in the mid 1990s, and shared a similar ease of construction and simplicity in detail as the Hasegawa kit. The Special Hobby kit has its origins from an initial new tool release in 2009, which has itself seen several re-releases in the intervening 14 years, with various new parts being added along the way. This particular boxing, released back in 2023, focuses on the aircraft flown by Japan’s allied during WW2.

Special Hobby gives us five sprues of medium grey plastic, one clear sprue, instructions, and decals in the box.

Sprue A gives us the wing pieces, horizontal stabiliser, propeller, engine, undercarriage, wheels, and interior components.



The plastic is smooth with the panel lines being nice and crisp. Fabric control surfaces are subtle, and just right for the scale.




Cockpit detail on this sprue is nice; the instrument panel has some recessed dial detail, and the seat back has lightening holes just as on the real aircraft. The engine is nice and should come up well under careful painting and a wash, noting that most of it will be tucked away in the cowling behind the spinner.



Other details are nicely done, including the wheels, which have nice fastener detail.



Note that some pieces are quite fine, so care will be needed in removal and clean up from the sprues (the main undercarriage legs are also a case in point, as the sprue gates encroach upon certain elements of the piece, so be careful in cleanup to not bend these pieces). There are some pieces of flash here and there, but nothing particularly serious.

Sprues B and C are the fuselage halves. We get four in total, with two pairs representing different configurations, namely around the exhaust area to facilitate the different exhausts seen on this mark of the KI-43. Otherwise, the pieces are identical.



Detail is consistent and crisp. Be aware, the kit seems represent the the cooling slots in the engine accessory section on the forward fuselage as engraved panels, as opposed to open slots (these slots, running vertically at 3 per fuselage side are visible in the box art, just forward and below the front windscreen).



We do get some very nice sidewall detail for the cockpit, a point which sets this kit apart from the earlier Hasegawa and Fujimi releases. The cockpit opening is quite small, so this detail should look the part once painted.



Sprues D and F give us different cowling components, depending on the choice of colour scheme and exhaust configurations (some pieces are not used; I suspect that these are for the -III variant, which gives the modeller even more choice).



Cowling details are crisp and clean with exhaust pieces moulded integrally. We do get just a small amount of flash to deal with; again, nothing too significant.



The front cowling pieces are wonderfully executed as a single piece; perfect given the complexity of this area.



Lastly, we get the canopy, which is moulded in two pieces, giving the modeller the option for open or closed canopies (again, a point of difference from the Hasegawa and Fujimi kits). The plastic is nice and clear.



There are no masks or etch that comes with this kit. Accordingly, you may need to source things like seat belts from the spares box, or make them from tape. Note as in the instructions, CMK do a resin detail set for the kit cockpit and control surfaces, and Eduard also does an etched set for this kit.

Instructions

Special Hobby’s Instructions are provided in their modern, high-quality booklet. Presented in 8 glossy pages, construction occurs over only 9 steps. The instructions are comprehensive with a parts layout, clear instruction and paint call outs (in Gunze and Mr Colour paints), and full colour four angle painting profiles.







Three colour schemes are presented. Each of the schemes presents a different and visually interesting aircraft to model. The schemes are:

•   KI-43-II, Manchuko Imperial Air Force, Manchuria, 1945. This machine was left in natural metal. The air force of the Japanese controlled puppet state received six of these aircraft, which all bore presentation slogans on their fusealges.
•   KI-43-II, 15th Air Squadron, Royal Thai Air Force, Don Muang, Thailand, 1943. This aircraft is presented in a very interesting ‘tiger’ paint scheme. The wing top surfaces retained their original Japanese roundels to prevent the aircraft being misidentified for Chinese or Allied fighters.
•   KI-43-II, 15th Air Squadron, Royal Thai Air Force, Don Muang, Thailand, Autumn 1944. This machine was camouflaged in a khaki brown and green paint scheme. On 2nd November 1944, Lt Therdask Worrasap shot down a B-29 in this aircraft, but was in turn shot down himself by return fire, bailing out and suffering burns in the process. He was decorated for bravery as a result.





Decals

The decals, like all recent Special Hobby releases, are crisply printed with solid colour and excellent register. These appear to be similar to the decals utilised in recent Special Hobby releases, in that they appear to have the same removeable decal carrier film as Eduard decals. Colour density, fine detail and register is excellent. No decals are provided for seat belts or instruments, so the modeler will be left to their own devices here. The decal film looks nice and thin.




Accuracy and Buildability:

Without detailed plans, I eyeballed against online plans and dimensions, and the model looks accurate in shape. That being said, there are some areas to be aware of. The kit seems to lack the cooling slots in the engine accessory section on the forward fuselage, as noted above. There is also some conjecture from the experts that the profile of the fuselage isn’t quite correct, in that the fuselage sides are too rounded. I leave it to the experts to be the judge here. In any case, this kit offers quite a few advantages in accuracy over the other kits in this scale, namely the Hasegawa and Fujimi boxings, in that it includes more comprehensive cockpit detailing, more refined panel lines, and an open canopy option. All one really needs to do is add some seat belts. The kit does provide pylons, anti-sway braces and fuel tanks for under the wings, but there is no placement guide on the lower wings, just a drawing that shows each pylon 27mm from the centre line of the fuselage.

In terms of buildability, this is still a relatively simple model, and should be a relatively straight forward build. That being said, one must bear in mind that this kit has its origins back in around 2009, when Special Hobby was still using some older ‘limited run’ moulding technology, so once must always be aware that a little bit of work may be needed here and there. Care will need to be taken with some of the parts removals from the sprues. I have also read in reviews of folks that have build this kit that fit is generally ok, with the recommendation being to remove the locating pins and tabs for a better fit. Some minor filler is purported to be needed at the wing roots and horizontal stabiliser roots, and care may need to be taken with the multi-piece cowl to get everything to line up with the fuselage.

Conclusions

This is another solid release from Special Hobby, and is in competition for the best all round KI-43 model on the market. It offers more detail than its Hasegawa and Fujimi competition, and with that comes more complexity. Bearing in mind that there may be a little bit of ‘fiddling’ here and there due to the nature of some elements of the parts breakdown, with a little bit of awareness, care, and effort, one will be rewarded with an excellent representation of this stalwart Japanese fighter.

Recommended!

Our very sincere thanks to Special Hobby for the review sample!

RAGIII:
Excellent review Brad. The kit looks fantastic...I don't dare get started on the Pacific....or do I  ::)
RAGIII

Davos522:
Great review, Brad. I can’t imagine how much time you spend on researching and writing them, but it’s greatly appreciated by this reporter… :)

And I’m with you 100% on that one, Rick, I’ve been fighting the WWII bug for several years, particularly the German night-fighters and pretty much everything the Japanese ever made… it’s a slippery slope, though!

Dutch

Gene K:

--- Quote from: Davos522 on February 04, 2024, 11:00:13 AM --- I can’t imagine how much time you spend on researching and writing them, but it’s greatly appreciated by this reporter… :)
--- End quote ---

I'm not a "reporter"  ??? but I appreciate Brad's posts as much as you, and always wonder where he finds the time to do all that he does ... so well.

Gene K

Brad Cancian:
Thank you all, I really appreciate your kind words on my reviews! I am very glad that they are hitting the mark for you all :)

Cheers again,

BC

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