Ki-43 Oscar Complete

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

This is my first completed build for 2008, and was built as part of the IJA/IJN GB over on the GB forum.

The kit is FineMolds 1/48 Ki-43-II early version, which costs about the same as the Hasa kit, but is of a somewhat older vintage.

Having said that the detail on this kit is excellent, including plenty of interior detail, including a parachute pack and folded harnesses on the seat.

The kit does have a few quirks, not least of which is the fuselage to horizontal stabilizer fillet, which sticks out at 90 degrees in the plan elevation, and thus requires filing back to match the sweep of the stabilizers themselves. Nothing that can’t be fixed in minutes with a file.

This was my first attempt at NMF, and so I went with an overall coat of Tamiya Flat Aluminium. This was followed up with the masking off of selective panels, and applying a tinted mix of the Flat Aluminium.

I had intended to go with an IJA Green over BMF scheme, from an aircraft operating in Burma in 43, but kept coming back to the scheme worn by a machine from the Akeno Flight School.

This was a very rough finish, with the IJA green applied very crudely around the Hinomaru. In order not to risk the decals if I screwed up the paint job, I ended up masking and painting the Hinomaru, before masking again, and applying the green. This turned out to be a bit of luck, as the kit Hinomaru were out of register upon closer inspection.

Once the Hinomaru were dry, I applied a coat of Future to the entire airframe, to protect the NMF from the next stage of painting.

To achieve the faded and abraded look, I rubbed the paint down within 5 minutes of spraying, using a wet micromesh 12000 cloth.

All paints were either Gunze or Tamiya acrylics, sprayed with my trusty Badger 100G.

The only AM item on this build is the forward windscreen, due to the fact I destroyed the kit item while microwaving it…

…I was trying to get the Future to cure faster!

Needless to say I won’t be attempting that again.

Anyway, with a replacement canopy from Falcon, my Oscar is now finished.

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I really enjoyed building this kit, and trying some techniques which are new to me.

Thanks for letting me share.

Karl

2

Very nice. I see you went with Aotake. Was that from kit plans or research? What red did you use for the Hinomaru?

3

Outstanding! You did that one proud. [tup]

A very difficult finish to pull off, but you did a stellar job with this one.

4

SSHHHWING! Freak’n GA-GA-GORGEOUS!

You really did an outstanding job! I think you totally captured the ‘look’ of that Japanese painting scheme.

Also the Ki-43 is super neat-o subject…

The tiny plane, originally designed for an in-line engine. But stop-gap methods made it into a radial and some odd shaping of the frontal area. The radial motored one was waaayyy better than the in-line example!

5

Great job. [party] I have a Ki-61 that I would like to do a similar camo job on. Always liked the look of the Ki-43. May I suggest a hair dryer next time for drying future faster. (say that three times quick!)[:-^]

6

You do of course realize that you have set your own bar very high for the rest of the year?

Real nice. I like the way the paint turned out.

7

That’s one outstanding build. The camo was done extremely well. Great work! [tup]

8

I love it, Karl…that’s excellent. Now that all is said and done, how do you rate the FIneMolds kit? I’ve got their A5M kit and hope it turns out near as good as yours.

9

Gorgeous paint scheme! I’m quite envious of the execution. [tup]

10

Great Job Karl[:)]

11

Great work! Nice job on the camo… looks very cool.

12

What a fantastic looking plane. Was the Jap green applied as a pattern? Or was it made to look like that because of being worn away?

Love the NMF, came out sweet as you like.

…Guy

13

All, thanks for the kind words, much appreciated.

Wayne, the kit does call out Aotake for the interior, but, very mindful of the minefield that IJN/IJA interior colours, I spent some time of J-aircraft.com, looking at photos of the real thing.

These seemed to indicate a number of finishes from Aotake to an interior green, so in the end I went with the Aotake, mainly because I liked the look of it.

Trexx, I really expected the Ki-43 to be tiny as well, but it is actually no smaller than a Fw 190A! It just looks more dainty.

MKelley, I think I’ll go with your advice on the Future next time!

Marc, I like a challenge, however the Gekko is a bit simpler in the camo department.

Mucker, I really enjoyed this kit. It’s not Tamigawa, and therefore requires a little extra effort, but nothing that would ever put me off building another Finemolds kit. I keep looking at the Judy night fighter in my LHS, as well as the Shusui Komet copy.

Finemolds cover a number of Japanese subjects in both 1/72 & 1/48 that no other manufacturers cover, like the Shusiu and the Reppu in 1/48, and the Kyaba Ka-Go auto gyro in 1/72. You have to love them for that alone.

Luftwoller, IJA aircraft were supplied in NMF with only the Hinomaru applied, from about 1943 onwards, not sure of the exact date, with camo being applied in the field by the receiving squadrons.

As a result of this policy, no two IJA aircraft from this period seem to exhibit the same camo pattern.

Further to this, no primer was used, so that chipping was rife, leading to the well worn finishes that are associated with late war Japanese aircraft, but which are generally more applicable to IJA types for the reasons mentioned.

I think this just makes them even better modeling subjects.

Thanks again.

Karl

14

Kj200 [#ditto]

I’ll have to add my voice in echoing all my brethren’s comments by saying terrific build!!! Hope to see more of your work. [bow][yeah]

Regards, MacLeod

15

Beautiful build!