So here is my completed Otaki Arii 1/48 Ki-43 Hayabusa, first released in 1972. I added details into the cockpit, main wheels, wheel wells, and oil cooler, as well as replacing the single piece kit canopy with a vacuform canopy by Falcon. Paints are Tamiya lacquer and Gunze Aqueous. Decals are from Aeromaster for a Ki-43 II of the 77th Hiko Sentai, 2nd Chutai in Hollandia New Guinea, January-April 1944 flown by a Capt. Matsuo. Externally the kit is pretty nice, but all the areas that I mentioned above need help.
Thanks for looking, comments & critiques are welcome
Thanks guys! In the end, this turned out as hoped for.
John & Tony, doing the camo with an airbrush was one of the most enjoyable parts of the building & finishing process. At the end of the airbrush session it was that “oh yeah” feeling [;)]
Bill, thank you. I have a good coach for my phtography… and yes, the Ki-43 did have some sleek unique lines. From overhead, due to the trailing edges, it almost looks like the wings have a slight forward sweep.
Thanks Jim! And YES, this sort of camo is quite gratifying when it comes out right! I will add a big shout out to Patrick206 here who sent me the airbrush that I used on this. Man do I love that airbrush and I am ever so thankful for his kindness on that gift!
To describe my reaction to this build I went to a thesaurus to find a better word than “wonderful”. I found 66 different descriptive words and they ALL apply. The help you gave this dated and pretty nice kit certainly worked. The camouflage alone is a treat to look at. I’m working on a Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 that needs mottled camouflage thats been sitting on my bench for three weeks while I get up the courage to airbrush the spots on it knowing that I’m going to botch the job. You have given me inspiration to get it done. Thank you for the great Hayabusa and the pictures too.
Brad, I do wish that old Hans vonHammer was still around on this site. He was a huge champion of this sort of project.
Strong, all I can say is “do it” with the camo on your SM-81. Just have a "practice " surface nearby to fine tune your airbrush and paint settings on first.
A beautiful build in every sense of the word Carlos. And dude…that camo work…WOW!!! I love taking on difficult camo schemes but like we were talking elsewhere, there’s still the BIG one on the bucket list…
Joe, youre cheating on my bucket list “to do” scheme. One of these days…
Edwin, this kit actually has recessed rivets and panel lines. Otaki was way ahead of the curve when they molded this in 1972. I accented the recessed detail by using a home made sludge wash. Pastel chalk, water, and a drop of dishwashing soap. It’s extremely easy to make and use. This was the first time I had done so, and am now sold on the stuff.
Ben, the camo was fun to apply. After that airbrush session, that’s when I knew that this was gonna turn out all right.
