Quicky: Army Type 1 Fighter (Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa)

[Guest]

As a bit of a break from the hard work scratchbuilding stuff for a fictional MBT 70 derivative, I took this kit from my stash:

[ATTACH]353326[/ATTACH]

The Fujimi kit of the Japanese Army Type 1 Fighter, AKA the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (“peregrine falcon”), AKA “Oscar”, AKA “Army Zero”. The kit represents a Ki-43-I, with two-bladed propeller. The boxtop is almost anonymous (you have to look at the sides to know what plane and even kit brand this is, if you don’t recognise it), but inside, they really want you to know what brand you’ve bought:

[ATTACH]353327[/ATTACH]

And here are all the parts:

[ATTACH]353328[/ATTACH]

Only one set of markings, but that’s fine by me — it’s not like Japanese Army planes were elaborately marked anyway.

[minitnkr]

Cool history. Thanks for the translation. Always thought Hayabusa meant very fast motorcycle:hungry:. PaulE

[Guest]

That’d be the Suzuki Hayabusa, which is slightly more modern than this one

[Guest]

This really is a simple kit. The cockpit is all of five parts, though the seat bottom is difficult to attach because it only has a small contact area and no real indication of where it is to go on the uprights that support the back rest. But with the parts together I painted them real quickly too:

[ATTACH]353378[/ATTACH]

A coat of Tamiya XF-4 yellow-green, which a site told me is a bit yellow for Nakajima cockpit green, so I added an olive green wash and a yellowish sand drybrush.

The instrument panel is black with a decal, and once again it’s one of those where you think: why did they mould dials etc. into it if they also supply a decal? But anyway, I put on the decal and when the fuselage is together, this is what you can still see:

[ATTACH]353379[/ATTACH]

The three-part wings also go together easily, so you very soon end up at this stage:

[ATTACH]353380[/ATTACH]

I didn’t get a photo of the engine, but it’s only a few pieces too, which isn’t a problem because it’s hardly visible at all due to the radiator sitting in front of it. Anyway, the model is already almost complete here. The box sides do say this is a kit with low parts count to make it easy to assemble, and that’s true. It’s a bit more involved than those Trumpeter kits with one-piece fuselages, but not by much.

[Guest]

Almost ready for paint:

[ATTACH]353487[/ATTACH]

This is the plane almost fully built, missing only the propeller, wheels (which have flat sides moulded onto them, incidentally), pitot tube, landing light and antenna. I also need to add the canopy, of course, but I left it loose for the photo to show the redbrown paint that I read was one of the common ones on the upper fuselage underneath the canopy. After it’s been glued on I can get on with painting.

The bomb-things (not sure what they are) are supposed to be painted grey like the underside of the plane, according to the instructions, but the box art shows them yellow. I’ll probably go for that option, as it looks more interesting.

[Guest]

The paint job is quite simple: olive green above and light grey underneath, with black anti-glare on the engine cowling:

[ATTACH]353883[/ATTACH][ATTACH]353884[/ATTACH]

I first gave the whole model a coat of GW Corax White (actually light grey) from an aerosol can and then brush-painted the green with a couple of coats of Tamiya XF-13 Japanese Army Green, after masking off the lines along the lower fuselage sides and the inward edges of the tailplanes. The black patch was then painted after masking it too, to get sharp lines to it.

Once that was dry, I put on the decals, which respond really well to Micro Set and Sol:

[ATTACH]353885[/ATTACH][ATTACH]353886[/ATTACH]

In retrospect, I should have sprayed white first, masked the white lines, and only then added the other colours. The decals fit well (they’re all too long, so you won’t have gaps, but will need to cut off the bits that stick out) but they’re a little transparent. I also managed to knock one of the undercarriage legs off when I was looking at the model to see where the decals needed to go.

Then I painted a transparent grey (home-made from varnish plus black pigment, a bit darker than Tamiya Smoke) into the panel lines on the bottom, wiping it rearwards off the model to make sure it’s only in the panel lines and to create some weathering. I’ll do the top later, but had enough after this side

[ATTACH]353887[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Looking good. Love the subtle effect on the underside.

[scottie3158]

Jakko looking good

[Guest]

Looking good. Love the subtle effect on the underside.

Thanks, and Paul too. It’s very easy and in fact actually an accidental side-effect of adding shading into the panel lines

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Very nice. Sometimes it is good for your sanity and mojo to move away from your usual highly detailed, highly researched stuff. In this case it has paid off with a great result. Now back to the MBT 70 with renewed enthusiasm.
Jim

[Guest]

Wait up, this one isn’t finished yet

But yes, you’re right, that’s exactly why I like to keep some simple, even old-fashioned kits around: so I can grab one that draws my attention and just build it straight from the box as a counterweight to all the heavy lifting (research, detailing, etc.) of most models.

[Guest]

Here’s the repair to the landing gear:

[ATTACH]354466[/ATTACH]

I drilled an 0.5 mm hole into the strut and the wing, then glued in a length of 0.5 mm diameter plastic rod. After that it was just a little more work to finish the plane, for which I’ve made a separate thread.

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
Nice repair.