Falcon Of The Rising Sun

Historical Background

By 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army realised that a more modern successor to Nakajima's Ki-27 fighter was needed. The Army approached the Nakajima Aircraft Company again specifying an aircraft with a top speed of 500km/h, a climb rate of 5,000m in 5 minutes and a range of 800km. Maneuverability was to be as good as the Ki-27. The new aircraft was designed by Hideo Itokawa and the prototype was first flown in January 1939. The test pilots however complained that the aircraft was not as manuverable as the Ki-27 and not much faster. To overcome the problem, Nakajima produced a number of successively modified prototypes. The changes include major weight-saving measures, including the deletion of pilot armour and self-sealing fuel tanks, a slimmer fuselage with the tail surfaces moved further aft. And from the 11th prototype onwards, the so-called 'butterfly' maneuvering flaps were installed, improving performance in tight turns. Armament however remained two 7.7mm machine guns with 250 rounds each.

The new aircraft was formally designated Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) with deliveries commencing in June 1941. The Army designated it as Army Type 1 Fighter and the first production version was designated Ki-43-I. Due to its light weight, the Hayabusa also had a tremendous climb rate, apart from its outstanding manuverability. Power was provided by a Nakajima Ha-25 radial engine turning a two-bladed, two-position variable pitch propeller. Apart from two 7.7mm Type 89 machine guns, the other sub-variants of the Hayabusa was also armed with a 7.7mm machine gun and a 12.7mm Ho-103 heavy machine gun or two Ho-103 machine guns.  In February 1942, prototypes of Ki-43-II flew. The Ha-25 engine was replaced with the more powerful Ha-115 engine and to absorb the increased power, a new three-bladed propeller was installed. The wing structure was strengthened annd a 13mm armour plate was provided to protect the pilot's head and back. The fuel tank was coated with a layer of rubber, as a form of makeshift self-sealing tank. The telescopic gunsight was replaced with a reflector-type sight. Production of the -II began in November 1942. Apart from Nakajima's own factory in Ota, the Hayabusa was also built by Tachikawa Hikoki KK and the Army's Tachikawa Air Arsenal. Tachikawa Hikoki KK also built the prototypes of Ki-43-III, which however did not enter large-scale production.

The first unit equipped with the Ki-43 was the 59th Sentai, based an Hankow from June to August 1941. The second unit was the 64th Sentai, from August to November 1941. Like the Navy's Zero, the Hayabusa initially enjoyed air superiority over South-East Asia. This was partly due to its own superior maneuverability over Allied fighters at the time and also partly due to insufficient numbers of high-performance Allied fighters. It was also mistaken for the Zero because of its rather similar side profile with the Navy's fighter. When it was clear that the Hayabusa was a different plane from the Zero, it was assigned the Allied reporting name 'Oscar'. The Hayabusa however suffered from the same weaknesses that plagued the earlier Ki-27 and the A6M. This was further worsened by the weak armament of the Oscar, which were inadequate against the armoured Allied aircraft, not to mention the lower quality of later, wartime-trained pilots. Nevertheless the superb maneuverability of the Oscar allowed it to prevail against Allied aircraft, especially against those flown by young, brash pilots.

With the reduction of the Japanese perimeter around the Pacific, the Oscar were used as homeland defence interceptor, flying over the Home Islands , Formosa and Okinawa. Apart from the IJAAF, the Ki-43 was also exported and used by the pro-Japanese air forces of Thailand and Manchukuo. After the war, captured examples were operated by both sides of the Chinese Civil War, by Escadron de Chasse 1/7 of the Armee de l'Air over Indochina between 1945-1946 and by the North Korea Air Force. The fledgling Indonesian People's Security Force also intended to use one Ki-43 but it failed to fly because of mechanical problems. In all, 5,919 Hayabusas of all marks were built, making it the most numerous IJA fighter, and second to the IJN's A6M.

The Kit

Hasegawa's 1/48 Ki-43-I was released in 2001, which was their diamond jubilee year. The kit came in 60 parts spread among five light gray and one clear sprues. Also included is a quartet of polycaps. Surface details feature crisp panel lines and good details inside and out (although the seat belt is still absent). The tyres came pre-flattened and a pair of fuel tanks formed the external stores. The canopy and the butterfly flaps can be posed in the open position. And to help themselves when making the longer-winged later versions of the Ki-43, Hasegawa moulded the wing tips as separate pieces. Decals are for two machines - Major Tateo Kato, 64th Sentai, Burma 1942 (no surprises there) and Major Kinshiro Takeda, Indochina 1942 with the latter more colourful with yellow rudders and elevators. Major Kato's plane featured stripes and arrows and Hasegawa provided two types of decals for them : with and without the white portion. I guess the latter is geared towards those who prefer painting the white themselves.



Building
As usual, construction starts with the cockpit which I assembled first before painting. I use kit decals for the instrument panel which was bathed with Mr Mark Softer, causing it to lie flat against the raised details, which looks nice. There is no seatbelt however, which I leave it as it is. Whilst waiting for the glue to dry, I glued together the fuselage and wings assembly. Hasegawa makes the wingtip separate, probably to facilitate production of the later variants of the Oscar. And as can be expected, fit is not that good. Wing-fuselage joint however is very good with no need for a filler. The same thing goes with the horizontal stabilizer. The butterfly flaps were glued in the open position even though there are no pictures showing them deployed whilst on the ground.


Painting and markings


Hasegawa suggests that the Oscar is painted in Nakajima Green. However I don't have stock of that particular colour and I use Tamiya IJA Green (XF-13). But before that I painted the airframe overall bare-metal using Tamiya AS-12 'Bare metal Silver'. The painting instructions calls for IJA Grey as the underside colour but my search on the internet reveals that 64th Sentai's planes have NMF undersides. Control surfaces are painted IJA Grey however. Decals are then applied using the usual method.

With this model I intend to apply weathering, in contrast to my previous modeling style. Using Dymo tape, I ripped up the freshly painted green to reveal bare-metal silver sprayed previously. Ripping is also applied to the decals as pristine markings on a heavily chipped airframe would look weird. I however think that my weathering method is too much as these planes were fairly new when delivered to the 64th Sentai just weeks before the outbreak of war. Ripping method whilst producing random chipping, is also quite uncontrollable as some rip patterns look artificial. Anyway, paint chipping is followed by the usual weathering regime. A strand of fishing line is used as radio antenna, which I paint steel. Perhaps I shouldn't as the paint makes the antenna look overscale.

Conclusion

Another great kit from Hasegawa! Now, where can I find Tamiya's Brewster Buffalo?