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1/48 Hasegawa Ki-43 II Early

Started by Woody Kubacki · 34 ≡ · ↻ 6 months ago

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Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

In addition to building the A6M5, I am also building Hasegawa's Oscar. this will be my second one, the first being a -I that I finished building in early 2020 (was started in about 2008) as one of the first models I built when I returned to the hobby (prior to covid, so I was ahead of the game, haha). I made a few mistakes with that build, namely gluing the wingtips together and then gluing them to the wings and clear coat/weathering fail. Now I know that Hasegawa's Oscars suffer from a poor shaped that gives the plane a humpback look and that the Fine Molds are superior, but I chose to ignore the shape and forge on. Maybe in the future I will build a FM kit.

Photos are a little sparse for this build, I was working on it for the past 4 or 5 months in between Zero builds.
Starting off with the cockpit, I used AK RC333 Ki Midori iro for the main paint and did some minor chipping and weathering, and added some Eduard belts.

I then thinned the cockpit walls and cowl flaps. Looking back, another item I should have thinned/remade was the gunsight framing, it's rather thick and could easily be made out of styrene.
6 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

Next up I removed the framing from the tail light on the right side of the vertical fin. Hasegawa has a frame on both sides, but after consulting photos , the frame only appears on the left side. This is also the same for the Ki-44, and possibly the Ki-84, although I haven't looked into it, it should be similar because Nakajima built all of those planes.

I also removed the rudder trim tab and replaced it with a 0.005" sheet styrene.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

Up next were the trim actuating rods for the elevators. I cut off the molded in part and glued in 0.020" (iirc) rod. It looks much better and will be something I do for all the planes I build from now on.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

The next step, and one that delayed this build the most, was to display the flaps as being retracted. Hasegawa gives the builder no option for this and, as one rarely sees extended flaps on a Japanese plane on the ground, I chose to go the road less travelled. What one has to do is carve out the flap area and thin down the flaps themselves. This was made harder as I had already glued the wings together. Eventually, after a few sessions, I managed to get the flaps to fit inside the wings.
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

Once the flaps were complete, I sprayed a coat of Mr Surfacer 1500 black and fixed any imperfections that I found. I glued in the rollover bar/head rest, but after looking at photos of my subject plane, I realized that the headrest was removed (not only on my plane but on others as well). So I removed, filled and sanded the area.
7 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

I then spent a few sessions designing masks for the model. I have a Cad program I use for work so this was a simple task of scanning the instructions, importing them into a drawing and then using the 3 views to trace and design the masks. I like to have my masks follow panel lines so that they are easier to locate them on the model. Another benefit of using the 3 views found in the instructions is that the kit may not have the same shape and outline and panel lines as 3 view of the real thing, so that your mask may not fit well. I found this out with my J2M rivet templates, they had to be fit from proper 3 views to the model.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

Finally, paint! I started with hairyokushoku (IJA grey green). MRP has two shades (415 and 416), one green and the other more blue. It turns out I used the blue tinted one, so I had to repaint it later. Then I sprayed a marble coat of light grey/white to help simulate a worn bare metal finish. On my Ki-44 I used a marble coat of very thinned flat clear sprayed through a stencil, which looked great, so I'll probably be using the pre and post BMF marble.
5 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

After the marble coat I prepared the metallic paint. I used, as usual, Mr Color Super Metallic, specifically their newest paint SM208 Super Duralumin. I thinned the paint down quite a lot (it's already thin) about 60/40 with Mr Hobby Rapid Thinner (MRT), and sprayed with a 0.3 a/b. The paint was so thin that I had to paint in 2 sessions. The top side was a bit rough so I sanded with 6000 grit sponge and sprayed again. It doesn't have to be perfect because it will mostly be used as a chipping base for the top coat.

Then I applied my masks and sprayed MRP 411
8 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

Next I painted the anti glare (using a combination of Cowling colour and flat black and rubber black to simulate a weathered look) and the IFF bands (note that they follow the leading edge in the inner wing).
8 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

Finally I painted the propeller and spinner and the exhaust pipes, and repainted the fabric surfaces, and prepared to spray the wing tank covers a different shade of aluminum.
6 attached images. Click to enlarge.
John vd Biggelaar said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

I'm speechless about what you are showing here, Woody @wkubacki
So much detail added, like the actuating rods and amazing paint work.
Spiros Pendedekas said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

Excellent all over, as always, my friend @wkubacki! I absolutely agree with our friend's @johnb comment.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 1 week ago:

@johnb @fiveten Thanks guys. I haven't posted in a while but thought that accumulating progress and then posting might be a better method than posting in dribs and drabs. With the things I have learned about this particular kit I may go ahead and start on the other 3 oscars I have (2x -I, 1x _II late) I have. they are fairly simple to build and offer a vast array of camouflage schemes, especially New Guinea and China theatres.
Woody Kubacki said 8 months, 1 week ago:

Here I cut out the flaps with a micro saw on a Ki-43 I that I recently started. It’s fairly easy at first but once the material gets cut away the centre section is very delicate and it’s tricky to not snap it. I really wish I had a hobby rotary tool (like a David Union or Proxxon).
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Spiros Pendedekas said 8 months, 1 week ago:

Still an excellent result, my friend @wkubacki!

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