LS 1/72 Ki-43-I 'Oscar'

The Ki-43 Hayabusa was the Japanese Army Air Forces' equivalent of the Navy's A6M Zero. It as the first fighter with retractable landing gear in the service and was built with maneuverability and range as its main requirements. Its armament was pathetic with twin 7.7mm machine guns and it had almost no armor protection for either the pilot or fuel systems. Against an inferior enemy, like the Chinese, the plane was a terror. Against a better equipped adversary, it didn't fare quite as well.

The initial aircraft were in squadron service when the Pacific war broke out and they were quickly sent to Southeast Asia where they participated in the fight against the Allies in Burma and southern China. They were also found in the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea. While they were quite successful against Allied aircraft and their inexperienced pilots, by mid 1943 when better planes were available for the Allies, the Ki-43 began to show its deficiencies.

However, many JAAF aces flew the Ki-43 and it was modified throughout the war, though it never was able to reach parity with Allied types. It was decided to code name these planes in the 1942/43 time period as most Allied pilots didn't know what Japanese planes were called. Interestingly, all these planes were given 'hill-billy' US names like Zeke, Claude, Topsy, Pete and so forth. Never a Tom. or John, or David. The Ki-43 was code named Oscar, though throughout the war, like most Japanese fighters, it was simply referred to as a Zero.

LS originally released this kit in 1964. Though subsequent boxings state it is 1/72, on the original release it is 1/75. This fits in with many of its other aircraft releases about that time, which were all 1/75 and a few years later magically became 1/72.

This one is quite typical of a 60's kit. First off, the place for the decals is molded onto the wings and fuselage. In terms of overall detail it has both somewhat soft engraved panel lines and rivets. There are some sink areas to deal with, but overall, the kit doesn't look half bad.

There is no cockpit, just some pegs on which to place a pilot figure. All of the control surfaces are separate and other than the rudder, are designed to move. There is no engine as the oil cooler pretty much blocks any engine that might be there. There also is no boxed in main gear well and the main gear doors are molded onto the gear strut. The wheel is held on by a cap that fits on the axle. This is to allow the wheels to turn. I built their Ki-46 decades ago and this feature works quite well. Another working feature is a sliding canopy. On the underside there are four holes. Two are for bombs and i'm not sure what the other two on the fuselage centerline are for, but I suspect it is for a display stand (which is not included nor shown in the instructions.

Instructions are all on one side of a sheet of paper. This includes the exploded view you see above as well as four construction steps. There is a fairly long written section delineating what color each part should be painted. The lone decal sheet (not shown) only includes insignia so you are on your own when it comes to any unique markings. I should also mention that a small tube of glue is also included. In with the bagged kit are instructions in Japanese. The English ones were separate in the box.

I am sure this will build into a fairly nice model, despite its age. As you've seen in the last week, I do have decals to fit this so not all is lost. For fans of the Ki-43-I in this scale, I notice that Fujimi is getting ready to reissue their kit in January and supposedly Arma Hobby will be doing a new tool in the near future.  

November 2024

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