With the release of the new Ki-43 kit from Hasegawa, I thought it would be appropriate to review this particular sheet. BTW, you may find it interesting to know that Hasegawa now does Ki-43s in all of the 'Big 3' scales; 1/32, 1/48, 172.

What is particularly nice about this sheet is that it does aircraft that are not particularly well known and covers several different variants, including a -I. There is a smaller additional decal sheet not shown that just has roundels on it.

First plane is from 50th Sentai. It is a Ki-43-I in dark green over aluminum. Like the other planes, it has the yellow IFF bands on the wings. It also has a rather worn appearance as the tropics played murder with paint (and not just the Japanese, either).

A 54th Sentai Ki-43-II Otsu is next. This one has a mottled dark green over aluminum finish. Note that fabric control surfaces were generally painted in light grey green. This plane also has a worn finish.

The dark green over aluminum Ki-43-II Ko is from the 24th Sentai and is the commander's plane as you can tell from all the stripes on the aft fuselage.

Finally, a 77th Sentia Ki-43-II Otsu. This one is also in a mottled finish over aluminum.

If you are looking for a kit of the later Oscars and don't want to wait for Hasegawa to bring them out, then I can recommend the Fine Molds kits. They are a bit more difficult to build, but return a fine model when done.

Review copy courtesy of  ME!!

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