1:48 Ki-43II OSCAR

The Hayabusa of the second series

The Nakajima Ki-43-II was an improved form of the light army fighter to which the Allies assigned the code name Oscar. Against the first series it received a stronger engine with a two-speed supercharger, a shortened wing with a firmer skin and, at last, protection for the tanks and the cockpit. It carried only two heavy machine guns, but it could shake off almost any opponent in a turn. Its elongated cockpit consists of a windscreen, a sliding section and the rear glazing.

The edge has to be pressed home

The more evenly a film is pressed down, the better it holds. Once it is seated, run a blunt tool around the whole perimeter of the part, ideally a wooden stick sharpened into a flat wedge or a soft rubber squeegee from a stationery shop. Push from the center outwards, not along the edge, otherwise the material heaps up in front of the tool and forms a ridge. Metal and steel tweezers do not belong to this work; they easily cut into the surface and the mark stays visible even under paint.

A check before spraying

Look at the part against a sharp light from the side. Where the edge has not seated, a thin light line appears, which just needs pressing down again. That half a minute saves later retouching, because bled paint is far harder to remove from fine frames than an unruly corner is to press down.

Set contents

The package covers the cockpit from the outer and the reverse side and adds one field with national symbols. A decal sheet is missing from this variant. The outlines were based on Hasegawa plastic in 1:48 scale; the paints and the aircraft are bought separately.