1/48 Fine Molds Nakajima Ki.43-III Koh Oscar

Gallery Article by David Walker on Oct 13 2010

 

The Ki-43-III Koh, was the last wartime version of the Japanese Oscar (which was to the Japanese Air Force what the Hawker Hurricane was to the British RAF) utilized the more powerful Nakajima Army Type 1 Ha-115-II engine and brought up the speed to 358 mph.

This is the very rarely built Ki.43 late war version produced by the highly recommended Japanese Model Company FINE MOLDS of the Ki.43 III Koh (Oscar).  This was one of the very first models built by this little known company who make some wonderful models of Japanese WW2 Aviation Subjects which aren’t made anywhere else.

For some reason, the early versions of the Oscar are always built by modellers and usually made by Hasegawa.  So I decided to make something which was more rare and less publicised.

My Model of the Ki.43-III Koh (late war version) has had the single part kit engine (which was very undetailed) replaced with the Vector Resin Engine which is far superior and more detailed.  The model also has a lot of extra photo etch added to the cockpit (which really needed it) the cockpit sides were like an model aircraft from the 1970's, and were vastly upgraded by Eduard etch (originally DESIGNED for the Ki.61) - I had to use Eduard Etch, I replaced the throttle control which was just molded to the surface on the cockpit wall, with an Eduard Photo-etch part which is much more detailed and lifelike.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

The fuel cooler has an open hole drilled at the front and rear with mesh fitted at the rear , plus the oil cooler under the nose had mesh fitted to the front and back and had very fine metal rods fitted to the back of the oil cooler to resemble the flap vanes which the actual aircraft had.

I found a few areas which needed filler and rubbing down, the area above the wings, and where the two tail planes emerge - I also needed to rescribe the panel lines for the butterfly flaps which are on the rear underside of the trailing edge - see the red dotted line on my picture.

I have added all the etch to the cockpit, which swallowed the extra etch (which belongs to the Ki-61) so a worthwhile investment.

The Vector Resin Engine was well worth the extra hassle fitting (it needed to be trimmed to fit the kit cowling) and is now three dimensional with push rods and wiring.

One thing not widely known is there are few plans or photos of the interior of the Ki-43-III version so the model relies heavily on what Fine Molds portrays.

I used the Aero-Detail Book to provide extra detail for the wiring for the water-methanol filler ( behind headrest ) and fuel warning buzzer (fitted to the headrest on right side) which the real aircraft had fitted -
One online reviewer of the this Model said that the wheel wells are a bit disappointing because they are very shallow ~

The trouble is that the Hayabusa wheels were designed to fit snugly into the undercarriage bay and had no wheel cover that closed over it , so they made the wheel outsides as aerodynamic as possible -
so the wheel wells didn't need to be deep - so this Model is accurate.

I painted the aircraft Dark Brown (American army Olive drab) on the Upper fuselage, cowling, antenna support and canopy frame.  I painted the Underside as Cream Colour and not natural metal as the instructions due to what an expert on the "Japanese Aviation " website told me was applied to the 64th Sentai  Ki.43's serving in Burma.
 
I discarded the Fine Molds "pilot's seat" (which had poor moulded on seatbelts on a cushion) and used instead the Eduard etch Pilots Seat also using Modellers Putty for the cushion with IJA etch seatbelts over it.  This looks far better and is more accurate.  This aircraft was the Ki 43 III Koh flown by Maj. Hideo Miyabe, Hiko Sentai Commander, from the 64th Sentai, Krakor, Indo-China, May 1945.

The 3 sources used for fine detail research were the Aero-Detail Book on the Oscar, Air International Magazine January 1980 and Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft Number 113.  (This has a 2 page Colour Centrefold on the Ki.43-III Version).

David Walker

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

  

Photos and text © by David Walker