Sweet 1/144 Ki-43-I – 1942.

This is the 2nd part of the Sweet 1/144 Ki-43-I boxing. The first build can be found on this link. Overall, my thoughts on the model are the same, but I took a different approach with this model. I hadn’t built anything in two months and I really needed to use something to relax. Looking at the various “Falcons”, I noticed that quite a few of them were bare metal, or they had small splotches of paint. Unfortunately, none of them were in the boxing that I had. Henceforth, I decided to make an unhistorical version.

The camouflage can be thought of as a weird version of the 11th Group’s Ki-43, albeit mine is the -I version rather than -III!

One thing I must mention that I am extremely proud of is that the whole build, including the primer, varnishes and aluminium paint are all brush-painted! Part of why I did it like that is that I just wanted to build something and relax and I didn’t feel like cleaning my airbrush so I went and just used my brushes.

I think it turned out lovely, especially with all the irregular camo patterns and I am rather satisfied with the build.

The rigging was done using Uschi Standard line and all the paints used were AK 3rd gen.

I must say, the Ki-43 is a funky plane – it is both super narrow and thick. It has a radial engine, making the front of the plane round, while the back is as sharp as a pencil. The 2 blade propeller makes it look like something out of the early 30s and not 1941 and the armament isn’t far off. It’s armed with 2×7,7mm or 13,2mm MGs which is pitiful for a modern WW2 plane. As a modeller, the various types of camouflage schemes make me want to make more of the planes and I will likely buy a set in the future.