Nakajima's Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Peregrine Falcon") entered service with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (I.J.A.A.F.) in late 1941 and served until the end of World War II. When production ended in August 1945, Nakajima and Tachikawa had built 5,919 Ki-43s, making the Hayabusathe I.J.A.A.F.'s most-widely produced aircraft. Known to Allied pilots by the codename Oscar, the Hayabusa was perhaps the most maneuverable fighter of World War II - even more maneuverable than the Imperial Japanese Navy's legendary Mitsubishi Zero (for which the Hayabusa was often mistaken). The Hayabusa, however, shared the Zero's shortcomings: Inadequate offensive firepower and inadequate defensive armor, deficiencies that proved increasingly lethal for Japanese pilots from 1943 on.

1/72 Hasegawa Ki 43 II Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) 248th flight Regiment. This kit came out in 2003 and is a re-box of the original 1987 edition Hasegawa KI 43 with the addition of a new decal sheet and a optional exhaust stack for the engine. Although Hasegawa's Ki-43 was originally released over 30 years ago and while you'd think that a kit of that time frame would have engraved panel lines, that is not the case with this one, the surface detailing is well done with petite and subtle raised lines.

This was a straight out of the box build for me with addition of a brass pitot tube and EZ line aerial wire. I used mostly Tamiya paints starting with a white primer then some IJA green mixed with some Tamiya dark brown for the upper surfaces. Underneath I used Vallejo IJA light Greay/Green (my first time using Vallejo paints and I was very satisfied with the results). Most of these birds sat in tropical rainy conditions so I attempted to use both vertical and horizontal streaks by using a lot of pre-shading. As I apply every camouflage color I streak a bit before I apply the overcoat, and then wipe the panel line wash in the direction of the desired air flow or rain pattern.