Peter's Wirraway V Ki-43-I Oscar

[Wege]

Cheers for that...

Peter... I just had a possible idea.

You know how you can shape down a piece of sprue (triangle, square, oval etc) to keep the shape when stretched over a flame.. what about doing a cylinder sprue.. and poking holes in it.. oh wait.. darn.. it will just make then 'valleys' instead of holes/dents.

Darn. Ozmods for a 50cal barrel and mod it down?
What about from shapeways for those soldiers.. I think there was an MG two on there?

[cowleyi]

That is good progress, What paint did you use for the green?

Ian

[pbhawkin]

All paints used so far are Pollyscale brand RAAF colours Foliage Green, Earth Brown and Sky Blue. They are excellent acrylics but sadly not available any more.

[cowleyi]

Thanks Peter, oh that's a bugger.... I am always on the look out (not that I can afford a new collection) for brush paintable acrylics for those jobs when an airbrush can't do the job......

[smeg1959]

All paints used so far are Pollyscale brand RAAF colours Foliage Green, Earth Brown and Sky Blue. They are excellent acrylics but sadly not available any more.

I've one of the two Lifecolor box sets for the RAAF, and this includes the three colours mentioned here. Airbrushes well (although a bit prone to drying on the needle and blocking flow) and goes on nicely with a brush. Unfortunately, my local source Metro Hobbies have recently discontinued selling the entire Lifecolour range. Now its Tamiya, Humbrol (acrylics and enamels) and Vallejo. I suspect that the day my Foliage Green or Earth Brown runs out, I'll need to work out which of these ranges will provide me with suitable alternatives. To start with, I know it will not be Tamiya ...

[cowleyi]

Hey Smeg...... Gunze Acrylic H302 FS34092 green is the callout for foliage green for the 72 scale Hasegawa aussie Beaufighters. Dunno how accurate it is but looks in the ballpark. BNA should have it.

[pbhawkin]

A small bit of progress.
I have use 0.3mm wire for the rollover protection and some aluminium foil for the pilots headrest and cap at the top of the rollover bars.
I used some decals for the instrument panels (the Wirraway retained the dual controls of the Texan as far as I am aware. Certainly the Wirraway I flew in did). So I need to add the rear seat joystick and maybe a throttle box and of course seat belts.

[Ryan B.]

I believe the Ki-43-I listed by Mr. Hawkins above, the one restored in NZ, has accurate colors for the period when the 11th sentai was in New Guinea. I've attached a picture of said aircraft found on p.36 of FAOW #65. I also think the paint scheme was after the scheme--or remnants of the scheme--found on the actual Ki-43 when it was found on New Britain. By 1944 the 11th was flying Ki-43-IIs in China, preparatory to returning to Japan to transition to the ki-84.

[pbhawkin]

Hi Ryan,
I see you post on J-aircraft.com as well.
So the plane should be in a Green colour ( as per the NZ example) rather than IJA brown like above? Should the underside be bare metal or Grey do you know?

[F_IV]

Looking good! There can't be too many people in the world that can boast a Wirraway in their collection.
Information I've seen on the Hayabusa indicates that the undersides were natural metal. I recall reading in Flightpath or Warbirds Down Under that two of the original pilots from that unit visited the aircraft in NZ and complimented the accuracy if the paint scheme. They did however mention the fuselage bands were the wrong colour, and they were repainted the following day.