The base kit is Revell's Ju-88 A-1. The conversion set is of AIMS, United Kingdom. The
resin parts are accompanied by photoetch, decals and instructions. This is another
major conversion of John McIllmurray, who is today "The Ju-88 man". Wings extension
and new ailerons are standard, the same as new vertical stabilizer and huge rudder.
New JUMO 213 engines are a solid block of resin, therefore I drilled several holes of
the ½'' diameter from the rear (I understand, that newly produced sets have hollow
engines). After the extension of stabilizer and elevator was done I have discovered
from photos, that I have omitted corner balance; some cutting, gluing, puttying and sanding fixed that.
Vacuformed fuselage front bottom was installed instead of the kit part, the right
alignment of the solid nose was little bit tricky; after some trimming, puttying and
sanding the result was acceptable. Brass armor plates were glued to the sides of the
front fuselage, according to instructions and other sources. The cockpit was fully
equipped using conversion parts and kit parts, using of HGW seatbelts is simple and
realistic. Rear firing MG-131 was modified by the brass barrel from Master. Before
closing the fuselage there is a good idea to install some fixing points into belly gun
gondola for 20 mm bun barrels (installed later), I used scrap piece of balsa wood.
For the cockpit canopy I used vacuformed front part from the conversion set and kit part for the rear piece, modified in the section of the gun
installation. I prepared the holes for MG-151 "Schräge Musik", modified the
fuselage according the instructions. In this stage of the build I decided, because of excellent fuselage / wing fit, to assemble
the fuselage and wings after painting. The reason was that very complex and demanding
paint scheme was selected, it would be not easy to do it on inner parts of engines and on front side parts of the fuselage. Resin parts were then
primed by Resin Primer and the entire model was sprayed by Surfacer 1000. After that I fixed missing
or damaged panel lines and "riveted" the entire model by the "wheel" (Petr
Dousek).
Painting:
I have selected Ju-88 G-6 of 3/NJG 101, which was temporarily based at Prague Kbely
airport (Czech Republic), however the photograph of Bu.No 621 082 9W+EL was probably taken on Manching airport. This aircraft
suffered collapse of the left landing gear leg. There is clearly visible that before that the right JUMO 213 engine was
exchanged; the camouflage pattern on the engine cowlings are different (no squiggles).
The entire model (however, in three major parts) was sprayed RLM 76, then mottles of
RLM 75 were applied. After that I have started some extensive training to be able to
create that nice tight "Wellenmuster". I have tried to do it properly on the some kit parts
in stash, on cardboard, until I was (almost) satisfied. Before the "squiggles" were
applied, all decals were put on place. After all painting (RLM 83 "squiggles") was
finished, clear matt varnish was applied, canopy unmasked, then some weathering was
created by oil paints. Exhaust stains were sprayed on bottom parts of the wings, on
engine gondolas and on horizontal stabilizer.
Finishing touches:
The entire model was assembled; the fuselage / wing fit was exceptionally nice. Landing gear installation, weathered wheels, these
steps were pretty standard. The real challenge was installation of radar
antennaes, both in the nose and the rear one. Fortunately, just before this step I have discovered that Master started to produce SN-2
dipoles machined from brass. I was happy to get it on time; then it was necessary "only"
to align everything properly. The result is not entirely perfect; to keep everything in right angle and each part of the antenna parallel to the other
is really not easy.. As usually for these jobs I used CA and liquid activator.
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What I have used:
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Base kit: Revell Junkers Ju-88 A-1
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Conversion: AIMS Ju-88 G-6 (John
McIllmurray)
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Landing gear: Scale Aircraft Conversion
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Gun Barrels: Master (MG 131) and Schräge Musik; copper tube (under-belly 20 mm guns)
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SN-2 dipoles: Master
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Seatbelts: HGW
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Paints: Gunze Sangyo Mr. Color, Future
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Decals: From the conversion, from the kit
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Weathering: Oil paint, Powder MiG Production
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Ladder: Profimodeller
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Antena: EZ line fine - Wingnut Wings
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Spray gun: H&S Colani, H&S Infinity
This was very enjoyable built. I am very happy with the accuracy and quality
of AIMS conversion sets. I have sent the photos of finished models to John
McIllmurray; he appreciated the complex paint job, and sent me an excellent note: "Can I point out that
you have left off the vents from the top of both engines. Please refer to instructions"
.Oops.., I know, it's missing. I will add it. (Thanks, John, not only for the note, but for the
entire conversion.).
Viktor Kucera
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