Dragon 1/48 Ju88A-4

Post by **Russ72** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:47 am

This is my entry for the 100 Years of Bombers Build. The Dragon Ju88 A-4 in 1/48 scale.

This of course is the same kit as "mademodeller" will be doing, he's done a nice video review of the kit and he's spot on. I have previously read a review which suggested there may be some canopy fit issues, perhaps that is why they give you two canopy sprues. In case you get frustrated with one.

Here are some sprue shots as proof of life.

I'll build OOB except for the decaling stage. I plan to do this as a Finnish Ju 88, of 1./LeLv44. Painting will be the standard Luftwaffe Temperate Clime Camo, but with Finnish markings of course.

Notice the unit emblem (4a). I'm thinking they were told if they wanted to fly in a real bomber, they'd need nose art. In the spirit of nose art, i'll probably be hand painting this one. Looks kind of easy.

The Techmod decals look nice, and come with an amazing amount of information on size, placement and origins. I plan to do a few Finnish aircraft so they'll come in handy.

I'm not sure at his stage whether it will be stand alone or diorama, if the build goes well it'll be stand alone, if the build goes pear shaped then it'll be a Ju-88 caught in a blizzard and the ground crew provided in the kit will be digging it out with snow shovels.

That's it for now, hopefully get started this weekend.

Cheers

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 9:24 am

Very nice kit dude.

Will be nice with those Finnish markings.

An interesting subject. Will be watching with interest.

Post by **Russ72** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:18 am

Update 2. The Cockpit.

Construction is underway so I thought I'd introduce my weapons of choice.

Steps 1 & 2

There were no real surprises in the build here, none for anyone with half a brain anyway. Even though I was wearing my glasses I managed to put the rudder pedals on upside down, common sense should have prevailed here, so there's no excuse.

According to the part call out this is the correct pilot seat, the diagram in the instructions suggests the seat, that it also has down as a part not used for this kit, be used. Short moment of doubt, oh well, glue's set, I'm sure that'll be fine.

The ejecter pin marks in the seats. I opted for what I could do to cover them up. Packed in the Tamiya Basic Putty, and then smoothed using Acetone and a Cotton Bud. It lessened their visibility and once the seats are painted and under a canopy everything should be fine. I didn't go with any seating harness but this would also help them disappear.

So here's the cockpit all glued up.

Here it is undercoated, ready for painting.

Here is my undercoat of choice.

This paint is some of the cheapest you can buy anywhere ($3.95Aus), for many household uses it's rubbish. It's thin and takes 2-3 cans worth of paint to do a job you could do with 1 of a reputable brand. Because its thin however I find it great for modelling and wargames figures etc. Apply a mist coat and then a fine coat, then a second coat about an hour later.

That's it for this update, next will be steps 4 & 5, the engines.

Cheers

Post by **Omi** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:01 am

Great start sir , back scratcher ? Can't wait to see what you use that for.

Post by **Tiger131** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:14 am

really nicestart looking forward to seeing you lay some colour down

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:17 am

Very nice start dude.

The detail in the cockpit looks very nice indeed.

Post by **DC87** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:51 am

The cockpit looks amazing, can't wait to see the paint applied.

Post by **Russ72** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:22 am

Cheers. The cockpit does look good, should be fun to paint. Here are some reference I pics I'll be using.

Let's see how it goes.

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 3:17 pm

Looking very nice so far, I've never seen an aircraft kit by Dragon. If they're anything like their armour this is gonna be great! Good luck with the rest of the build mate

Post by **Jamesday1998** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 5:39 pm

looks well done so far! it looks like a great kit as well!!
cant wait to see the finished cockpit!!

Post by **MakingModelsAgain** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 6:47 pm

This kit needs more sprues! ???

Looking good so far and this Dragon kit looks fantastic! I've never built anything from them, but I must try!

Post by **Norman** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:31 pm

Looking good

The tool selection is interesting, apart from scratching your...nose or ???? exactly what do you use the ''mini'' rake type tool for pray tell

Cheers mate

Post by **Russ72** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:05 am

Hey Norman,

That is a telescopic back scratcher, and pretty much used for that purpose. There's nothing like a good scratch in between assemblies. It's also helpful if I drop parts on the floor and they're outside of arms length. No getting off the chair for me.

Cheers to everyone for the posts. I hope I do a good paint job on that cockpit now, if not, I do have a spare in that I also have the Dragon Ju88G-6 "NachctJager" in the stash.

Post by **Norman** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:10 am

Good on ya Russ and good luck !!

Post by **UKscalemodeller** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:48 am

Russ72 wrote:This is my entry for the 100 Years of Bombers Build. The Dragon Ju88 A-4 in 1/48 scale.

I'll build OOB except for the decaling stage. I plan to do this as a Finnish Ju 88, of 1./LeLv44. Painting will be the standard Luftwaffe Temperate Clime Camo, but with Finnish markings of course.

The Techmod decals look nice, and come with an amazing amount of information on size, placement and origins. I plan to do a few Finnish aircraft so they'll come in handy.

I'm not sure at his stage whether it will be stand alone or diorama, if the build goes well it'll be stand alone, if the build goes pear shaped then it'll be a Ju-88 caught in a blizzard and the ground crew provided in the kit will be digging it out with snow shovels.

That's it for now, hopefully get started this weekend.

Cheers

I'll follow this one closely as I am planning on doing a finnish Ju88 at some point but in 1/72. I too have a techmod decal set. If you have not used Techmod decals before, be careful with them as they are oft to tear if handled roughly.

Post by **patrickroos** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:34 pm

Nice progress!
Very nice details in the cockpit OOB...lots to play with.
Love the reference pics, RLM 66 is such a beautifiul shade of grey.
(Sorry but Im a Luftwaffe/German WWII nut)

Love the back scratcher!

Post by **Opapapa** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 12:21 pm

Nice start indeed! Ju-88 is a beautiful bird.

Like UKscalemodeller said, be careful with those decals. I don't know if this is even important but if you like (or if it's even possible), leave the air brakes off. Finns got rid of those in summer '43.

That was the main difference to the original German planes.

Post by **muskegman** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 4:52 pm

The Ju88 is probably one of my favorite WW2 aircraft. I have been looking for a kit in 1/48 scale and this Dragon kit looks really good, I think I might have to get this one. Thanks for this review and I am looking forward to watching you build this

Mark

Post by **Raptor** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 8:36 pm

This looks like an awesome kit, good luck with the build. Eager to see what you do with it

Post by **Russ72** » Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:57 pm

Thanks for the heads up on the Techmod decals UKscalemodeller and Opapapa. I can be heavy handed and rough when it comes to decaling

. Patience is a virtue

.

I had heard and/or read something about the Finns removing the Air Brakes, meant they had to change they're dive bombing angle from 60 to 45 Degrees. I'll see how things go whether or not I make this mod, if I don't it'll be because i'm representing the aircraft fresh off the factory floor.

Cheers

Post by **Russ72** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:08 am

Update 3. The Story of a Man and his Reindeer.

If that man was a bit more like Laivueen Komentaja (Squadron Commander) Majuri (Major) T. Meller, 44th Lentolaivue (Squadron), 4th Lentorykmentti (Aviation Regiment), and his Reindeer was a bit more like a Ju88 A-4. Then things would look more like this.

In the early stage of World War 2, during Finland's Winter War, 44th Squadron flew Bristol Blenheims originally purchased from England and then built under license in Finland. The Blenheims service began in 1937 and continued on till 1958. In 1943 Finland took possession of the Ju88, which saw service until 1948. Of the Finns 4 bomber squadrons, the 44th was the only squadron to field the Junkers, the remaining squadrons fielding Blenheims, Dornier Do17s, PE 2s and DB 3s. The bomber breakdown in 1943 is as follows.

The primary mission of 44 Squadron was long range reconnaissance, flying North and East of Lake Ladoga and conducting harassing raids on resupply trains and convoys behind forward lines, such raids cut many communications lines and many soviet trains headed to the front were destroyed.

And now some build shots and stuff.

The nacelles went together okay, some filling was required however. I taped off the panel lines while doing this to try and preserve detail and avoid re-scribing. The locaters for the faring which connects the nacelle to the wing were a bit lame, I ended up marking them on the parts to ensure I got correct positioning.

I've got more done so i'll keep going.

The Cockpit is painted. It finished up a little darker than i'd planned, not as dark as the pictures would have you believe, my lighting decided it was time for multiple bulbs to go.

That's it for this one, next update be Wings, Fuselage and Fun.

Post by **Raptor** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:28 am

Looking good, the cockpit detail on this modell is just stunning. Wish the pictures were a little clearer....Change those bulbs!

Post by **Opapapa** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:21 am

Looking great! The cockpit details seems to be really nice. I'm looking forward to see your progress cause I'm planning to get this kit too. Liked that reindeer photo!

It must have been taken in the Lapland front, in Petsamo perhaps.

Theres a really really good book about Bombing Squadron 44 by Matti Hämäläinen (2010). It mainly concentrates on the crews who flew the 88's. You get a really good feeling how they experienced the flying with these birds. Unfortunately it has been published only in Finnish. I'm not completely sure though. On the other hand the history of Bombing squadron 42 (Blenheim) was published in English (Matti Hämäläinen 2000). Besides of the recce missions, finnish 88's took part in the very heavy summer 1944 campaign. What was remarkable was that not a single Ju-88 was shot down by Soviet fighters during these heavy battles. Thanks to the Me-109's

There's not much about FAF in English I guess, but here's some interesting (and also strange...

) stuff if you're interested. Something about 88's as well. You might know this site already though.

http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/

Olli

Post by **wally** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 2:35 pm

Nice story you have Russ. Ju-88 is my one of the favorite WWII bomber I have in plan to do the night fighter version of it.
The Finland markings are also pretty neat. Looking forward to see painting stage on your build that will be very interesting.
Cheers

Post by **UKscalemodeller** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:09 pm

Looking great.

More please.

Post by **Russ72** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 10:05 pm

Thanks for the info Ollie, I had a quick look, i'll have a better read tonight. I've been getting my info from sporadic sources, most coming from a Youtube clip I came across, ilmasotaa ympäri Suomen . I've looked at various wiki pages which quote air victories per pilot per aircraft (ie the same pilot going from a Fokker DXXI to a Brewster Buffalo) but the quantities of 109's late in the war were a real shot in the arm.

BTW airbrakes won't be going on.

Cheers

Post by **Russ72** » Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:22 am

Picked up a new camera today.

Cheers

Post by **Opapapa** » Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:48 am

Looks even better!!

This is going to be a great moldel!

Here's a sample of the book I mentioned about. It's in Finnish but the pictures could be good stuff for reference material (bomb loads etc.)

http://www.koalakustannus.fi/pdf/Koala_ ... te_138.pdf

Btw the squadron insignia, the laughing face, was meant for the enemy. First you drop 2000 kg on them and then

...

But now I'll get me coat and finish this historical od on my behalf.

Olli

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:19 pm

Those clear pics really show the work you've done on this tub.

Really nice dude.

Post by **Raptor** » Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:28 pm

The new camera is so much better. Can really see your work now.
By the way what colour/paint did you use for the head rest looks very worn a leathery?

Post by **conradschmid99** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:52 am

great cockpit

Post by **patrickroos** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 6:56 pm

Great work on the front office!

Post by **Russ72** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:07 am

Wings, Fuselage and Fun ???

Where to start? These sections weren't as straight forward as I had hoped. This is my sixth kit since being back into modelling and my skill level wasn't that high to start with, so I was tested every step. I should have asked for some help/advice at a couple of points, but instead I pushed ahead with a R.A.G.(Rough As Guts) Engineering approach, which only ended up in me wanting to put down the kit and forget about it for a while. Many hours on the internet and watching others Youtube updates and other builds helped immensely in divining solutions for the issues at hand.

The Wings
The wings comprise of four parts, upper and lower main, and upper and lower wingtips. Putting together the main section and then putting together the wingtip and joining the two will result in a step, approx. 0.5mm on the bottom and 0.25mm on the top. My first fix attempt was to put in a 1mm shim to space the wing tip out, then putty and sand back. This was looking bad so I stopped. Looking around on the interwebs I came across an article in another forum (might have been Britmodeller), where someone had suggested that the upper wingtip needs to be attached to the upper wing, same for the lower wing and tip, then join the two together. Doing it this way you need to carve out some meat from the inside of the wings before attaching tips in order to lose the step, glue the main part of the wing together and then the ends of the tips. You get a gap on the leading and trailing edges of the wing, but this is much easier to fill.

The Fuselage
The fuselage halves go together relatively okay, there are only two locating pins, one at either end, and they are small. There is sag/warping along the spine, not much, sand, putty, repeat, rescribe, oops, reputtty, resand, resribe. Along the bottom join headed towards the tail, the panel lines start missing, so more filling, sanding and rescribing is required.

The Fun
Must admit, started missing the fun element in this section, but learnt a bit along the way, so a generally neutral outcome. Before stating the kit I looked at as many reviews etc to see what I was getting in for. Its only when I typed in the specific problems that I got a better search response and way more info. Some review highlights for me were, " The instructions can sometimes be vague and confusing. Take care", and " This not a kit I would recommend for beginners". These people did go on to produce nice finishes.

That's enough whining from me.

Next step, Smashing it Altogether.

Cheers

http://www.youtube.com/user/mademodeller · Post by **mademodeller** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 7:36 am

Hi Russ72

You doing find keep going

" we have the Tec we can rebuild it " .
and
Thanks for the heads up on the wings

I have not got there yet on my one I take a look at them today.

http://m.youtube.com/user/MrBobsBuilds · Post by **Rob** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 8:17 am

Well done Russ - it's fighting back but you are getting the better of it!

http://www.youtube.com/user/mademodeller · Post by **mademodeller** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:32 am

Hi Russ72
I have had a look at my one and found mine the same when I look at them I found that one wing was 5.12mm the other is 5.55 so all that is needed is a bit of sanding.

Post by **Russ72** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:41 pm

Cheers guys. I guess if they fit together perfectly every time, with no work required, then it might as well be lego.

Post by **patrickroos** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:56 pm

Naaasty gap in that wing mate!
You sure have done a great job on this build so far, just keep it up!

Post by **Russ72** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:17 am

Update 5. Smashing it Together.

Well it wasn't so much a smash, more of a careful, considered approach.

The usual, for this wing-ged beast, amount of filling, filing and adjustment. Smaller detail parts were fitted. Some small parts I lost on the floor and in the fuselage, but these were easily scratch built using a hole punch and styrene, and the clear plastic thingy that comes under the collar in new shirts.

Montex masks for the C-6 variant were used on the main canopy, masking tape and Mr Masking Sol for the remainder of the clear parts.

Next Update : Painting

Cheers

https://www.youtube.com/user/ThudWeasel · Post by **HistoryRider** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 4:43 am

Looking great so far!

http://www.youtube.com/user/mademodeller · Post by **mademodeller** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 7:53 am

Your doing a grand job much more than me after a week off with no modelling done.
keep up the good work

Post by **chrismoseley** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:11 pm

Awesome Work Mate... Love The Masking On The Canopy's

Alex

Post by **Russ72** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:47 pm

mademodeller wrote:Your doing a grand job much more than me after a week off with no modelling done.
keep up the good work

Cheers for that. Paint will hide her sins.

Post by **Russ72** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:50 pm

chrismoseley wrote:Awesome Work Mate... Love The Masking On The Canopy's

Alex

Thanks Alex. My first time using canopy masks, without them in this case, I don't think I would have been able to get the job done.

Post by **Bissyboat** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:54 pm

Great job masking the glazing. Looks like you've done it before.

Post by **rip1978** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:59 am

nice . looks awesome sofar

Post by **Russ72** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 10:10 pm

Thanks Bissyboat and Rip. Hopefully it'll get some paint this weekend. Weather permitting.

Post by **Raptor** » Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:43 pm

She is coming along nicely. Can't believe how far you have gotten already.
I think I need to hurry up with my GB entry

Post by **Russ72** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:22 am

Raptor wrote:She is coming along nicely. Can't believe how far you have gotten already.
I think I need to hurry up with my GB entry

Commitment free weekends, and a desire to see it done and on the shelf. It's the biggest most detailed kit I've attempted since being back in the hobby, so to me it feels like its taking too long.

Cheers

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:12 pm

She is looking great dude.

Pretty good size too.