Sorry for the long wait but I wanted to get the fuselage done and upload the photos in one go.
This will be a very long update as there is a lot of stuff to go through.
A bit of history about the Ju 88:
The Junkers Ju 88 was a German World War II Luftwaffe twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Designed by Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke in the mid-1930s to be a so-called Schnellbomber ("fast bomber") which would be too fast for any of the fighters of its era to intercept, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early operational roles, but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war. Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it was used successfully as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and even, during the closing stages of the conflict in Europe, as a flying bomb.
Despite its protracted development, the aircraft became one of the Luftwaffe's most important assets. The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945, and more than 16,000 Ju 88s were built in dozens of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout the production, the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged.
Production was delayed drastically by developmental problems. Although planned for a service introduction in 1938, the Ju 88 finally entered squadron service (with only 12 aircraft) on the first day of the attack on Poland in 1939. Production was painfully slow, with only one Ju 88 manufactured per week, as problems continually kept cropping up.
In October 1937 Generalluftzeugmeister Ernst Udet had ordered the development of the Ju 88 as a heavy dive bomber. This decision was influenced by the success of the Ju 87 Stuka in this role. The Junkers development center at Dessau gave priority to the study of pull-out systems and dive brakes. The first prototype to be tested as a dive bomber was the Ju 88 V4 followed by the V5 and V6. These models became the planned prototype for the A-1 series. Both the V5 and V6 were fitted with four-blade propellers, an extra bomb bay and a central "control system".
As a dive bomber, the Ju 88 was capable of pinpoint deliveries of heavy loads; however, despite all the modifications, dive bombing still proved too stressful for the airframe, and in 1943, tactics were changed so that bombs were delivered from a shallower, 45° diving angle. Junkers later used the A-4 airframe for the A-17 torpedo carrier. However, the variant lacked the undernose Bola gondola for a ventral gun position.
I found this at the bottom of the wikipedia page. The article was written in 1940 in a magazine/booklet and it talks about the clever features of the Ju88.
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ... 03422.html
Some of the sprue shots:
A
C
There is some nice detail on the cockpit sidewalls but most of it didn't come out well in the picture.
D
F x2
G + H
I
J
K + L x2 + M
N
I also got the Eduard Photo Etch set for the interior.
The instructions are the same revell instructions as usual, missing detail and sometimes incorrectly labeled. The very last step, 113 b, is a CAD drawing which is much better than the others.
This is the scheme I am doing.
I'm going to need to get a lot more practice first.
The decals are good with little extra film.
I forgot to take pictures of the parts before paint because I was getting tired of folding tiny pieces of PE and needed to move on.
This is one of the sidewalls after painting and the colour PE.
I found that the self adesive PE tended to get weaker after a few days so I super glued them in place as well. It was after I had finnished spraying this sidewall in Hatakas RLM 66 that I started to have problems. The paint kept blocking my airbrush and was impossible to brush paint. I ended up painting the rest in Humbrol 154 and toning it down with dark grey/black washes.
I glued the center bit of the cockpit into place and glued the seats in.
I fitted the rudder pedals and pilots seat to the floor and glued that in as well and then I glued the two halves together.
Ive got a few more bits and pieces to put into the cockpit and I will mask and paint the inside of the canopy. I will post more pictures soon when I have finished.
Thanks for reading,
Thomas
