Global Scale Modeller

This is what I will be building, ICM 1/48 JU 88A-4

Received a copy of topdrawings 16 Ju88 book today. It comes with a set of decals for four aircraft in three scales, 1/72 1/48 and 1/32. There is also scale plans in the three sizes as ell, the 1/32 is a big plane! Some very good rivet detail which will help with my build. The decal sheet doesn't come with the crosses so I'll use the ones from the kit. Looking at building the 3Z+KS of 8./KG77 Mediterranean area 1943 in Arabesken camouflage, which is a wavy pattern of RLM79 over the standard RLM70/71 pattern

Looking forward to seeing this come together. Love the Ju 88 and have the A5 ICM kit in the stash.

look forward to your build

Willem wrote:Looking forward to seeing this come together. Love the Ju 88 and have the A5 ICM kit in the stash.

Might get the A5 after I've finished this one, and do it in the scheme of the one in the bottom picture

mick wrote:look forward to your build

Hope to get started on it in the next week or so

Finally getting round to starting my build, not sure if I'll get it finished in time or not, don't want to rush it, but we'll see.
First part to get started on is the cockpit, I purchased the Aims update kit, which puts the crew at the correct height.





The Aims kit comes with the rear bulkhead fitted, but as in the next photo, the upgrade for the A5 kit doesn't have it, so you keep the original kit one, which I think is the better idea, but I decided not to remove it from this upgrade but to go with the resin part as it is

Excellent choice, how you coming along with only a month left? Love to see some progress photos

HIghAltitudeScale wrote:Excellent choice, how you coming along with only a month left? Love to see some progress photos

Got some progress done on this, will put up photos in a bit

On the lower part of the fuselage, I needed to cut away the section where the resin part would be, the front section of this part was still required.



After marking up the area to be removed,


The shaded area was cut away and cleaned up.


The small part that was removed was then fitted to the resin part.


After some filing and sanding, the resin part was trialed fitted. There was more filling on the resin part at the rear bulkhead than what I thought there would be.







Started on the PE, a lot of levers were fitted with CA glue. Part of the kits cockpit deck was required to go on the front section.

Gave all the interior a coat of Ultimate grey primer

Painted the interior with RLM66, dry brushed a litter colour on the raised details, detail painted the radio bulkhead area and all the knobs and levers. Then G ave it an enamel wash

The rear wheel comes as one unit, it has the moulded centre line which needed a wee sanding then painted up



Next up was the chairs, made cushions for them out of miliput, fitted the PE seat belts then painted and weathered

Got the seats in, happy with the way it's going together, a few bits of cutting and filing to get it all go together, but happy with it so far







Having a look at it and thinking that the radio operators head rest could be to high now that the floor has been raised, will trial fit it all then decide

Am loving the detail and skill going into the build.

Fabulous work so far.

Willem wrote:Am loving the detail and skill going into the build.

Fabulous work so far.

Thanks m8, much appreciated
It's a build I'm really enjoying

Beautiful cockpit, well done!!

love the JU88 and looking forward to seeing how this all comes together

demarcation wrote:Beautiful cockpit, well done!!

Thanks m8, that bit of effort makes all the difference sometimes

NorthernModeller wrote:love the JU88 and looking forward to seeing how this all comes together

It's been a fun build so far
Also got the A5 to go with this one

After fitting the cockpit to the two fuselage halfs, I noticed the the seats were sitting a bit higher than how they would've been without the upgrade




Trial fitted the canopy to see if everything would fit, it was only the radio operators head rest that was two high, decided to cut it down and reglue it in its new position, all fits in nicely now

Cockpit and the two fuselage halfs fitted together and the wings and things glued up ready for filling and sanding




After a bit of effort, got the lower fuselage and wing section fitted to the rest of the fuselage and cockpit, the got all the joints filled with putty ready for sanding

Oh noooooooo, disaster!!! I forgot to fit a piece of the upper fuselage!


Wasn't going to dismantle it all, so a bit of thinking was required, glued a piece of spruce to it angled it inside, then pulled up into position and glued into place, disaster averted

Glad the end time for finishing has been put back

As there is absolutely no riveting on this kit, I decided to go the full way and do as much riveting as possible, got it done over two nights. Used the trumpeter rivet tool, does the job but not as well as I would like, I feel the wheels are a bit to big to control, goes off line now and then, going to invest in the tools with the smaller wheels and double wheels as I think they would be easier to control.

Next stage was to fit the wings.
The starboard wing was a poor fit on the upper side. Secured the bottom half, and when dry managed to get the upper half fitting as best I could then a bit of filler to finish off with. Port side fitted like a glove. Not sure what was wrong with the first wing, will see if I have the same problem when I build the A-5 kit

Started on the two engines and the bulkheads. Gave them an undercoat, then an all over spray of black then the individual parts once all fitted in their respective colours.



Very nice looking engines, but unless I do a bit of scratch building on the covers , you won't see much of them

This is coming along really nicely. Love the problem solving and the riveting work.

Continued success.

Tail,wings and engines fitted and masked ready for priming


Not sure what these bits are, but they were mounded on to one half of the fuselage, during the build, they gradually broke, so cut them off and made new ones out of stretched sprue


Gave the underside a coat of RLM65 from Vallejo, mixed it with the aged white for a lighter shade for some fading, then sprayed the panel lines with Tamika Smoke for some post shading


Painted the wing tips and rear band with RLM06, also faded it and post shaded also. When I removed the masking tape, it lifted some of the paint, so after a bit of repair work, repainted the blue in the areas required.



Applied the RLM70, didn't mask it off, just painted it slightly more than it would be


Masked it ready for the RLM71


Then applied the RLM71


Then faded as the underside then sprayed the smoke again on the panel lines


Redone the yellow band



Finished it all of with a few coats of Tamiya gloss

Great work, she is coming together really nice.

Willem wrote:This is coming along really nicely. Love the problem solving and the riveting work.

Continued success.

SteveW wrote:Great work, she is coming together really nice.

Cheers lads, enjoying this kit even with the wee problems

After a few hours and a few rums later, decals are on

Canopy parts masked up using Pmask (a wee bit about that product later) and sprayed with RLM02 before a coat of RLM70 and RLM65 for the underside one

Looks great mate, keep up the good work!

Love the JU88, really enjoying this build can not wait to see it completed

Gave it a few coats of tamiya x22 clear, I decided to give the green surfaces a blue filter, had only done that before on AFV's, wasn't sure how it would look, but am happy with it,then done the panel lines with a mix of black and brown mixed with enamel thinners, then a light wash with same all over upper and lower surfaces. Sprayed black/brown exhaust stains from the engines and over wings and tail section. Not sure if I've over done the weathering, but I like it













Next put on the canopy, wheels and wires from the canopy to the tail.

After re doing the canopy, got everything fitted and calling this one done