Hasegawa 1/48 Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka

HASEGAWA 1:48 JUNKERS JU 87G-2 STUKA

Reviewer: Brian Manning (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 12 October 2005

Kit Details:

Hasegawa 1-48th Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka "Anti tank attacker"

Aircraft History:

The exploits of the Stuka, especially its earlier models are documented well in print and on this site. The Ju 87G was a development of the Ju 87D specifically for the anti-tank mission with the G-1 version a derivative of the D-3 which differed to later versions in having a regular wing span. Large numbers of tanks appeared on the Russian front and prompted the Luftwaffe to design an appropriate aerial combatant that could take out these tanks. The Henschel Hs 129 was renowned for its ability in this role but the Ju 87G was also designed specifically to undertake this duty. Where the wing mounted bomb racks were for dive bombing and machine gun armament in the wings were replaced by a pair of huge underwing pods containing large flak guns. The success of trials during 1943 lead to the development of the Ju 87G-2 which were converted from Ju 87D-5 airframes that had extended wing tips. About 175 G-2s were built and used successfully on the Russian front and were only later withdrawn as they tended to be easy fodder for opponent fighters due to a lack of speed and manoeuvrability.

The Kit:

Well it is pretty much what we would come to expect from this fine model making company. There are 125 parts in the kit, molded in a light grey colour that contains finely recessed surface detail of typically high quality. The plastic is a little hard but is free from flash and most mold imperfections. The sprues are labelled Ju 87D so this obviously means that the D kits with the conversion parts are used and as a result there will be a few parts leftover for the spares box. In addition to these is a small sprue containing five clear parts that cover the canopy and plexiglass Peil section. These are well molded and pretty clear.

Instructions:

The instructions are typical Hasegawa, being a large fold out sheet with brief history, sprue map, assembly steps, four view markings diagram and painting information from Mr Color and Gunze Sangyo ranges.

Construction:

This starts in the cockpit which is standard affair. The kit provides enough parts to keep most modellers happy with multi part instrument panel and seat, control stick, yaw pedals and separate sidewalls to fit inside the fuselage that themselves have molded throttles and the like. I chose to paint RLM 66 throughout the cockpit as I thought this was probably accurate given the time of the war when the aircraft entered service. Firstly I painted the interior with a mix of black oil wash and then a second coat with a white pastel mixed in so as to help represent a bit of shading and picked out details with drybushing. The glasshouse that sits over the cockpit will allow a fair bit inside to be seen so it is highly worth the exercise of doing a good job inside.

The rear gun was added in and mounted in the turret and looks the part. The sidewalls are affixed to the fuselage sides and the cockpit floor is added in as an afterthought when the halves are affixed together. The kit does not provide a pilot headrest, armoured head rest for gunner, cushion, seat belts nor ammunition belts for the gun, so these were all scratchbuilt or taken from spare etched sets. It was a pity because most of the cockpit was there and the few added extras would have almost made the kit out of the box excellent. Once done the cockpit sub assembly was affixed inside the fuselage halves. The fit is pretty good.

The next step was to concentrate on the separate nose fuselage section. This also needs to be painted inside because it can be seen through the cockpit glasshouse later. Since the rear of the oil cooler is open, some plasticard inside is advisable to blank it off. The propeller shaft is trapped between the nose halves at this point. The exhausts were also added at this stage, painted in a red brown rusty colour and drybrushed with matt aluminium. The fuselage halves can all be safely affixed and mated together, and again everything goes together pretty well.

Wings are broken down into standard upper and lower halves with the rear flaps molded integrally as part of the wing. The extended tips on the wings for the Ju 87G looks right but for some reason looks to be an add on to the kit whose origins at this point appear to be Ju 87B. The wings fit well together with the exception of the wing tips which raises the suspicion further, and join lines need removing afterward. The wing walks are incorrectly depicted on the kit being the earlier B version again, so these needed to be either rescribed or by a decal sheet supplied in the kit. For me it was better to sand away and then rescribe the panel lines to match the Ju 87D-5 wing walks that were inherited by the G-2. The wing mounted guns go together without any dramas and certainly look the part. Likewise the tailplanes go on without any fuss although a bit of care is needed when affixing the underside support struts.

The undercarriage is reasonably easy to put together thanks largely to the spats that the Ju 87 has. These come in halves and the interior area of the spats was painted RLM 66 with the with the wheels painted tyre black and the hubs a dark grey colour similar to RLM 66.

The multi part canopy was next tackled and although fits fairly well, care is needed to place every part correctly. The glasshouse makes things inside easy to see so this is where you realise that any earlier interior work is worth the effort. The rear canopy part goes over the top of the plexiglass cover in the top of the fuselage where the Peil equipment is housed. This is incorrect so the length needs to be shortened a little. Once the canopy was in place, the delicate task of masking had to be carried out. In the end I thought it too difficult to mask off the rear guns other than a couple of small bits. Whilst it would they would be sprayed and then repainted gunmetal later, I figured it wouldn't matter.

The final stage of assembly included the propeller and aerial wire which was made from invisible thread, although both these were added on after painting.

Colour Schemes:

Only the one scheme is covered for by the kit which is what is depicted on the boxart. No that is not a two-tone desert brown scheme, the painting appears to depict a G-2 flying at sunset, so the upper surfaces are actually splinter camouflage RLM 70/71 over RLM 66 undersides. The yellow areas were dealt with first, being the lightest of the colours to apply although decals are supplied. The spiral spinner is the hardest area to paint although there is a decal supplied in the kit, I don't think there is any easy way to do this other than painting white and the dark areas by hand in a pattern before affixing to the aircraft.

Decals:

Hasegawa's decal sheet is quite large with a reasonable amount of stencilling along with all the markings for the aircraft. Everything looks good on the sheet, although it comes across a little on the thick and glossy side. This was confirmed during application as there was a little bit of silvering that needed a proper after-cote of gloss to seal them in. Standard Humbrol decal setting solution was used as Microsol can make Hasegawa decals quickly shrivel up (call it experience!). The decals for the yellow fuselage bands and white spiral on the spinner were not used in preference to painting so I don't know if they would have suitably blocked out any painted areas underneath.

Accuracy:

For the most part I can't fault the kit too much because obviously all the conversion parts are there and most of the modifications appear to have been added. The rear gun canopy overlapping the plexiglass access panel needs to be corrected. The other issues include the wing walks and the obvious discrepancies between the Ju 87G and earlier Ju 87B which is the kit the wings seem to have been derived from. Otherwise for the most part this kit captures the look of the Ju 87G very well.

Overall Recommendation:

It should come as no surprise considering my review above and the manufacturer of the kit that I thoroughly enjoyed this build. In the main the fit of the parts was very good to excellent and only a minor amount of filler was needed throughout the project that barely needed mention in the review. The interior could do with some extra parts since the glasshouse affords a great view inside but otherwise the end result is eye catching and a beauty sitting in the model cabinet. Thoroughly recommended!

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