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This
model represents a Ju 87A-1 of 5.J/88 of the Condor Legion, during wet weather
operations from Calamocha, Spain in March of 1938. It is about to be prepared
for another sortie against Republican forces retreating across Aragon. 5.J/88
was known as the Jolanthe Kette due
to the pig markings on the aircraft’s landing gear pants. The Ju 87 had been
nicknamed by Oberleutnant Gűnther Schwarzkopf after the heroin of a popular
comedy which revolved around a pig. This comedy was called ‘Krach um Jolanthe’,
or ‘Trouble with Jolanthe’. Aircraft 29l2,
the subject of this model, was originally flown by Unteroffizier Ernst Bartels
and is one of what is believed to be only three Ju 87A’s operated by the
Condor Legion (and hence, ‘Kette’, a flight of three aircraft) numbered 29l2,
29l3
and 29l4,
although photos exist of an aircraft numbered 29l5.
This aircraft remains unexplained according to my references, but could have
been a replacement aircraft or one re-numbered for propaganda purposes.
Construction:
Construction
began in the usual manner, with the cockpit. The kit provides a resin
cockpit which is quite nicely detailed, but requires that you scratch build the
roll bar and machine gun mount. There is no fuselage detail provided aft of the
resin cockpit, so I had to scratch build the rear bulkhead from plastic card.
Ribs from plastic strip were also added aft of this bulkhead as they would be
marginally visible when the model was completed. The roll bar suggested in the
kit instructions is very over-simplified so a more accurate one was made using
lead wire and plastic rod and strip, with reference to photos of the actual
item.
The machine gun mount was also scratch built with reference to photos
as
the kit instructions for doing so were not at all clear. The canopy provided is
vacu-formed and the doors had to be carefully cut and then bent into an open
position. I could tell after dry fitting that there was going to be some fit
problems with this item so I had to build up the plastic on the vertical
surfaces of the fuselage just aft of the windscreen. The kit instructions
suggest painting the cockpit 66 Schwartz Grau, but it is far more likely that it
was painted RLM 02 Grau. I painted it with Poly Scale acrylics washed with
artists oils and dry brushed to bring out the details.
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Prior to adding the
cockpit to the fuselage and joining the halves, I carefully removed the rudder
and trim tab for re-positioning. The same treatment was also applied to the
elevators. After re-attaching these pieces in deflected positions, I added all
of the associated control rods which I made using copper wire. The kit did not
provide for the rudder control rods at all, which I found odd as they were
external, and rudimentary trim tab control rods are provided. Once the fuselage
halves were together I added the horizontal tail surfaces and experienced no
problems with fit here, after I added locator holes to the fuselage and pins
from plastic rod to the horizontal tail surfaces. The wings proved to be another
matter entirely.
The trailing edges of
the wings required a great deal of thinning. This is a little unusual
considering the elevators are commendably thin. The fit of the wings to fuselage
was extremely poor requiring the leading edge of the fillet to be built up with
Squadron Green Putty (the wing chord is longer on the wings than on the fuselage
join by about one millimeter). The landing gear pants were also significantly
narrower than their attachments on the wings so the wing portions had to be
carefully sanded flush with the pants. There was no trouble getting the gull
dihedral correct for the wings as each upper
wing half comes as one piece. The lower halves of the wings comes in three
pieces (for a grand total of five pieces). After the wings were assembled there
were hefty gaps between the separate pieces so I used Squadron Green Putty and
Mr Surfacer 500 to fill these areas. Super glue would have been a better choice
as the resultant assembly was delicate and the putty prone to separate and
crack.
I
wanted to build this aircraft as operated during muddy field conditions so the
lower portion of the landing gear pants had to be removed and the walls thinned
considerably with a file, number 11 X-Acto blade, and 400 grit wet or dry sand
paper.
| The landing gear was then scratch built with plastic card and brass tube,
and using the resin wheels thoughtfully supplied with the kit (wheels also come
moulded onto the pants themselves). After the completed landing gear/pants
assemblies were added to the wings I added the flaps and ailerons. The flaps
were placed in a lowered position as this seems to have been the norm for Ju
87A’s on the ground. Once again, control rods for the flaps and ailerons were
added from copper wire. |
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Painting
and Finishing:
The
model was painted with Poly Scale acrylics sprayed through my Aztek A470. I used
the grey general purpose tip as I seem to get better results with it than the
black acrylic tip. Due to the large amount of filler required for this model, a
primer coat was essential. I prefer to let the paint to dry for 48 hours between
coats even though Poly Scale painted surfaces can be handled shortly after
spraying. It also sands beautifully showing no discolouration so minor
imperfections can be lightly sanded out.
| All panel lines were post-shaded
immediately after applying the basic colour. This was accomplished by emptying
the excess paint from the colour cup and filling it with thinner (I use
distilled water), followed by dipping my stir stick in black paint and stirring
it into the colour cup. This gives a very dilute, darker shade of the original
colour. After blowing out some of this mixture to ensure all excess paint in the
nozzle is gone, I spray the panel lines at 7 PSI. The mix is less than 10 %
paint so is very transparent and will require a few passes to get the desired
effect. I find the control of this method easier than pre-shading, especially
for multi-colour schemes. |
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After painting was complete, Future was added as the
gloss coat followed by the decals 48 hours later. For the most part, I used the
kit decals which are very thin. Their adhesive, however, is very strong
requiring that the decal be positioned almost perfectly prior to application as
it is very difficult to move once on the model, even with the application of a
great deal of water. Wait 30 seconds and the decal is more or less permanent.
The pig decals were made for me by Jeff Dick, a friend of mine, on his trusty
ALPS printer. While I have no photos of 29l2
wearing this marking, I assumed that at some time all three Ju 87A’s did due
to the name of the flight. My model depicts this particular Ju 87A relatively
early in its deployment when, according to my references, Spring rains forced
the removal of the lower portion of the landing gear pants.
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There is a well
known photo of a one of the Jolanthe Kette with the pig marking flying without
the lower pants, although I can’t make out the aircraft number. I’m sure
that someone out there who knows a lot more about the Spanish Civil War can
point out the error of my ways. At any rate, I like the look of this unit
marking better. After the decals had dried, I applied another coat of Future
over them and then used a wash of grey artist oils to colour the panel lines. As
a side note, these panel lines were very fine and in some places had to be
re-scribed. The final flat coat of Poly Scale flat was applied after allowing
the Future to cure for a few days. |
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At this stage
attention was turned towards the canopy. The framework was added inside and out
using pre-painted (by me) and then cut clear decal film. I used a very sharp #11
blade for this and pretty much eye balled the width. I find this method easier
than masking the canopy if the framework does not have too many complex curves.
It can give very you sharp edges and allows you to quite easily do the interior
as well. This is important if the canopy is to be positioned open as painting
the interior colour on the exterior of the canopy just does not cut it when
viewing the framework from inside the cockpit. Some minor imperfections can be
seen in the extreme close-ups of Steve’s photos, but these can be easily fixed
with careful scraping and sanding followed by touching up with paint. I added
the antenna posts, the hatch latches and the wiring which ran from the antenna
to the radio to the canopy after all the decal framework had been applied. I
still had some difficulty making the canopy fit to the fuselage so was forced to
do some trimming to the windscreen and which then forced me to re-do some of the
decal framework. I attached it using a wood workers white glue, which dries
clear and waterproof. The antenna wires were made from clear nylon thread and
were attached with super glue. The wire was then painted steel with a heavy wash
of bronze. The insulators are just tiny blobs of white glue painted white.
Finally, all of the
fiddly bits were added such as the foot steps and pitot tube (or is it a venturi
tube?). The pitot requires a little
bit of scratch building which should be done with reference to photos of the
actual aircraft as the kit instructions are incorrect. The
wing tip navigation lights were made from clear stretched sprue painted with
Tamiya clear red and green acrylic paint.
Weathering was
accomplished using pastels, with the exception of the paint chipping which was
done with Prismacolour silver pencil. This was actually done before the first
gloss coat so that it would be toned down by the final flat coat. Weathering was
kept fairly subtle, just some dust and exhaust stains and light chipping.
As a final ‘human’
touch, a canopy cleaning cloth made from aluminum foil was draped over the rear
of the canopy as it was commonplace for ground crews to clean canopies before a
mission. This addition also enabled a non-repairable defect in the canopy to be
covered as getting a replacement part turned out to be problematic. As they say,
necessity is the mother of invention.
The hydraulic bomb
trolley and SC250 bomb are Dragon accessories. The SC250 was modified by the
addition of the harness for the Stuka’s swing arm release, made with tape,
plastic rod and tiny discs punched out of aluminum foil using my Waldren punch
and die set, and the locking ring from copper wire. The braces for the
stabilization fins were made from stretched sprue.
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trolley was the addition of a bomb securing chain and some filling with putty
and Mr. Surfacer. The kit instructions suggest that the trolley should be
painted field grey and I could not find any reference material that suggested
otherwise, so I painted it with Tamiya field grey. The SC250 could be field grey,
sky blue or aluminum according to the Warbirds Resource Group site http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/sc250.html
so I painted it a slightly different shade of field grey. All stencils were done
by hand, with the exception of the yellow stripe, which was cut from a yellow
decal.
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Conclusion:
While this is a fairly
difficult model to build and not to be attempted as a first kit, the end result
can be quite a pleasing representation of the aircraft so is well worth the
effort, at least in my mind. Where else are you going to find a 1/48 Ju 87
‘Anton’?
Martin
References:
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Junkers Ju 87A, Joachim Dressel & Manfred Griehl, Schiffer 1996.
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Junkers Ju 87 Stukageschwader 1937-41, John Weal, Osprey 1997.
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Ju
87 Stuka, Classic Aircraft No.5, Bruce Robertson & Gerald Scarborough, PSL/Airfix
1977.
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