7€Nº 2

JUN

KER

S JU

88

A-4,

GER

BIN

I(S

ICIL

Y)19

42

COLOR CHARTCOLOR CHART

Cockpit

Base: dark grey XF24

Lights: neutral grey XF53

Shadows: NATO black XF69

Landing gear:

Base: RLM grey XF22

Lights: RLM grey XF22 (50%)

+ Buff XF57 (50%)

Shadows: Black green XF27

Dry-brush: Ligth green 120 (Humbrol enamel)

Junkers Ju 88 A-4, Gerbini(Sicily)1942

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Kit:

- Cyber Hobby, ref. 5565 Ju 88A-4 Schnell Bomber.

Photo-Etched:

- Eduard, ref. 48498 Ju 88A-4 Exterior.

Resin Kit:

- Aires, rtef. 4052 Junkers Ju 88A-4 cockpit set.

- Aires, ref. 4063 German 7,92 gun MG 81.

- Quickboost, ref. 48218 Junkers Ju 88A-4 Exhaust.

- Quickboost, ref. 48265 Junkers Ju 88A-4 VS propeller.

- True Detail, ref. 48029 Ju 88A-4/G6 wheel set.

Masking:

- Eduard, ref. EX042 Ju 88A-4 Mask.

MATERIALS EMPLOYEDMATERIALS EMPLOYED

Upper camuoflage

RLM 70:

Base: Black green XF27

Lights: Black green XF27 (60%)

+ Dark yellow XF60 (40%)

RLM 71:

Base: J.N. green XF11 (70%) + Dark

yellow XF60 (25)

+ Flat brown XF10 (5%)

Lights: base (60%)

+ Desert yellow XF59 (40%)

RLM 76:

Base: Ligth blue XF23 (60%)

+ Light grey XF66 (20%)

+ Flat white XF2 (20% )

Lights: base (60%) +

Flat white XF2 (40%)

RLM 79:

Base: Flat yellow XF3 (60%)

+ Dark yellow XF60 (30% )

+ Flat red XF7 (10%)

Lights: base (60%) + Buff XF57 (40%)

Lower camuoflage

RLM 76:

Base: Ligth blue XF23 (60%)

+ Light grey XF66 (20%)

+ Flat white XF2 (20% )

Lights: base (60%)

+ Flat white XF2 (40%)

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Considering the fact that 16000 unitswith tens of variants were built ofthis plane; its basic structure never

suffered radical changes, which proves theoverall quality of the original design. Howe-ver, at first the number of different uses thisplane was eventually put to was never a fac-tor taken into consideration, because theGerman Air Ministry (RLM) was never tooconfident with the success of this project,and commanded instead a fast bombardierable to carry a war load of 1800kg and to beable to reach a speed of 500km/h… almostthe same speed that the newly born Hawker

Hurricane plane made. Three projects wereproposed: The Henschel Hs 127, the Mes-serschmitt Bf 162 and the Ju 88. The firsttwo were rejected for a number of reasons,and the Junkers followed through. Its firstprototype the Ju 88 V1, crashed when per-forming a high speed test, but neverthelesshaving proven its correct design. Later pro-totypes got motor adjustments, cabin, wea-pons, etc. until the right configuration wasfound.

In 1939 the Ju 88 was finally revealed tothe world, after having kept it a secret to theBritish Secret Services for three years. Ernst

Zindel was the engineer who took all thecredit for it, but two American engineers’expert in the field of paneling worked on theproject as well.

The plane soon got into production, andits components were manufactured separa-tely in a vast number of factories in Ger-many, Czechoslovakia and France. Produc-tion speed increased as well.

The original model suffered later modifi-cations in order to keep updated in thedemanding field of aerial warfare.

From the initial run, the most relevantone was the Ju 88A, with small variations all

When separating plastic from the sprues it is alwaysadvisable to use a cutting tool and making this cut asfar away as possible from the actual piece in order toavoid damaging it, scratching it or even break it.

With a very sharp razor weremove excess plastic withoutexerting too much pressure,bearing in mind that it ispreferable to do it again untilclean. Try not to hit the piece inorder to avoid leaving marks.

The piece is left clean withmedium grain sandpaperuntil you get an evensurface. Just like before it isdesirable to do it slowlywithout exerting too muchpressure.

This Aires reference is an excellent product,both its resin pieces and photo etched parts;everything fits in flawlessly. The remainder ofthe kit is pretty much the same; however theinstruction sheet isn’t too clear.

Photo etched pieces are extremely delicate, so handling these on a hardsurface will prevent unwanted dents and bends. These should be cut with

a brand new knife and if the knife has a curved edge, so much better.These should be cut in several careful passes of the knife.

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The best tool to cut away the resin parts is asmall saw with a sharp edge. Once again, bruteforce isn’t recommended, because resin is waytoo fragile. Hold the bulk of the resin pieceswhen cutting a single piece in order to avoiddamage when separating the pieces.

When a photo etched piece is used to convey a piece which is not flat -seat belts for instance-, you have to give them some shape in order tomake it appear realistic. In this case these should look loose and spread.It is therefore necessary to use a curved tool without angles, gluingthese with cyanoacrylate gel glue.

Nowadays most brands supply the instrument panels of model kit vehicles in photoetched sheets and acetate sheets with dials in black. The trend however is tomanufacture now the pieces in color as well.

When analyzing the Aires kit carefully, we can see many details whichare absent; like the cables for instance. Resin pieces are often betterscaled than their styrene counterparts. It is difficult to see any resinpieces out of scale.

The acetate sheet is painted white inthe back, and when you turn itaround the dials will be as a resultenhanced.

Photo etched pieces ofa smaller size areoften troublesome;the solution is using agood brand new pairof tweezers. The pieceshould be held as faras possible from thearea where glue is tobe placed. If we don’tdo this we run the riskof gluing the piece tothe tool and notwhere we want.

Because of the smallsize of some photoetched pieces and theaccessibility problemsthat sometimes weface it is preferable toassemble some photoetched pieces firstbefore we undertakethe general assemblyof the kit. This is thecase with levers. Theamount ofcyanoacrylate glueused should beminimal, but enoughto grant a solid fit.

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the way down to the A-17, with improvedmotors and overall operational capabilities.From the series Ju 88A some 7000 machineswere manufactured. In 1940 the version Ju-88A-4 with an outstanding wingspan appea-red with Jumo 211J motors.

This plane was used widely on all fronts,fulfilling all expectations. It took part on theinvasion of France, Belgium and the Nether-lands; it sunk several British vessels duringthe evacuation of Dunkirk, in spite of the factthat when these planes were flying abovethis port the anti aerial defense systembrought down two of them; it took part onthe nocturnal London air raids; it was deeplyinvolved both in Greece, Crete and NorthernAfrica when the conflict moved to the Medi-terranean scenario; it played a capital roleacting as a fighter and attacking the Sovietland forces.

However in 1943, the aerial superiority ofthe allies took some of the efficiency out ofthe operations during the daytime, so thisaircraft was used almost exclusively to attackthe allied forces in nocturnal raids. The Ju88’s performed air raids against the landallied forces, landing in highways and hidingbehind bushes when necessary. When thewar ended this aircraft was retired from acti-ve service.

We have portrayed here a Ju 88 A-4 fromthe Stab II. Gruppe/Kampsgeschwader 77(Officer staff from the 2nd group of the bom-bardier wing 77-), when this unit was doingservice in the Italian airdrome of GerbiniSicily in the province of Catania, on October1942. This is specifically the aircraft com-manded by Hauptmann (Captain) HeinrichPaepcke, Gruppenkommandeur (Group Com-mander) for the II./KG77 from 1941 to 1942and one of the most awarded pilots duringWWII.

The base has three thin paint coats; this will give us a good priming that willallow us later on to work at ease.

Using a lighter shade of gray we get some highlights for the flat areas. The morehighlights we get, the better overall finish we’ll get, so it is really important towalk that extra mile.

We airbrush an almost black shade of grey for the cockpit, using well dilutedpaint to avoid excessive contrast. Diluted paint also contributes to gaining someprecision when using our airbrush kit.

Using black oil paint and Humbrolenamel thinner we execute an intensewash applied specially on all crevicesand sunken corners. If necessary we’llrepeat the process until we mark thevolumes of the piece well enough.

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The dry brush technique can still be of good use. When we’re doing it we furtherenhance the volume and three dimensionality of the piece. You should be carefulabout two things: First make sure oil paint is thoroughly dry because otherwise wewould “drag” it. Then make sure you do it smoothly because otherwise you mayharm some of the smaller pieces.

The instrument panel has beenpainted with the exact sametechniques used to paint theremainder of the cockpit. In order torecreate the glassy look of the dials inthe panel, a drop of ceramic varnishhas been applied on each dial.

Every paint chip on the inside of the cockpit has been painted with mat black paint,and has been applied with a thin brush. The most important thing here is not tooverdo these in size or amount.

With the colors NAC-39 Amarillo básico, NAC-02 Negro Mate, NAC-01 Blancomate (Andrea color) y 70869 Gris basalto, 70989 Gris cielo, 70949 Amarillo claro,70947 Bermellón (Vallejo Model Color) we have enough to paint the entire cockpit,because contrary to popular belief, you don’t need that many different color tones.

Seatbelts are also hand painted with a light sand colored hue, in this case khakiwhich will be treated later on with a mixture of black oil paint and burnt umber.

Once dry, we use base color to obtain highlights. The protective padding is paintedto appear like leather, and the buckles are painted in an aluminum color.

The radio equipment is reproduced ingreat detail, this makes paintingparticularly painstaking. A good way toproceed will be to dip your brush sparsely;tip it to one side in order to avoid stainingthe areas that do not stand out.

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When doing paint chips, water colorpencils do have a slight edge overacrylic paint, because these can beerased with a brush soaked in water.The only precaution to bear in mind isthat these pencils should be sharpenough in order to get the thinnestlines possible.

The final weathering effect on the cockpit was to simulate accumulated dirt;especially on the ground and some fairly inaccessible corners. Obviously, crewsand mechanics bring some dirt on their boots, tools and other pieces ofequipment. When choosing color pigments you have to bear in mind thescenario where the aircraft operated.

Fitting the pieces that make up thecockpit was very precise. You basicallyend up with a receptacle that is prettyvisible from the outside.

In order to eradicate the circular ejectormarkings, these have first been scrapedwith a circular knife being careful notto spoil the molded details of thestyrene piece.

The issue with knifes is that these canscratch styrene easily. In order to avoidthis you can use a fiberglass grater. You

have to be careful with this toolbecause it‘s very easy to cut yourself

with it.

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When we have an area where several panels mergetogether and we should cut the area out, the best thing todo would be to trace with a marker the panel lines that wewant to preserve in order to avoid mistakes later on.

ASSEMBLING THE FUSELAGE

First with a knife and then with sandpaper and water weremove excess cyanoacrylate glue used to cover up theunwanted panel lines.

After having carved the new panel lines with our scribertool, we remove excess plastic remains with a smallamount of Tamiya’s Extra Thin Glue. We try to follow thelines as neatly as possible.

Many brands offer references to carve registers. The bestway to do it is by fixing these to the kit with Tamiyamasking tape to hold it still. We’ll draw the lines carefullymany times over, trying not to press too hard.

1. In order to glue together the twopieces that form the fuselage, thesepieces were test fitted together andthen we applied Tamiya’s extra liquidglued on the seams.2. A small amount of cyanoacrylateglue has been placed along the seams,trying to be as neat as possible. Thiskind of glue strengthens the ensembleand acts like putty to cover up theseam. 3. In order to remove excesscyanoacrylate glue in a fast way acurved knife could be used to gentlyscrape it. The knife should be brandnew in order to avoid scratching thestyrene surface.4. Sandpaper and water are now usedto even out the seam. It is convenientto use first sandpaper of a 400 densityand then use a 600.

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1. We’ve already seen how to clean the mold marks when these aren’t too deep. Whenwe have a “pit” it is useless to scratch, so we’ll use some Evergreen sheet and a holepuncher.

2. We obtain little circlets of the size of our mold “pits” and glue these with generousamounts of cyanoacrylate glue. It is crucial to let glue dry up thoroughly.

3. First, we sand away the greater part of the leftover glue and plastic with a small file,and then we work with sandpaper and water.

4. The landing gear pits have been finished up with the photo etched pieces, closelyfollowing the manufacturer’s (Eduard) instructions. The only pieces that have anytrouble fitting are the small panels that divide the motors’ compartment. These panelsare somewhat smaller than they ought to be.

5. In terms of weathering, painting here should pretty much follow what has been doneon the rest of the kit. In order to achieve this you have to do the same to every area.We’re dealing here with small pieces, so paint chips have been done with a sponge.

1. Moveable parts have to be replaced,because those that come with the kitare sculpted in a single solid block.These parts are removed with a sharpknife.

2. It is recommendable to carve wellthe separation between moveable partsbecause in model kits these are carvedlightly and it looks like a single paneland not two separate pieces joinedtogether with a hinge.

3. The finished piece before themoveable piece is fixed in place. It isbest to work on each individual piecebefore these are fitted to the fuselage.This way it’s easier to handle and youwill avoid damaging the rest.

4. The moveable piece has been madewith a sheet of Evergreen plastic andcopper wire taken from an electric wire.Screws have been obtained by cutting asheet of tin with a hole puncher.

CLEANING MOLD RESIDUE

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The most important thing when recreating the panels of an airplaneis to obtain good blueprints of the aircraft. Once we have these, wetranspose what we have, taking the necessary measurements andmarking these with a pencil.

I’ve tested a fair amount of riveting devices, and Ishould say that the Rosie Riveter products are theones with the best results in my opinion. This brandmanufactures a set of five riveters that cover prettymuch whatever we need have at whatever scale.

Dymo tape gives us the necessarysupport to get a straight line ofrivets. This product has severaladvantages: first its adhesivefixes it well in place, andsecondly this is a rigid plastic, soit makes it hard for the tool tostray out of the way.

Every time a new line is made,it is advisable to check if the

previous line has been carvedcorrectly, because any mistake,for example a slight sloping of

the line will transfer themistake to the following lines

you’ll work on.

No matter how careful we are when we carve rivets, panelsand other markings; it is likely that some may not come outright. The way to fix this would be to fill the carving withcyanoacrylate glue, let it dry sand it away and carve again.

Something that may be a little odd to think about is the factthat when you’re doing the rivet lines on the Ju 88 themajority of these are distributed longitudinally; there arevery few of these lines across. The few of these in existenceare generally very close to the panel lines.

The wing finished with all its rivets and panels. Everythinghas been carved before gluing the pieces together, becausewhen you’re carving the pressure you exert can harm or tearapart some pieces or any given item.

NEW PANELING LINES

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The resin Quickboost exhausts are veryfragile, so they should be cut from thesprues very carefully. These pieceshowever fit perfectly.

The three dials in the motor areincluded in the Eduard reference, but

the piece is somewhat smaller than theone on the kit. The cavity for it has

therefore been filled with cyanoacrylateglue and sanded when dry.

One area that really improves with the photo etched sheet is themotor grille, because in the kit is in some cases solid or altogethermissing.

Perhaps the pieces with the worstfit are the tips of the wings,because these come separately fromthe rest of the assembly.

The landing gear had three covers. Two of these–those closer to the landing gear- were alwaysopen when the landing gear was out. Howeverthe third one was only opened when themechanism to open it was manually activatedwhen maintenance was due.

The motor’s shaft is formed with two pieces. Youhave to be particularly careful when you arecovering its seams, because it will be later onfully visible once assembled.

When you have to put some putty on a largepiece, some panels, rivets or markings may endup being covered up. In order to fix this you’llhave to wait until putty dries up, sand thesurface thoroughly and then use the proper toolto carve the lost details.

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The Eduard masking products are notabsolutely necessary, but do cut backsome of the tedious masking time, andyou will avoid any accidents that maytake place when cutting masking tapeplaced on transparent styrene.

Masking can be applied with apair of tweezers whilecarefully following theinstruction sheet becausethere are pieces which arepretty much alike.

All transparent styrene parts have beenmasked. The most important thing now is tomake sure that masking is well stuck becausewe don’t want any paint leaks.

Photo etched partswhen sanded will holdbetter when glued.Sanding areas that willbe glued together willalways improvebinding, regardless ofthe material to be glued.

A definite improvementthat comes with the

Eduard set is the coversfor the main landinggear. The ones that

come with the kit areway too thick.

View of the finished wing, which is now ready to be glued tothe fuselage. As you can see, every possible improvement,added detail, etc. has been taken care of before gluing it tothe main body. This will prevent harming other pieces ormisplace the wing unintentionally when gluing it.

The union between the wings and the fuselage isn’t all thatgood, but this glitch can be hurdled by filling the gap withEvergreen sheet and putty. The line of union between pieces hasbeen marked with a triangular shaped file, which gives us morecarving depth than the one we’ve got on the remaining panels.

It is convenientto make holes forthe weapons inorder to remindus of their exactlocation.

MASKING TRANSPARENT PLASTIC PIECES

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In order to avoid friction between the lowersurfaces when working I recommend doing aprovisional “landing gear”. In this case I usedsome pieces of sponge and a toothpick for thetail.

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The Pitot tube has been replaced by a newone made of metal. Two hypodermic syringesof different width have been used and a verythin metal rod.

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Before working on the camouflage, Ipainted the white band on the

fuselage. I also applied a coat ofpaint with the gray tone which I

used on the cockpit on top of theglass pieces. This way we see some

unity between this and the color wesee on the inside.

As usual we begin with the lighter color. For this first step it isn’t necessary to use masking, but the shapes have been laidout in order to avoid future mistakes. Next we get some highlights by lighting up our base color mixture.

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When masking a hard edge, we should airbrush well diluted paint, because if it is too thick we run the risk of getting a bumpwhen removing the masking tape strips.

The second color also has some highlights. This is a very dark color so it is advisable to be careful.

Tamiya masking tape has been used for masking the standard camouflage spots of the German Ju 88 A-4’s manufactured in1942. Many areas will end up being covered with other colors; however you should not bear this in mind because otherwiseyou’ll end up with an excessive color contrast.

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There are a number of differenttechniques for doing paint chips. I havechosen the hairspray technique becauseI was dealing with a very large surface.Hairspray can be used straight from thecan or it can be applied with yourairbrush kit. It is always advisable towork in small individual areas becausethese products dry up pretty fast.

PAINT CHIPS:HAIRSPRAYTECHNIQUE

Once you’ve airbrushed the sandcolored spots on top of the hairspray

and approximately five minuteslater, you peel off a part of the paint.This has been done with hard haired

brushes of different sizes soaked inwater. Brushes have been chosen

depending on the size requirementsof the paint chip in question.

We have to stray from symmetry andtry to get different forms and sizesfor varied effects. It is alsointeresting to take a look at realpictures and try to ascertain wherepaint weathers most.

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1. Before we apply blue paint we haveapplied another coat of hairspray,because in the previous step we mayhave covered some areas that we wantchipped.2. Different views of aircraft withfinished camouflage pattern. Everycamouflage spot has been airbrushed byhand and following the guidelines incolor profile in number 14 Vol. II byKagero Publishing. 3. The lower color hue has beenhighlighted and shaded switching frombase color mixture to white and base todark blue. Separation between the lowerand upper camouflage patterns has beenmade using Tamiya masking tape.

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Because the size of the symbols it is recommendableto use masking tape instead of decals. Aims decalshave been used and the special Tamiya maskingsheet has been used also along with a metal rulerand a new X-acto knife.

The metal ruler has been used as a support whenmaking the necessary cuts to obtain the masking

pieces. Obviously this is no good for curved symbolsor some letters which should be cut by hand. The

trick is to do it slowly not raising the knife to avoidjagged edges.

Decals are stuck to the sheet as ifthese were on the kit even after theuse of the Micro products. Allow forsome ample dry up time because wedon’t want decals to be torn apart

when being cut.

The hardest thing to do whenpainting with masking is to place itcorrectly. In order to do this it’sconvenient to choose a panel whichwill become a reference and a guideto place the decal.

Now we continue with black paint.In order to avoid some nastysurprises we can place a piece ofpaper along the edge of the maskingtape to increase protection frompaint leaks and avoid staining thekit.

If the painted surface is large enough,we can also do some highlights. Thishelps integrate this symbol to thewhole kit.

The Balkenkreuz (bar cross) fullyfinished. In this case weathering ofpainted symbols will be done later withwatercolor pencils. These are easier tocontrol than hairspray used elsewhereon the kit.

I began by applying the light color first,in this case white. As we’ve explainedearlier paint should be well diluted.

Now we put in place the pieces ofmasking that give us the white areas. Acotton swab has been used to gentlypress masking tape and firmly set it inplace.

PAINTING THE BALKENKREUZ

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Same process than before but with lettering. Letters havebeen cut in pairs in order to make sure that both distance andalignment between these is optimal.

When we remove masking tape we should do this slowly,because if we happen to see any mistakes or areas notproperly covered with paint when peeling it, we can stickit back in place knowing that it hasn�t moved.

At thispoint we

can saywe’re done

with thecamouflagepattern and

mostairbrush

work.

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In order to mark the panel divisionwe have used a 0,3mm leadmechanical pencil constantlysharpened in order to get thethinnest lines possible.

In this picture we can see that pencil lines can be quite shiny, but we shouldn’t worrytoo much about it because when we’re done with every step it will end up matte.

Here we can see thewhole plane with thefinished panels; noweverything looksuniformly set and wehave a feeling ofdepth.

It isrecommendable

to do a paintcheck before fully

removing anymasking in orderto make sure thatwe don’t need tomake any further

corrections.

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The only decals used on the kit are the swastikas on both sides ofthe tail. Before you apply these it is convenient to gloss varnishthe area.

We cut away the decals that we’re going to use cuttingaway the transparent edge around the image.

The decal is thendipped inlukewarm waterwith a few drops ofvinegar to softenit. It is importantnot to touch thedecal with yourhands or tweezersonce it’s wet.

When the decal starts to comeoff from the piece of paper,make sure that leftovertransparent film is properlydiscarded because sometimesit makes its way to the kit.

The Micro Set product hasbeen applied with a cleanbrush over the decal in orderto fully impregnate it.

Using the same brush employed on theprevious process, we apply the MicroSet on the surface of the kit where thedecal goes.

Decals can easily be ruined by folding,so it is convenient to drag it from the

piece of paper where it’s sitting to thesurface of the kit using a clean and

smooth brush.

Leftover Micro Set liquid has beenremoved with a cotton swab that hashelped us both dry the surface andexert a light pressure to adapt decals inplace.

Now we apply Micro Sol with anotherclean and smooth brush. We allow theproduct to dry up on its own and we’re

done with decals.

APPLYING DECALS

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1. The best way to work with oils is to place asmall amount of paint on a non porous surface.A disposable plastic dish does the work in thisexample. Some hobbyists like first to removeexcess oil from paint, however in this case Iwanted oily paint for easy mixing.

2. Before we apply oil paint you have to soakthe working area with Humbrol enamelthinner, and this way it will be easier to“melt” paint on the surface.

3. Once we have chosen the oil paintreferences, we apply small random amounts ofpaint on the kit’s surface with a thin brush. Oilpaint hues should be within the color range ofthe camouflage colors employed on the kit.

4. With a flat tipped brush we melt oil paint ina back and forth brush motion for thehorizontal surfaces, and an up and downmotion for the vertical surfaces.

OIL PAINT WORK

Propellers have been painted withTamiya’s XF27 and have also beenproperly highlighted and shaded. Blackpaint strokes have also been made closelyfollowing the cutting edge of the blades.

The propellers’ hub has been paintedlight green, which was done withmasking created with a cutting circletracer. White paint has been appliedand then green.

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Oil paint used on thelower surfaces of the kit isthe same used on the topportion, except for greenwhich has been replacedwith blue. Colors havebeen applied as describedearlier.

Now we’ll apply some matt varnish. In this occasionwe have employed Marabu varnish. It has been usedin a proportion of 1 to 3 parts thinner. With varnishthere’s a pretty important recommendation tofollow: shake or stir well before use.

Tweezers are used to remove masking, but makesure not to scratch the “glass” parts.

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1. The base color for the exhaustshas been airbrushed in a mixturewhich is half thinner and half paintRed brown XF-64 (Tamiya).

2. The AK Interactive paint washesare a very useful tool forweathering. In this case only acouple of coats have been applied(ref. AK 075). Enough drying timehas been allowed between coats.

3. Applying Leather 62 Humbrolenamel using the dry brushtechnique we obtained somehighlights. It is important to allowenough drying time for the washeswe’ve done earlier, becauseotherwise we can ruin it.

4. The rust effect is obtained withthe pigment Light Rust P024 (MIGProductions). In this examplewe’ve used it diluted in water.

This is the first color used to convey the stain produced bygas. It was done by mixing four parts of XF10 and one ofXF1 90% diluted.

On the center of the spot we paint a smaller one using lightgray, thinned out like we’ve done earlier.

We scratch the surface with a toothpick soaked onTamiya thinner in order to remove some paint off. It isn’tnecessary to press too hard, just do it over as many timesas it takes.

This effect is completed by going back to a diluted versionof the initial base paint.

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The landing gear has a lot of detail sowe’ve just basically only added thebrake cable which is actually acomputer cable.

The landing gear has been painted withTamiya’s RLM XF22 gray. Theremaining effects on these have beendescribed earlier.

The True Detail wheels are much betterthan those that come with the kit.These are readied by cutting away theresin support and enlarging the holewhere the wheel axis goes.

The tire has been painted gloss black.We didn’t do any effects here becausepigments will later on cover the wheel.

Once the tire has been covered weairbrushed a coat of NATO XF69. Thenwe’ve got some highlights with XF53,especially on the surface of the wheelthat makes contact with the ground.Shades are made with matt black.

Dry color pigments are finally appliedto the wheels. Wheel surface isn’tobviously too large, so the best thingyou can do to control pigments whilethey’re being applied is to trim the hairsof a thin brush in half and apply smallamounts of pigment.

A mixture of Marabu glossvarnish and Van Dyck COLORPARDO oyl paint is used to painthydraulic fluid residue on theexhausts.

All the light colored paint chipshave been created with watercolor pencils. Only superficialpaint scratches have been donewith these.

The 250 and 500kgSC bombs areincluded on thekit, and these haveonly have someputty and someheavy sand work.Thinner Evergreenrods have beenused to solve scaleproblems.

After having studied someperiod pictures and with theimmense help of my friendLuis Antonio Reyes, Iactually came to theconclusion that these bombswere painted in differentcolor patterns. That’s why Ichose a combination ofdifferent colors. All bombshad a yellow band painted onthe rear.

LANDING GEAR

M.

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28

M.

La

bo

rato

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29

M.

La

bo

rato

ry

30

M.

La

bo

rato

ry

31

M.

La

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32

M.

La

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33

M.

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34

Junk

ers Ju 88A

-5 from

the

5./KG 3 during the inva

sion

of the

U.S.S.R. in 19

41. T

he color pattern is the

usual one

(70

/71/65

), in

this case how

ever the

plane

has a ban

d across the

rear

of the

fuselage

and

the

tips of the

wings are painted

yellow.

Junk

ers Ju 88A

-5 from

the

III/KG 54 “T

oten

kopf” in Italy, 194

3. The

color pattern is the

one

employ

ed in

the

Med

iterrane

an the

ater of o

peration

s; yellow san

d (79 Sa

ndge

lb) an

dolive gree

n (80 Oliv

grün

) for the

top

surfaces an

d lig

ht blue (78 Hellblau) fo

r the

lower one

s.

M.

La

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rato

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35

Junk

ers Ju 88A

-5 from

the

5 Staffel of the

Aufklärun

gsgrup

pe 123

whe

n op

erating in the

Russian

fron

t du

ring

the

winter o

f 194

1/42

. White cam

oufla

ge paint has been pa

inted on

top

of the

origina

l pattern.

During their p

erman

ence in

Italy in 194

2, this Junk

ers Ju 88A

-4 from

the

Gesch

wad

er Stab from

the

54 Toten

kopf w

as decorated

with wav

y lin

es called W

ellw

nmüster.

M. Labora

tory

36

IntroductionWhen we’re dealing with a well known planesuch as the Ju 88 the possibilities available onthe market in terms of model kits improvementsets and decals are innumerable. Here we willreview the main ones and the easiest to get forany given hobbyist even if there is a final sec-tion with the lesser known brands that shouldalso be taken into consideration.

1/32REVELL 1/32 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 - Ref.04728

This German brand has recently surprised uswith this outstanding mold portraying the A-1version. It comes in good quality gray styrenewhich is easy to work with. It has 281 pieces;the size is therefore considerable, getting as aresult a kit which is pretty hard to assembleand paint. One of the designs featured in thedecal sheet is from the KG 54 and the otherone is based in Norway during the battle ofBritain. The instruction leaflet is 16 pages andit’s real easy to follow.

CMK 5026

CMK 5025

EDUARD 32633

EDUARD 32224

EDUARD JX 084

MASTER MODEL 32039

QUICKBOOST 32059

AIRES 2086

Techmod 32038 / Techmod 32039

1/48DRAGON 1/48 - Junkers Ju 88Without a doubt this is the best offering at1:48 scale. The kit is manufactured by theAsian brand Dragon and under this brandname or under other sister companies such asShanghai Dragon or Cyberhobby. The mothermold is the exact same one for all the availableversions, changing only the specific pieces foreach model. Fitting is quite good and the qua-lity of the plastic is pretty good as well. Trans-parent styrene parts are worth mentioning,because these have been perfectly well execu-ted. Detailing is reasonable but perhaps a littlebelow current standards. The “soft” spots onthese kits are two: first the instruction sheet isnot that clear, and second, the decal sheet ispretty mediocre and does not have manydesigns.

VERLINDEN 1485

AIRES 4052

AIRES 4138

C H O O S I N G T H E R I G H T P R O D U C T S

M. Labora

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37

EDUARD 48498

EDUARD 49285

EDUARD EX 042

MASTER MODEL 48027

QUICKBOOST 48218 / QUICKBOOST 48265

AIMS 48D002 / TECHMOD 48814

AIRDOC 48012

1/72Revell 1/72 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 bomber - Ref. 04672

The quality of this mold is excellent. It has 191gray styrene parts. The decals in the box allowyou to choose between two versions. The pie-ces offered allow you to choose between diffe-rent seats and the cockpit can be left eitheropen or closed.

Italeri 1/72 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 - Ref. 1287

A bit inferior in terms of quality when compa-red with the Revell release, it has however amagnificent decal sheet that allows you tochoose between different German designs andFrench ones as well. Hasegawa 1/72 - Junkers Ju88

This Japanese brand has the usual qualitystandards, and also has the advantage ofhaving most versions of the Ju88. As usual,the styrene employed is excellent, it fits toperfection and the instruction sheet is veryconcise. It is also worth noting that detailingis excellent, so if you want to explore thatavenue further you could do it with excellentresults. Perhaps the only setback would be theexcessive thickness of the decal sheets.Airfix 1/72 - Junkers Ju88A-4

Amongst all the analyzed versions, the Airfixkit is perhaps the one with the lower qualitystandards. This kit does however have a veryinteresting retail price. It does not have thelevel of detail that its competitors have espe-cially in places such as the cockpit, landinggear and landing gear pits. AIRES 7138 / AIRES 7073

EDUARD 72459

EDUARD 73275

PAVLA 72048

QUICKBOOST 72054 / QUICKBOOST 72138

AUTHENTIC DECALS 7234 / BEGEMOT 7210

Aims - 3202- Junkers Ju 88A-1 cockpit instrumentdetailsAires - 2086 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 wheels & paintmasksCMK - 5024 - Junkers Ju 88A Bulkhead with radiosetsCMK - 5025 - Junkers Ju 88A exterior setCMK - 5026 - Junkers Ju 88A interiorCMK - 5027 - Junkers Ju 88C-2 (conversion)CMK - 5028 - Junkers Ju 88A Wing fuel tanksCMK - 5046 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 Wings racksCMK - 5065 - German bomb SC 250kgCMK - 32105 - Junkers Ju 88A seatsCMK - 32108 - Junkers Ju 88A Radio setCMK - 32109 - Junkers Ju 88A Control ColumnEduard - 32224 - Junkers Ju 88A exterior Eduard - 32632 - Junkers Ju 88A seat beltsEduard - 32633 - Junkers Ju 88A interior (selfadhesive).Eduard - 32634 - Junkers Ju 88A placardsEduard - JX084 - Junkers Ju 88A paint masksG-Factor- 3224 - Junkers Ju 88 Landing GearMaster - 32002 - German aircraft machine gunMG.17 barrelsMaster - 32039 - German radar FuG 220Lichtenstein SN-2Quickboost - 32056 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 ammunitionboxesQuickboost - 32059 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 exhaustScale Aircraft Conversions - 32026 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 Landing GearTechmod - 32038 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 (part. 1)Techmod - 32039 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 (part. 2)

Aims - 4801 - Junkers Ju 88-GAims - 4802 - Junkers Ju 88A/D/S

Aims - 4803 - Junkers Ju 88 National insigniaAims - 4804 - Junkers Ju 88C-6 (plus 1 x Junkers Ju88G-1 option)Aires - 4005 - Junkers Jumo 213 suitable for Focke-Wulf Fw 190D, Ju 88G, Focke-Wulf Ta 152HAires - 4006 - Junkers Jumo 211 with exhaust andetched parts suitable Junkers Ju 87, Heinkel He 111,Avia S-199, Junkers Ju 88Aires - 4052 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 cockpit setAires - 4138 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 detailsAirdoc - 4809 - Junkers Ju 88A Part 1Airdoc - 4810 - Junkers Ju 88A Part 2Airdoc - 4811 - Junkers Ju 88A Part 3Airdoc - 4812 - Junkers Ju 88A Part 4CMK - 4009 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 interiorCMK - 4246 - Junkers Ju 88A/Ju 88C/Ju 88G - Wingfuel tanksCMK - 4247 - Junkers Ju 88A/Ju 88C/Ju 88G -exterior setCMK - 4248 - Junkers Ju 88A - Wing rack fortorpedo LTF 5bCMK - 4249 - Junkers Ju 88A Wings racksCMK - 4250 - Junkers Ju 88A - Bulkhead with radiosets for B-stand position with two MG 81CMK - 4251 - Junkers Ju 88A Interior set- for B-stand position with two MG 81CMK - 4254 - Junkers Ju 88A - Bulkhead with radiosets for MG.15 positionCMK - 48137 - Junkers Ju 88A/Ju 88C/Ju 88G SeatsEduard - 48498 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 exteriorEduard - 49285 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 interiorEduard - EX042 - Junkers Ju 88A-4Falcon - 1448 - Luftwaffe WWII. Junkers Ju 88A-4Master - 48027 - German radar FuG 220Lichtenstein SN-2Master - 48055 - German aircraft machine gun MG15 - turned barrels and etched sightsbQuickboost - 48218 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 exhaustQuickboost - 48265 - Junkers Ju 88 VS-11 Propeller w/tool

Scale Aircraft - 48105 - Junkers Ju 88 Landing GearTrue Detail - 48029 - Junkers Ju 88A4/G6 andJunkers Ju 188 Two (2) main & one (1) nose wheel.Smooth Tread.Techmod - 48031 - Junkers Ju 88A (1)Techmod - 48032 - Junkers Ju 88A (2)Verlinden - 1485 - Junkers Ju 88 superdetail set

Authentic Decals - 7234 - Junkers Ju 88A-4Airwaves - 72077 - Junkers Ju 88A-4Aires - 7138 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 cockpit setAirdoc - 7209 - Junkers Ju 88A Part 1Airdoc - 7210 - Junkers Ju 88A Part 2Airdoc - 7211 - Junkers Ju 88A Part 3Airdoc - 7212 - Junkers Ju 88A Part 4Begemot - 7210 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 Part 1Begemot - 7224 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 Part 2Techmod - 72111 - Junkers Ju 88A (1)Techmod - 72139 - Junkers Ju 88A (2)

Authentic Decals - 7226 - Junkers Ju 88G-6Eduard - 73361 - Ju 88G-6 Night FighterEduard - CX183 - Ju 88G paint maskMaster - 72016 - German radar FuG 220Lichtenstein SN-2Pavla - 72048 - Main wheels for Junkers Ju 88Quickboost - 72095 - Junkers Ju 88G gun barrelsQuickboost - 72138 - Junkers Ju 88 undercarriagecoversQuickboost - 72190 - Junkers Ju 88G-6 VS 11wooden propellerQuickboost - 72287 - Junkers Ju 88G-6/Junkers Ju188A engine intake

REVELL 1/32 - Junkers Ju 88A-1 - Ref.04728

CIBERHOBBY/DRAGON/REVELL 1/48 - Ju 88A-4

ITALERI 1/72 - Junkers Ju 88A-4 - ref. 1287

HASEGAWA 1/72 - Junkers Ju 88G-6Nachtjager - Ref. E32

INTERIORSAires:These are the best resin sets available today for our cock-pits, having great detail and perfect fit. The set does alsoinclude a photo etched and an acetate sheet, quite usefulwhen doing the instrument panels or consoles.CMK:Not as good as the Aires set, but it covers many needsthat other manufacturers simply did not take intoaccount, as it is the case with this version of the kit asmanufactured by Revell. With this brand it is customaryhaving to invest some time removing mold residuewhich is quite intense in this case.Verlinden:The references of this brand are perhaps the ones withthe lesser quality, mostly because some of these arepretty old already. The photo etched pieces included arealso inferior to the ones we’ve reviewed previously.However, the resin material employed is pretty good andthe fitting is pretty good as well.Eduard:The photo etched pieces from this Czech brand help usimprove detailing on the kits’ cockpit. These are easy tocome by and are affordable. The strong point in these isthe combination between the photo etched and acetatesheets created to improve the dials on the console.LANDING GEAR PITSAires: This is the only brand that manufactures this featureonly in resin and then only in the 1/48 scale. These areincluded in the reference along with the motors. Eduard:This brand usually includes pieces to improve those ofthe kit or replacing them altogether. These are great helpwhen detailing these highly detailed areas.

EXTERIOR DETAILING SETSCMK:We believe that the Czech brand offers the best resinoption for detailing the outside of the Ju88. We haveseveral references that reproduce the fuel tanks, controlareas, weapon fastenings, etc. This kind of set is exce-llent for detailing opened panels that would otherwisehave to remain shut.Eduard:Eduard has specific photo etched sheets for the outsideof the plane in all three scales. These are very usefulwhen recreating real thin pieces that the kit does notinclude or includes; but out of proportion. You have tobear in mind that we are not interested in applyingeverything, because these sheets include pieces whichare not flat in real life.The masking sheets of this manufacturer deserve specialmention. These are made in pretty much the same mate-rial employed in manufacturing Tamiya’s masking tape.These are specially useful for the Ju88 and will save us alot of time.OTHER DETAILSAires:Other than what we’ve said before, this manufacturerdoes also have references in all the three scales whichwill help us get other pieces which are also important.Such is the case of the 1/32 scale wheels and the referen-ces of the Mistel in 1/72. The quality standards of all the-se are pretty high.CMK:As we’ve seen earlier, CMK has some sets to improvesmall pieces and in some instances we can find these onreferences of greater size.FALCON:This manufacturer sells transparent vacuformed domes in1/72 and 1/48 scales. These pieces can be useful whenthe original ones have suffered some kind of harm.

MASTER MODELThis Polish brand manufactures metal rods. Other thanmachine gun shafts the brand offers some references in allscales specially recommended for those that want to por-tray the nocturnal versions of the Ju88. We are thinkingspecifically about the FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN 2 Germanradar.Quickboost:This brand manufactures a broad resin piece cataloguerange with pieces to improve the Ju88 in all three scales.The main advantage offered by the brand is the simplicityof the pieces that can stand comparison with the bestfrom other manufacturers. True Detail:Known for their resin wheel sets, this brand also has refe-rences in 1/48 and 1/72 for this plane with the usual qua-lity standards.DECALSAuthentic Decals:The brand offers decal sheets for the main versions of theJu88 in 1/72 scale. These have a medium quality, but theyhave some original designs in these.Aims Decals:In this special we’ve used the decals offered by this brand.Theirs’ are similar to those offered by other makers, but itbroadens the offer with different versions in 1/48 scale.Airdoc:Also available in both scales, this German manufactureroffers a scope of designs that ranges from the usual onesto the lesser known ones. Overall quality is also superiorto that offered by other brands.Begemot:The references available are in the 1/72 scale and are notof a high quality, but their wide range of designs is per-haps the best. Techmod: This brand manufactures decals for all three scales, but thedesigns offered are very similar and not very original.

ACCESORIES

38

M. Labora

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Junkers Ju 88 A-4, Gerbini (Sicilia)1942

EditorRodrigo Hernández CabosTechnical Staff Javier Lopez de Anca,Rodrigo Hernández Cabos.Coordinating chiefMarisó ChacónPhotographyFernando Cañellas PlanchueloJavier Lopez de AncaDesign and Lay-outKommad publicidad s.l.Acción Press, S.A.

Printed by:ATIG Artes GráficasFilmsetting: ACCIÓN PRESS, S.A.J. David Hernández ChacónRedaction, Techincal staff, Administration andPublicityACCION PRESS, S.A.c/Ezequiel Solana, 16 - 28017 MadridTelf.: 914 086 135 y 913 675 708 - Fax: 914 085 841accionpress@euromodelismo.comeuromodelismo@euromodelismo.com

Orders at:Marisó ChacónTel.: 913 675 708suscripciones@euromodelismo.comAdvertisements:ACCION PRESS, S.A.Tel.: 913 675 708 - 692 203 968 fernandoc@euromodelismo.comPublished by: ACCION PRESS, S.A.Legal Deposit; XXXXXXXXXX

Color chart and materials employed: ..............2-3

Detailed assembly: ........................................4-15

Paint treatments: ..........................................16-27

Top, front and side views:..............................28-33

Color profiles: ..............................................34-35

Choosing Products: ......................................36-38

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any forms or by any means without the permission from the publisher.

MODEL LABORATORY doesn't expressly line up with the opinions of the collaborators.

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