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Italeri 1/72 Ju-87 B2 Stuka - A Teutonic Minotaur!


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This was my contribution to the recent MTO GB Italeri's Stuka which operated in Crete, May 1941 . The GB had a good turnout and as ever, produced a wealth of excellent builds across all subject matters and scales.

 

The Stuka certainly is a distinctively brutish and menacing looking aircraft, with its gull wing configuration and gaping intake. Particularly with the hard lined splinter camo scheme. Build thread is here: Stuka Build

 

Accuracy wise, the bomb site aperture being forward of the bomb cradle is in the wrong place. The location of some of the panel lines is well iffy, and I suspect if you compared it to plans and other reference sources you would find countless other niggles. I wasn’t too bothered about those things mind.

 

There are two issues for me with the kit though. The first is the canopy. It is thin and fits well, but the frame markings are incorrect (I mean woefully incorrect), and the framing thickness is more in keeping with 1/32 as opposed to 1/72. You will see what I mean if you check out the build thread. I ended up sanding it off. The alternatives are either living with it or source a vac-form replacement.

 

My other niggle is the lack of detail in the cockpit. The pilot seat and IP are okay, but with exception of a few blobby bits of plastic it is an empty void. I ended up adding quite a lot of detail to the pit as quite a lot is on display. I believe there are aftermarket upgrades available. Again this may not bother some folk so the choice is yours.

 

That said it is an enjoyable build which goes together quite nicely with the exception of a small step in the wing root – but is not much of a problem to fix. The decals are excellent going down very well. The swastika is from the Xtradecal sheet. Paints used were Humbrol enamels for the yellow and interior green. The main camo colours and underside were Mr Hobby acrylics which I must say are very nice. Weathered using pastels and finished off with Alclad matte klear kote varnish.

 

Anyroad here it is warts and all. Thanks for looking.

 

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Beautiful built Stuka!

But if you allow me, the interior of a German aircraft was NEVER painted interior green!

In the early years of the Luftwaffe all interior parts, including cockpit, wheel wells and so on

were painted RLM 02, which is a light grey with a greenish shade.

Later, in the years 1941, 1942 and so on, they were painted RLM 66 which is a dark grey,

(in German the name is "Schwarzgrau", that means black grey).

Interior green, with different shades or hues, of course is only for British and American aircraft.

Nevertheless your model looks really great and deserves a :clap2:.

Kind regards. Polo.

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Your work on the canopy makes a world of difference on this kit. Beautifully done!!!

The rest of the kit is just great looking.

 

Congrats!

JR

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WOW!!  Awesome build and excellent  paint work. That is one of my favorites and you made her look super!!

                                          Thank you for sharing. Best regards, Steve :)

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That's terrific. I know this is oft used but, honestly, until I went back and read your write-up I presumed I was looking at 1/48. Excellent cockpit work. Now I need to check out that WIP thread!

ATB
Rick

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Thanks very much for your compliments gents. As I say, it does have its shortcomings, but goes together well.

 

 

On ‎1‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 4:54 PM, polo1112 said:

Beautiful built Stuka!

But if you allow me, the interior of a German aircraft was NEVER painted interior green!

In the early years of the Luftwaffe all interior parts, including cockpit, wheel wells and so on

were painted RLM 02, which is a light grey with a greenish shade.

Later, in the years 1941, 1942 and so on, they were painted RLM 66 which is a dark grey,

(in German the name is "Schwarzgrau", that means black grey).

Interior green, with different shades or hues, of course is only for British and American aircraft.

Nevertheless your model looks really great and deserves a :clap2:.

Kind regards. Polo.

 

I used Humbrol 120 for the interior which is a pale green, although not light years away from HU 78. This was the translation from the kit instructions, although the paint call-offs were a bit iffy. I did do some research and some references do bare out what you say - RLM 66, so food for thought next time.

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OK.  Humbrol 120 is called "matt light green" and Humbrol 78 is "matt cockpit green".

You can notice that both colours are called "GREEN".

But the RLM 02 which applies to an early model of Stuka (in your case a Ju-87 B ) is in no way a green colour.

It is a light grey with a greenish hue (or shade).

The RLM 02 came in combination for instance in the camouflage colours of the Messerschmitt Bf-109 E engaged in the Battle of Britain, together with

the dark green (dunkel grün) which was RLM 71. (full camouflage description is RLM 02 and RLM 71 for the upper surfaces and RLM 65 leicht blau (light blue) for the lower surfaces.

I think it's far better not to follow the colours calls out from the kit producers and get one's personal references, which you can find a lot of them on the Internet for instance.

All the best to you.

Cheers. Polo.

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No warts there. That is a really well turned out model with just a few extras in the cockpit! I am reminded of the original Airfix offering of the same model which I remember building many years ago...... no comparison!!

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