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ICM Ju-88A-4, with AIMS cockpit, Vector engine + props, and more


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For my first WIP here, I'm doing the ICM Ju-88A-4 with a lot of aftermarket corrections.

 

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I will be doing a Finnish aircraft, JK-252. This was the only aircraft I could find clear evidence of without the forward-firing MGFF cannon in the gondola (which the kit lacks). Other Finnish-specific alterations will be the removal of the forward machine-gun and the dive brakes.

 

First up is the surgery for the AIMS cockpit correction.

 

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After some pilot holes and work with the razor saw, I had the front portion of the underside fuselage off relatively cleanly.

 

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Test fit seems OK

 

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I also cut off the front of the removed section for re-use

 

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To compensate for the raised cockpit floor, it is necessary to shorten the seat supports

 

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Here is the initial layout planning. The AIMS correction fits well into the nose of the aircraft, but it would have been nice if the kit came with a bit more guidance on how the other components were supposed to fit inside the cockpit. There's not quite enough room in front of the seat for the control column, and the rudder pedal placement is very vague as well.

 

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On the underside, I used CA glue + talc to fill the seam between the palstic and resin sections, as well as some unnecessary panel lines, and sanded it smooth

 

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More layout planning, along with some Eduard photoetch

 

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Here is where we stand after adding the Eduard pre-painted interior photoetch, and installing most of the cockpit components. A few of the control levers flew off the tweezers into the great void of despair, but I got most of them on.

 

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The fuselage of my kit was warped, and formed a peak at the seam rather than a flat join; clamping was necessary to get the fuselage in the right profile.

 

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I also made a spacer out of some plastic rod to help the fuselage more accurately join with the bottom wing part that the cockpit is attached to.

 

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Wings attached. There are some medium gaps and clean-up to take care of, but nothing impossible.

 

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I test fitted the canopy, and I'm concerned that the rear/engineer's seat is still a bit too high, I don't know if there is enough clearance between the top of the seat and the canopy blister above. I might have to cut off the head-rest and shorten the legs and re-attach.

 

Also, I need to add a reflector sight in front of the pilot. Most of the Finnish Ju-88's had a fixed cannon for strafing, and as far as I can tell most had the Stuvi dive-bomb sight as well. I don't have another kit I can steal a sight from; my options seem to be making my own rough approximation out of plastic card and acetate film, or getting an aftermarket Revi sight and posing it as a Stuvi. Any suggestions?

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Nice work so far.

 

It's a shame ICM got the 'pit and the engine nacelle ducting wrong... All they had to do was look at Revell's '32nd or '72nd kits to see how they should have looked.

 

I see Revell are boxing this kit, I think they need to bite the bullet and tool their own 1/48 Ju 88. 

 

Anyway, with all the extra bits you've got it should look excellent when you finish..

 

Matt

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Next major steps was cutting up the kit engine parts and replacing them with the Vector resin.

 

Cutting up the kit parts. The kit comes with a seperate sprue with the older A-5 nacelles without the radiator(?) on the bottom. I used these because they were easier to cut straight without the underside bulge.

 

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Kit rear nacelles and gear bays attached to the wing, and then mated with the resin baseplate for the nacelles:

 

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Full nacelles installed

 

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Head-on view showing the improved hollow intake ducts:

 

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Does anyone know how I should paint the wells that the radiator/cowl flaps fit over? RLM 2? I haven't decided if I'm going to pose mine open or not, but jut for planning it would be nice to know what color to use for these wells and the inside of the flaps.

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Hi

 

These look good! I shall try to make my own corrections, but the Vector stuff is always quality.

 

The site (http://www.ju88.net/) is an invaluable resource for Ju 88A colours as many shots of unrestored parts are presented. Something of note is the extensive use of a finish applied using electrolysis. This is used extensively on the interior and wheelbays etc. It imparts a see through green/yellow tint to the metal and is not often overpainted. It was particular to Junkers as far as I'm aware and is very robust, having protected many aircraft's structures while submerged for many years...

 

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Regarding the radiator flap interior. I would go for this electrolytic finish. Above is a photo of the Ju88A-1 engines after recovery and a bit of cleaning. You can see what looks like the metallic green hue inside the nearest engine.  

Matt

Edited by Mattlow
Fixed spelling
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/25/2017 at 5:50 AM, Mattlow said:

Regarding the radiator flap interior. I would go for this electrolytic finish. Above is a photo of the Ju88A-1 engines after recovery and a bit of cleaning. You can see what looks like the metallic green hue inside the nearest engine.  

Thanks, I will go with a particularly green hue of RLM02.

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Some progress:

 

Re-attached the severed nose piece from way back in step one

 

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Finished and installed the bombsight. Last peek at the cockpit before closing it up

 

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Some internal detailing for the gondola

 

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Brassin machine-guns, the kit barrels were a bit thick

 

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All closed up

 

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DF antenna

 

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Some nasty seam and scribing repair needed to be done after primer revealed some flaws. I also managed to snap one of the MG barrels; it is safe and sound and will be re-attached at the end of the build

 

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Nice work..

 

The actual finish would be best accomplished with a base of silver or aluminium followed by a transparent yellow/green coat (allowing the metallic to show through)... A green RLM02 may be enough, given the small area visible when the flaps are installed...

 

Matt

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Repainted German crosses on the underside:

 

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I have clear pictures showing these through the blue paint, but what about the other German markings, like the fuselage sides and top of the wings? I would assume that they were somehow covered, but I can't find enough high resolution images to see it.

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Radiator flaps installed and painted

 

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Started adding some decals, and roughly blocked off where the old German markings would have been with tape

 

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I then taped around these to create hard-edged masks, and after adding some random dark green I took the masks off and freehanded around the edges to blend them

 

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Did the same with the swastika on the tail

 

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Propellers painted and ready

 

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For the final signs of the aircraft's past German life, I masked off and painted the black crosses on the upper wings, before blending them in with the base RLM 70 color

 

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Resin tailwheel installed to replace the kit version

 

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Better view of exhausts + tire weathering

 

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Using the AIMS photoetch as a guide, I made my own entry ladder out of rod. I also assembled + painted the Eduard MG81Z and added it to the gondola hatch

 

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Gondola hatch installed

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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