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Junkers Ju.88C-6 (48238) 1:48


Mike

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Junkers Ju.88C-6 (48238)

1:48 ICM

 

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The Ju-88 was designed as a schnellbomber in the mid 30s, and at the time it was faster than current fighter designs, so it was projected that it could infiltrate, bomb and escape without being intercepted.  That was the theory anyway.  By the time WWII began in the west, fighters had caught up with the previously untouchable speed of the 88, and it needed escorts to protect it from its Merlin equipped opponents.  It turned out to be a jack of all trades however, and was as competent as a night fighter, dive bomber or doing reconnaissance as it was bombing Britain.  They even popped a big gun on the nose and sent it against tanks and bombers, with variable success.

 

The C series aircraft were supposed to be primarily heavily armed fighters or ground attack, fitted with a collection of extra guns in a metal nose.  Once Allied bombers started popping up over Germany however, they were quickly retasked with nightfighter duties, in which they found their ultimate role.  The specification retained the gondola under the nose, but this was often removed in the field to reduce weight and increase top speed, all of which gave them an edge over an unmodified airframe.  After design was completed, the C-4 was the first to enter production, with 120 made, split between new builds and conversions of the A-5 on which they were based.  With the solid nose the C-6 took over from the C-4, and 900 were made until it too was superseded.

 

 

The Kit

This is another minor retool of ICM's new line of Ju.88s, and they seem intent on providing us with all the variants we could ever need, which has got to be good news.  This one uses the earlier Ju.88A-11 as a base, which we reviewed here, using seven of its sprues plus the main clear sprue, and adding two new sprues, with an additional canopy sprue to give us the C-6 Nightfighter.  In case you don't feel like doing the calculations for yourself that's nine sprues of grey styrene, two of clear, a sheet of decals and a glossy instruction booklet.  As you can probably imagine, there will be a number of parts left in the box after you have completed your model, and these are marked out in red on the map inside the front cover.

 

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New Sprues

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The major differences centre around the solid nose, exhaust flame hiders, and inside there is a difference in the seating layout due to it not having a bomb aimer, and there is a gunsight mounted on the instrument panel for obvious reasons (those pointy things that go bang!).  In the nose are a set of ammo boxes to feed the guns, while the wings and tail are identical for our purposes, as is the landing gear.  The gondola under the cockpit is repurposed as a gun pack in the C-6, with slight changes to the housing parts, and an insert for the two guns, while the glazing is still used.  The rear of the gondola has a zwilling (twin) mount machine gun, with the glazing in the front present as well.

 

ICM provide two inline Jumo 211J engines, which have plenty of detail moulded in and just need a bit of wiring to complete them if you plan to show them off.  They are installed in the nacelles against a firewall, with separate cowling panels to allow you to display the engine and pose the cooling flaps open or closed.  A set of optional flame hiders are provided to cover up the exhaust stubs, which are used on one of the decal options (the winter distemper covered example).

 

Now we get to the nose.  There are three solid nose cones on the new sprues, so take care when selecting which one to use, as the other two have mounts for the "whiskers" carried by nightfighter marks.  There are four guns in the nose, but only the bottom one is depicted fully, which has a breech cut from the provided parts glued inside the nose.  All the muzzles are separate sections that are glued from the outside, and they don't have hollow muzzles, partly due to their small size.  The new canopy has no mounting for the forward firing machine gun of previous versions, and this is then joined with the two part aft glazing, which has a pair of bulged mounts for more machine guns, so is moulded in two parts.  Using a non-melting glue such as GS-Hypo cement will save you from any canopy fogging due to glue being absorbed into the clear parts.

 

 

Markings

There are four decal options in the box, and a separate page deals with the stencils common to them all.  The decals have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas, and instrument panel decals in the middle of the sheet.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

  1. Junkers Ju-88C-6, 11./ZG 26, Mediterranean, Summer 1943
  2. Junkers Ju-88C-6, 11./ZG 26, Mediterranean, Summer 1943
  3. Junkers Ju-88C-6, 13./KG 40, Lorient, France, Nov 1943
  4. Junkers Ju-88C-6, 4./KG 76, Taganrog, Russia, Autumn 1942

 

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Conclusion

Another smashing boxing of this long-lived and successful aircraft that was a true multi-role aircraft.  Detail and ease of construction is there, along with a selection of different markings that should please a lot of people.

 

Highly recommended.

 

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Review sample courtesy of

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  • 4 months later...

Look good but still I have the Dragon one.

But I will have another boxing for my BoB serie !

Thank for the review Mike !

 

 

7 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

It also has the parts for the C-6b night fighter, something good, considering it may be sold out once I go to Europe.

Don't you worry, ICM kits are available for a while !!

Sincerely

CC

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