Kagero TopDrawings #101 Junkers Ju.88G (9788366148642)

[Mike]

TopDrawings 101 Junkers Ju.88G (9788366148642)

Kagero Publishing via Casemate UK

 

 

The Junkers Ju.88 was a jack-of-all-trades aircraft in service with the German Luftwaffe during WWII, with its origins in the mid-30s and a steady trail of improvements to the airframe that kept it in service during the whole of WWII, although they were always casting around for replacements and ways to create a successor that would provide a quantum leap in performance and load-carrying capacity.  A search that was mostly fruitless and never achieved any particularly impressive improvements.  By the time the G-series came on the scene, the changes had been substantial, including a new, streamlined fuselage for the night fighter role that removed the gondola under the fuselage and made other changes to suit its new job.  Up until that time every variant had been based upon the original A-series fuselage, so this was considered a major change.  The engines were upgraded too, and the tail fin was enlarged for enhanced stability.  The reduced weight was countered somewhat by the addition of radar gear in the nose and fuselage, which varied through sub-variants, with the external differences quite marked in some.  It was a G-6 that famously landed in the UK in error, which gave the boffins their first look at the latest German radar equipment.  Oops!  The last G-series to see service was the G-7, which had high altitude engines and a new radar fitment, and some were fitted with the deadly Schräge Musik upward firing cannons that could devastate a bomber, the crew of which would have no clue what was happening until it was too late.

 

 

We have kits of many variants of the 88 in all major scales, with many manufacturers getting in on the act, as German subjects like the Ju.88 are always favourites with modellers, it seems.  The TopDrawings series majors on scale plans, which is the main thrust, but also includes a little background information, some pertinent profiles, and a separate A2 sheet printed on both sides with drawings in 1:32 and another slightly smaller sheet in 1:48 of sub-variants of the aircraft.

 

 

 

The book is written in English on the left of the page, with Polish on the right, which translates to top and bottom for the captions to the various drawings within.  The book itself is bound in a card cover and has 15 pages, and the rear cover devoted to additional colour profiles of two G-1s.  After the introduction the first half of the plans show the early G-1 and later G-6 variants in 1:72.  Following this are the colour profiles with four pages of profiles of G-1s & G-6s wearing some interesting and varied camo schemes with copious scribble pattern applied to some, with multiple layers visible on the airframe on the centre pages.  After the break there is another set of plans for various G-6 variants with some unusual noses and differing radar antennae in 1:72, showing the differences between the types and the head-on drawings plainly show the streamlined fuselage on this model.    Four pages at the rear indicate the differences between variants in grey on side profiles in 1:96, some of which are full, while others are partial in order to fit them all in.  Throughout the book, there are numerous smaller diagrams that show the fuselage behind the canopy where there were many variations of the access hatches across the main sub-variants.

 

 

 

Conclusion

These books are essential for the modeller that enjoys comparing their models against scale plans, and wants them to be as accurate as possible, with the separate large-scale plans quite useful, especially if you model in 1:32 or have a stain on the wall that could be hidden by posting the plans over it to enjoy.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Mick4350]

strange armoured vehicle

[Mike]

3 minutes ago, Mick4350 said:

strange armoured vehicle

Brain fart moment Fixed