Jump to content

1/72 - Junkers Ju-87D Stuka by Special Hobby (plastic Academy) - Ju-87D-3/D-5 & N/D-8 released


Homebee

Recommended Posts

Special Hobby is to release in 2022 a 1/72nd Junkers Ju-87D-5 Stuka kit based on the Academy Ju87G-2 kit.

Source: https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=77712&start=7020#p2450454

 

Quote

Abych utnul spekulace, bude to opravdu Junkers Ju 87D-5. Stuka bude připravena na základu modelu Ju87G-2 firmy Academy. Plánujeme značné upravy, např. příď, v modelu Academy oddělená a krátká, bude nahrazena zcela znovou, stejně jako nemodelové malé kryty kol. Budou doplněny závěsníky pod trupem a pod křídlem. Mimochodem Ju 87G od Academy je zajímavý model. Podle mne jej kdosi připravil tak, že z něj plánoval verze Ju87B až G. Ten model to umožňuje za použití alternativních dílů. Zatím pŕipravujeme verzi D-5 s kamuflážemi maďarského, rumunského, slovenského a bulharského letectva.

Googled:

To curb speculation, it will really be a Junkers Ju 87D-5. Stuka will be prepared on the basis of the Ju87G-2 model from the Academy company. We are planning significant modifications, such as the bow, in the Academy model separate and short, will be replaced completely completely, as well as non-model small wheel covers. They will be supplemented by hangers under the fuselage and under the wing. By the way, the Ju 87G from Academy is an interesting model. In my opinion, someone prepared it by planning versions of the Ju87B to G. It allows this to be used using alternative parts. So far, we are preparing a version of the D-5 with camouflage of the Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak and Bulgarian air forces.

 

V.P.

 

Matt-Memory2.jpg

Edited by Homebee
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still we do not know exactly, if the Academy of Fujimi shapes are correct. There was a thread on the Stuka nose once in WW2 section of BM and a volunteer who will measure the Ju-87 nose length in museum (Hendon) was desperately needed... :)

Regards

J-W

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, Peter.

However it's difficult (for me at least) to take seriously the author and publisher of a book - which has been consulted and checked many times before going to print - who releases such accounting errors as the wingspan of the standard versions A/B/R/D-3/G-1 in the 72nd scale given equal to 154.2 mm.

An average 10-year-old child will notice that 2/3 out of 287 is definitely more than 154, or even more than 154.2.

The correct dimension should be 191.7 mm.

Shame on you, messrs Valiant Wings :fraidnot:

Cheers

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/24/2021 at 9:56 PM, Piotr Mikolajski said:

Replacing nose with the longer one (like in Fujimi) was criticized by modellers because Academy has correct engine area. So some of the announced modifications can be changed by SH.

As someone else said, we really need someone to go to Hendon with good measuring devices and go over their airframe.  I am of the school that Fujimi and Italeri are "right", or at least closer to it, and Academy is very wrong.  I personally am convinced, based on my own attempts to measure out the length from the best profile photographs of Bs and Ds that I had to hand, that the D nose is significantly longer than the B nose.  I think things up front were moved around to address balance issues introduced, in part, by pulling radiators off the engine and installing them aft of the wing's center of lift.  While I was never able to get a measurement I would want to post as "a hill to die on", I was also never able to get the lengths I was arriving at for a D/G to even the same neighborhood as those I could get for a B, even if I could get the length of the exhausts to roughly match up - which they should, as the engine was the same!

 

These two aircraft do not look alike:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/22317059199/in/photolist-A15LbK-AfhTt9-AfhSPJ-zkGeJ8-zkGcx4-BXED8Q-LdZXM3-Ags1vY-Aizo1V-zZZczo-zZZbFQ-A15X5Z-AgpvDU-A1132S-AfhNC7-zZYCRN-nyffpQ-cyivrY-cyivoG-cyivkb-cyivh7-cyiveS-cyivdE-cyiv97-cyiv5f-cyiv3U-cyiv2S-cyiuXo-cyiuSo-zkGaxH-qSVEYr-rPHzBa-oYSMPb-kyPwbN-kyMKep-hFBZGK-hyTMju-hyT54L-hySDD2-hi6iVL-cyiuML-cyiuLq-cyiuHW-cyiuEC-cyiuzA-cyiuvW-cyiutJ-cyiusE-cyium9-cyiujs

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-378-0037-16A%2C_Reichsgebiet%2C_Wartung_Ju_87.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, JWM said:

Still we do not know exactly, if the Academy of Fujimi shapes are correct.

 

I don't know which one is "correct", but I know which one, when built, looks more like photos of real Ju87D/G.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, LanceB said:

While I was never able to get a measurement I would want to post as "a hill to die on"

 

Valiant Wings shows pages from German instructions where you have the total length given - for B/R and for D/G it is the same. I specifically highlighted the length in red on both manuals.

 

Valiant-Ju-87-088-Dimensions-2.png

 

I don't know how it is - the official operating manuals are treated as a valuable source of information, but when it comes to discussing the length of the Ju 87, suddenly the same manuals are no longer reliable. 

 

Is anyone really going to seriously claim that the Luftwaffe did not know the exact dimensions of one of its basic aircraft and wrote something imaginary into the manual?

 

I think it is high time this nonsense came to an end.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, LanceB said:

I don't know which one is "correct", but I know which one, when built, looks more like photos of real Ju87D/G.

 

Definitely a "variety" of lengths when it comes to the Stuka kits out there.  Academy's and Italeri's fuselages are more narrow than the Fujimi kit, Academy's more so.  It is a more easy task to take the Italeri nose, widen it and then fit to the Fujimi kit.

 

Although not a D or G variant, Zvezda's Ju 87B looks quite good, particularly the tail section.  Not sure if it is 100% correct, but to my eye of all the Stuka kits out there, I like it the most.  I picked up a few extra with the intent to modify them to the later D variants.  My stumbling block at the moment is fitting a later type canopy.

 

I will be interested to see what Special Hobby does with the Academy kit though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From the photos, I cannot see any difference in the nose lengths between the B and the D.  Split in into segments: spinner to start of exhausts.  Length of exhausts (same engine, remember)  Distance from exhausts to bulkhead,  So no significant change visible anywhere, which is entirely consistent with the official dimensions.  When it comes to the models. this "difference" is smeared out over the whole length so it is difficult to make comparisons.

 

It is fair to say that official documents do not always match the engineering changes, though exceptions are fairly rare, The Defiant Mk.II comes to mind, which has a longer gearbox and hence engine and hence nose, which is missed in the manual.  But if there is a difference in dimension then there does need to be some significant engineering change.

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

From the photos, I cannot see any difference in the nose lengths between the B and the D.  Split in into segments: spinner to start of exhausts.  Length of exhausts (same engine, remember)  Distance from exhausts to bulkhead,  So significant change visible anywhere, which is entirely consistent with the official dimensions.  When it comes to the models. this "difference" is smeared out over the whole length so it is difficult to make comparisons.

 

It is fair to say that official documents do not always match the engineering changes, though exceptions are fairly rare, The Defiant Mk.II comes to mind, which has a longer gearbox and hence engine and hence nose, which is missed in the manual.  But if there is a difference in dimension then there does need to be some significant engineering change.

.

Well Graham, perhaps something more has been removed from that D than from the B when the nose panels were taken off, but when I look at the front of the engine above the exhaust "trough", I see air between the engine and the ring the cowl panels should attach to (not the spinner backplate, the vertical bit of airframe behind that, so spinner backplate - gap (air) - vertical frame - gap (air) - engine.

 

I agree that, normally, if you have an official manual and it says Bs and Ds were both 11 meters then they were both 11 meters and it becomes a simple task of "which kit scales out to 11 meters when assembled".  This should be a straightforward question.  However, based on discussions when the Academy kit came out about it being "short" in the nose, and my own personal opinion that, when the bits are taped together, the Academy looks "off", I tried the following (and this was a long time ago, so I don't remember the numbers I arrived at, just the general results):

I took several photos I had of Ds and Gs I had to hand, the best straight-on profile pics I could find, measured the length of the exhausts and then the length of the cowl along a line drawn across the top of the exhausts, from the break at the firewall to the end of the cowl where it met the spinner.  I used this to form a ratio, so if the exhausts were 20mm and the cowl as measured along that line was 50mm, the exhausts would be 40% of the length or the cowl would be 250% of the length of the exhausts.  I did this with multiple photos and, while the ratio wobbled a bit it was reasonably consistent.  Again, these are not any actual measurements, just random numbers to show how I calculated.

 

I tried the same with photos of Bs, and again, while the ratio across the various photos of Bs wobbled, it was again reasonably consistent across the photos.

 

But it was a different ratio that I was getting from the D/G photos.  Exhausts represented a lower percentage of the total length of the cowl, which would suggest if the length across the exhausts was similar between the B and D than the overall length of the cowling was different between the two types, with the D/G being the longer of the two.

 

I did this same measurement procedure to Italeri, Fujimi and Academy bits, trying my best to measure kit bits from the same point as I have measured using photos, again to calculate a ratio of exhausts to overall length.  As far as proportional ratios went, I recall Italeri being the closest to the range I was getting from photos, Fujimi 2nd (possibly proportionally long?) and Academy 3rd (proportionally short).  When I tried getting an actual scale measurement in millimeters (e.g. "exhausts in photo are 20mm, exhausts in this kit are 15mm, so multiply overall cowl length from photo by 0.75, and if cowl in photo is 50mm kit cowl should be around 37.5mm") things started to go pear-shaped for some reason, and I was getting results that didn't match actual measurements of any of the cowls very well.

 

Or at least, not well enough that I felt I could say with any confidence that "Kit A is correct based on photos, and kit B is badly wrong".  Which was frustrating, as the plastic bits are very obviously different.

 

FWIW, YMMV and all that, but my personal, subjective takeaway was that Italeri was probably proportionally more correct lengthwise, Academy was probably least proportionally correct lengthwise, Italeri and Fujimi looked the most similar in overall profile to photos of the real thing and Academy looked much less so,  especially in the nose but also the vertical tail and rudder is "off".

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've not had the Academy kit, but have been puzzling at the D from the aircraft dimensions quoted in different sources.  If there is a difference in length on the real aircraft, where is it?  Why should there be any difference?  If the engine is mounted in a different position, we should see it in the exhaust position.  We should see different engine bearers when the cowl is off - I don't have photos showing that, but I'll bet they are around. 

 

I have the strong impression that most criticism of the Academy kit has stemmed from familiarity with the earlier models, assisted probably by the quoted dimensions.  I'm old enough to remember that the Airfix Spitfire (JEJ) was highly accurate, that Hurricanes and Mustangs had beautifully faired cowlings too tight to fit a Merlin.  The Bf.109 G-6s and Ks looked just like late model G-6s.  (Which they do, but not in that way!)  That Stuka Ds were longer than Stuka Bs?

 

Switching to the overall length.  Which of the kits measure to 11m and which are longer?  Where is this difference in length found.? (Do they all have the same main fuselage?)  I admit to assuming that the earlier kits are to the generally published (overlong) length, so if Academy was shorter then it must be right.  Possibly it is wrong by being excessively too short?  

 

(I do have the Fujimi D and Italeri B, so I may dig them out to answer part of the question, but I don't think that would help much.)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Homebee changed the title to 1/72 - Junkers Ju-87D-5 Stuka (based on Academy Ju-87G kit) by Special Hobby - release January 2022

Unable to personally measure the Hendon 87G, I tried the reverse. Last week I popped into my two LHSs (thank you Exito and PJB Super-Hobby) and using their kindness I just measured all 1:72 Stuka kits they have. And the results are astonishing (at least to me).

If the latest Airfix 87B was engineered using a full size copy scanned by Lidar, the correct Ju87B fuselage length (MINUS propeller spinner) is 0.146 x 72 = 10.51m. The spinner itself is 0.008 x 72 = 0.58m deep, giving a total length of 11.09m. BTW the Fujimi instruction sheet specifies a length of 11.13m - much closer to 11.00m than to 11.50m.

And it's not the Fujimi vs Academy that are so different from each other - the Academy fuselage (a bit too short-nosed, really) measures 143mm, while the Fujimi shows 146mm - exactly the same as the Lidar-based Airfix masterpiece.

Kits that are really too long (perhaps based on the 11.50m length found in many sources) include Italeri and Hobby Boss (151mm) and - to a lesser extent - Revell which measures 149mm.

So both of my dear colleagues, you are probably right.

LanceB, saying the Fujimi kit looks better proportioned than the Academy kit.

And Graham Boak who finds no difference in nose length between the 87B and 87D.

Cheers

Michael

Edited by KRK4m
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

William Green's Warplanes of the Third Reich quotes the length of the B-1 at 36'5", and the D-1 at 37'8.75".

Given an inch at 25.4 mm, the real aircraft length difference would have been 38.735 cm, or 5.4mm in 1/72 scale.

Edited by Robertone139
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly: as said above and elsewhere, there are older publications (and even more recent ones) giving different lengths, but the German records of the type show them as the same.  Descriptions of the type contain no reasons why they should be different.  Photos show no visible difference in length other than a slightly more pointy spinner on the D. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Homebee changed the title to 1/72 - Junkers Ju-87D-5 Stuka (based on Academy Ju-87G kit) by Special Hobby - decals - release January 2022

Most welcome news, which make me wonder....

Will SH back-engineer this back-engineered mold.... uhm, forward (?)... to the Kanonenvogel?

 

My favourite version, except the part that 90% of the 'Kanonen-ing' was done by Rudel... which most of the markings on the built kits suggest.

Great potential to offer something new in this regard. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Homebee changed the title to 1/72 - Junkers Ju-87D-5 Stuka (based on Academy Ju-87G kit) by Special Hobby - decals+schemes+test build - release January 2022
3 hours ago, alt-92 said:

Icertainlyhopetheywillintroducesomemorespacesintheschemedescriptionswhenthekitinstructionsgotothepublisher...

 

Thespacesavedinprintingistransferredtothemodelshelves.

 

BTW, I see some improved interior parts too. This Hungarian one is starting to tempt me more and more.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...