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Junkers Ju 88 G-6c with AIMS conversion***FINISHED***


PeterB

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Both my crude Ju 88 G conversion from the old Airfix A-4 and the Revell C-6 having been scrapped, I decided I needed a good kit of the G. I was thinking Hasegawa but they were ruddy expensive and I had seen good reports of the later Zvezda kits so I decided to give it a go. I saved enough to get the AIMS conversion set as well and this will be my main project for this GB.

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The kit was issued in 2006 I believe. The kit engine nacelles are apparently too short so I will be fitting longer replacements.

 

Pete

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  • 3 weeks later...

As my Ju-188 build is progressing fairly well I thought I could make a start on this. Here are the sprues etc.

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It is a relatively simple kit which cost me £19.99 in January 2019, and the AIMS conversion set cost another £15 including postage - incidentally I was sorry to hear of John Mcillmurray from AIMS medical problems a few months ago - I gather his hands are wrecked and he is in a lot of pain so no doubt has had to stop his work - very sad! He seemed like a nice chap when I had dealings with him by email at the time - I can't help thinking of his namesake at Aeroclub.

 

The detail is quite nice and it was a lot cheaper than the equivalent Hasegawa kit, and given my age I prefer simple kits with not too many small parts these days. Of course there must be accuracy problems given that John brought out a conversion set - I was expecting the new longer engines and corrected tail, but it also includes exhausts, a seat, spinner and a new nose, none of which were actually mentioned in the very brief instructions. He also pointed out some errors in the decal sheet, speaking of which Zvezda provide 3 options but no info and the paint callout is for their own brand together with some rather "vague" Humbrol equivalents. Unlike some manufacturers they have not gone for well known machines such as those flown by "Aces", and they seem to be from 3/NJG101, 2/NJG100 and the Stab of I/NJG4 in that order from top to bottom.

 

More as and when.

 

Pete

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  • 1 month later...

After some delay whilst I finished off my entries for another GB, this one is now started. The AIMS conversion comes with new engine nacelles and a new vertical tail, so I have prepared the latter. Here it is compared with the kit one, which is in front.

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As you can see it is bigger both in height and width - I have cropped the bottom of the rudder to clear the tail mounted aerial. I happened to have a "Quickboost" replacement tail for this kit in my stash and was going to use it but when I compared them I found that the AIMS one had a broader chord rudder.

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As you can see I have not cropped the rudder yet and I am not sure which is actually correct. If I use the AIMS one I will apparently need to add a sliver of card to make the rear fuselage a bit wider or so the instructions say, and the Quickboost one does have a tab which will make it easier to secure.

 

Then we come to engine nacelles.

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I have two potential problems with this. Firstly, unlike my late father who was very good with a saw, I am rubbish - I guess he had proper woodworking lessons at school whereas mine were something of a farce, thrown in perhaps to tick a box on the curriculum and not taken seriously by a school whose aim over the previous 300 or so years was to get students into "Oxbridge" studying classics - the "science" facilities were a bit of a joke! Getting a true mating face after cutting off the moulding block will be fun. The other problem is that it is intended to glue on to the ring on the wing formed by the rear nacelles so there will be very little contact surface for the glue. I think I am either going to have to fill in the face of the nacelle on the wing with card or filler to get a larger surface, or maybe not cut all of the mounting block off but file it down to make a "plug" of sorts. Anybody got any info or suggestions on how they did this or something similar themselves? An alternative would I guess be to cut circles of card to put on the rear of the resin to form a plug, which might give a better result.

 

Pete

 

Later.

 

Actually for me that did not turn out to bad!

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Unfortunately I can now see that the resin nacelles are not exactly circular so I see a bit of filling and filing ahead!

Edited by PeterB
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3 hours ago, vppelt68 said:

I can only offer you my appreciation and admiration for this project, but unfortunately I can't help you with dealing with the resin. That's completely unknown material to me, and as such I shall let it remain too! V-P

Thanks for that.

 

It may not be quite as difficult as I though as I will explain below.

 

I made a start by gluing together the inner wing halves, adding the "mounting plate" for the u/c and then the 3 parts that make up each leg, and ended up with this.

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I had not appreciated that the bulkhead that is the front part of the mounting plate was quite so far forward, and perhaps John at AIMS missed that as well. He just says to remove the "lip" from the front of the various wing nacelle parts that would have located the kit front cowling parts, but having done that I realised that the bulkhead was then sticking out and would mess up the fit of the replacement parts. I therefore attacked it with 600 grit sandpaper and quickly removed the best part of 1mm and now it seems to be fairly flush - might need a little more work when the rest of the nacelles are on. With luck I can just fill in the gap above the bulkhead and the resin parts may go on fairly easily (or not)! One good thing about 2 part epoxy Araldite is that it fills up gaps pretty well, and if you remove the excess with a tissue soaked in meths before it dries it reduces the need for sanding.

 

Anyway, the next stage is painting the interior of the wheel bay and the legs in RLM 02 - not Hu 155 Olive Drab as the instructions suggest for both this and the cockpit interior - I will do the latter mostly in RLM 66. Incidentally the rather odd looking alignment of the u/c and mount is deliberate - it is engineered to take into account the not inconsiderable dihedral on the wing of the Ju 88 family.

 

So far the parts are well engineered and a decent fit, though one or two of the instructions are a little ambiguous, such as the placement of the short angled strut that goes between the top of the front wheel leg and the rear support - I think it may represent in a somewhat simplified form the "jack" that caused the leg to swivel through 90o so that the wheel lay flat when retracted. The u/c is far more detailed than the old Airfix kit but a sensible compromise between total accuracy and practicality.

 

So far so good.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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I almost pulled my Zvezda G-6 out of the stash as its been a bit quiet around here, but looking at the number of GBs I’ve signed up for early in the new year decided against it.  Watching this one with interest though.

 

AW

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Nacelles on and I have added a piece of card to the front to make a better support for the resin cowlings - this may work.

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On the down side I have realised that one of the pairs of main wheel doors is missing - looking at my earlier sprue shot I can see it was not there so either it was never in the box or else I lost it years ago. Oh well, I will have to see what I can do about making a replacement - if all else fails I have a set from an old Revell Ju 88C-6 which will fit but will not look quite as good as the kit ones have quite a bit of detail.

 

Oh well, these things happen in modelling and it is not the most difficult part to replace - I may even be able to mould one in resin. We will see!

 

Pete

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Anyway, the engines are on.

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I will leave the Araldite to set overnight and then start filling and filing but they are not too bad.

 

 

 

Edited by PeterB
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I won't be fitting them just yet but I have glued the outer wings together.

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This raises a slight problem. The AIMS instructions say "Give a radius to the wing where it meets the aileron. Fill in the inserts for the kit actuators, which will need deleted as well". Now this particular machine is said to be a G-6, and all the plans I have show it with the actuator arms in place. They also show the quite long tab which many earlier versions do not seem to have had, though the kit ones may be a little too deep in terms of chord, so I am unsure if the AIMS instructions are correct and what exactly I am supposed to be giving a radius - I think I will leave the parts as they are, other than reducing the gap in front of the ailerons.

 

Speaking of the AIMS instructions they suggest replacing the wheels and I think I may do just that. The kit ones have nicely detailed hubs but no tread and look slightly big to me so I may use some Pavla ones I already have which are smaller, weighted and have tread.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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I managed to cast a replacement for the missing wheel doors.

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As the cheap car resin I use can be a bit brittle I made a couple of spares, but managed to cut the first one without any problems. The detail is all there but won't be visible till I get some paint on!.

 

One problem I have noticed with the instructions is that they fail to tell you to open out a couple of holes in the lower half of the Port outer wing - there are a couple of "T" shaped aerials to be fitted later! Fortunately I was able to work out approximately where they go so I have drilled them but it is something to note if you are going to build this kit in the future - I believe they are marked inside the wing but I did not notice them at the time.

 

Pete

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41 minutes ago, vppelt68 said:

Good save! The T-shaped aerials belong to the electric altimeter. Were they on a night fighter specific sprue? V-P

Sprue B which has the horizontal stabilisers, tail fin, props, wheel doors, crew, seats cockpit interior, nose, radar masts and aerials, underside gun mounting and so on so I guess it was night fighter bits mostly. However sprue A and B also have some night fighter bits on too such as the "Shrage Musik"/direction finder mounting on A and the upwards firing cannon and the shrouded exhausts on C and of course the glazing on sprue D. I gather that the A-4 and A-5 kits have sprue A but not B,C,and D as they are labelled E upwards depending on the model so those last 3 must all be G specific.

 

 

 

Pete

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31 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

That English language again.  We would say radio altimeter, but that's electric isn't it?  Is electric altimeter a closer translation of the German?

No idea what the Germans called it other than FuG 101 - searching for that on Wiki comes up with  " FuG 101: FM (Frequency Modulated) CW (Continuous Wave) Altimeter. Operating frequency 337 - 400 MHz." so I dare say I would call it a radio altimeter. However they also say elsewhere for FuG 101 "A radar altimeter (RA), also called a radio altimeter (RALT), electronic altimeter, reflection altimeter, or low-range radio altimeter (LRRA)," so take your pick it seems! Depends where you are and what language you use I guess.

 

Speaking of aerials, the way the kit FuG 220 radar aerials fit on to the masts with a "half lap" joint should make alignment easier but it seems I have to assemble them before fitting as part of the nose cone, which could cause problems with filling etc. Like the u/c and guns I prefer to leave them off until the end to reduce the risk of breakage but not it seems on this kit!

 

Pete

 

Later - The answer to your question Graham seems to be "Elektrischer Hohenmesser" so it seems V-P is right! 

Edited by PeterB
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Fu is short for Funk, which I gather is German for wireless or radio.  FuG 101 is Funk Gerat - radio equipment, but is generic for many devices including radar.

 

So in German (WW2 German) there is a specific name for the apparatus which includes "electric", and also designation which says "radio".   I think the English "radio altimeter" (or is it "radar altimeter"?) is normal/usual/correct use for English/American, but I can see why vvpelt68 used "electric".  Aren't languages wonderful?

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Yes they are, and I'm the first to admit I used the first term that popped into my mind. (But, now that I checked "Kampfflieger Zwischen Eismeer und Sahara. In Meinen Fall: Ju 88" by P.W. Stahl, at least on page 304 he does indeed write: "Wir hatten nämlich in unserem elektrischen Höhenmesser, dem FuG 101, eine Waffe von ganz besonderer Wirksamkeit".)

So whatever the official name was, a seasoned veteran pilot called it that 🙂

V-P 

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I have tidied up the joints as best I could and added the AIMS exhaust shrouds as they were a bit better shaped than the kit ones - they took a bit of getting off the pour blocks and I had to fill the slots provided for the kit ones but got there in the end. I may drill them out a little.

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I have added the outer wing sections - quite a good fit but will need a bit of work later, and then I will add the scissor links to the wheel legs - I left them off whilst I was fiddling about sanding etc. I will check the fit of the wheel doors but will leave them off until later on. So that is the wings close to finished and I will press on with the fuselage next. The AIMS spinners are a bit bigger than the kit ones and probably more accurate, but they are solid. That means that to use the props from the kit I will either have to hollow them out or else remove the individual blades and glue them into holes I have drilled, and frankly neither alternative appeals to me so I will use the kit ones, perhaps with a thin backing plate added to make them slightly longer/wider.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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The kit comes with a modestly detailed cockpit which I have now assembled. There is a dec for the IP but it is rather underwhelming, consisting of a series of short white horizontal dashes on a black background.

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Before gluing the fuselage halves together I opened out a couple of holes as per the instructions. The first is for the trailing aerial mast and the other for the D/F loop which seems to have been fitted to some but not all Ju 88G types. I am slightly puzzled by this as, like several other Luftwaffe types, is was fitted with the circular glazed window covering the so called “Pfeilgerät” which translates literally as “Arrow Device”. In one view I have seen a series of radial strips (contacts?) with what seems to be a rotating arm on top under the window and thought that this was a form of direction finding device which would perhaps make the old style loop redundant, but I have also seen it referred to as the aerial for a “EZ 6” device and EZ normally stands for “Einheitszielvorrichtung”, or Target Predictor Unit and is more commonly used on gun sights. I would be interested if anybody has any info on this gadget which may perhaps have been an early form of gyro inertial guidance system?

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The box art and painting instructions show a radio mast behind the cockpit but there is no mention of it in the instructions but research shows some did indeed have one, whilst others had a truncated stump and some nothing at all. I have opened up one of the part cut holes just in case I decide to add one, then glued the fuselage together and added the gun tray underneath and the piece which presumably replaces the glazing under the nose on other versions of their boxing. The hole left in the top will have the Pfielgerät and a pair of 20mm cannon for the “Shräge Musik” - literally “Oblique or Inclined Music” which I gather was a nickname for Jazz ( which I believe the Nazi regime considered a corrupt art form due to its association with people of colour who were considered “Untermenschen” i.e. "Subhuman" in their creed). Incidentally, there were a number of different installations of the Shräge Musik guns, including one in front of the other just behind the cockpit parallel to the centre line but either to Port or Starboard of it, a pair alongside each other just behind the cockpit, and what I gather was the factory fit as in this kit when the pair are further back just in front of the Pfeilgerät window.

 

So far this has proved to be a nicely engineered kit with good fit, and a decent amount of detail without going over the top like some modern kits I have built. Of course, if John at AIMS is correct as I suspect he is, then the vertical tail was much too small and the engine cowlings rather short, and both the spinners and the exhaust shrouds are not quite right. Just a little work needed on the fuselage joints and then on with the wings and horizontal tail - I will leave the vertical tail off until I have mounted the tail warning radar array as I may need to adjust the clearance. Incidentally, although all three options are shown with the low mounted tail array, John says that the last option should in fact have the alternative small version on top of the tail so I wont be building that and he also says that some of the the upper and underwing crosses are wrong which may be a problem - I will have to check my decal stock as I don't know if I have any black outline crosses. 

 

Pete

 

Edited by PeterB
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  • PeterB changed the title to Junkers Ju 88 G-6c with AIMS conversion.

Joints sorted and rescribed so I reluctantly decided to add the guns to the underbelly tray as it would be easier to sort out before the wings go on. Whilst everything else so far fitted well these were a problem.

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There were 4 MG 151/20 mounted in two pairs and Green says they angled down about 5o. Zvezda have provided them as two vertical pairs - the long and short barrels joined by a plastic strip at the rear, which I guess was intended to make the alignment a bit simpler than if they were four individual barrels. Unfortunately the holes in the front part were not clean and seem to have been a bit out of alignment. Once I had opened them up enough to get the barrels in, they were splayed out sideways instead of parallel with the fuselage centreline, and angled down at about 10so I had to do a bit of adjustment with a scalpel and rat-tailed file to end up with the above. Probably still angled a little too much but as close as I can get. At first sight the lower barrels seem rather long, but I have checked and the actual barrel length was 1104mm or about 15.3mm in scale, and these are 13mm so close enough. I have fitted the scissor links to the legs so time for the wings to go on.

 

Incidentally I have just noticed they forgot to tell you to open up the holes for the upward firing cannon - good job I have not fitted that part yet!

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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The wings and horizontal tail surfaces fitted well needing only a little filler. The top panel for the “Pfeilgerät” and “Shräge Musik” cannon needed a bit of work as rather that sitting on a ledge it is a "wedge" fit with angled sides. I had to adjust it slightly but it is not too bad. I left off the clear "window" for the moment as it fits from above and the hole makes it easier to handle the panel if it gets stuck, and avoids the risk of damage from glue etc.

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The Quickboost tail is just a push fit at the moment. Incidentally, I should perhaps have mentioned that as with the Ju 188 I built earlier, there were versions fitted with both BMW radial engines and the Junkers Jumo inlines though except for the exhausts they were fairly similar in appearance. The Jumo was perhaps preferred as it was slightly more powerful but the water cooling system was probably somewhat heavier to counterbalance that, but it was at times in short supply. AFAIK, there were 4 main production types of Ju 88G, the G1, G4, G6 and G7, though the latter was only just entering service when the war ended. The G6 was subdivided further into G6a, G6b and G6c and all the versions prior to the G6c had BMW engines, so as this kit has Jumos I guess it must be a G6c, hence the change of title - Zvezda make no mention of this. However Green says that with the G6c the upwards firing cannon had to be moved forward to just behind the cockpit due to centre of gravity considerations so maybe the kit is wrong in that respect?

 

Other than the change of engine, the differences between the various types were mainly a matter of armament and equipment fit. For example the G6b introduced the FuG 335 Naxos Z receiver which could pick up RAF bombers H2S at up to 30 miles and this was mounted in the bulge at the top of the canopy. The G7 had MW 50 boost fitted and on the G7b a slimmed down radar array was fitted, initially for the FuG 228 Lichtenstein SN 3, but as that was jammed they switched to the FuG 218 Neptun VR with a single pole Morgenstern aerial array. The G7c had and elongated nose cone containing the FuG 240 Berlin N-1a, the first operational German centimetric radar based on H2S cavity magnetrons recovered from shot down RAF bombers starting in February 1943 and entering service in Spring 1945 - it certainly took them long enough for whatever reason, which was perhaps lucky for the Allies! Just to confuse the issue I believe the Berlin radar was retro-fitted to some G6c as well

 

So time to degrease it and start painting I think.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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Washed and primed.

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The joints are not perfect but acceptable and I think I will use Xtracolour enamel for the RLM 76 - yes, it smells and can take up to 2 days to dry (time to work on my third build😄), but when it works it does give rather a nice finish, is usually good at covering any small imperfections, and is better to mottle over with acrylic paint. Incidentally, I read somewhere recently that it was a sort of reverse mottle used on these planes - a coat of RLM 75 over the upper surfaces and then 76 sprayed on leaving patches of 75 showing through rather than the other way round as I will be doing it! In fact, it seems some pilots kept the 75 intact on the upper wings, except perhaps with the tips and leading and trailing edges in 76, but I will stick with mottle.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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That has come out quite well.

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It is actually greyer in natural light. Once it is fully dry I will finish off the engine cowlings and exhausts etc ready for mottling. I am seriously worried about the radar aerials which are going to be very prone to damage so I am leaving them off as long as possible. The tail one in particular looks like it could be a s*d to fit as the mounting is inside the open end of the rear fuselage and it looks like positioning it will be a pain.

 

Pete

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