1/72 Ju-88-R with FuG 202

[stevesoutar]

Late to the party ....   Revell 1/72 Ju-88-C6 kit, with rotary BMW 801 motors which will be taken from the Italieri Ju-188 A1-E1 kit

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by stevesoutar
photo reposted

[stevesoutar]

BMW motors from the JU-188 -E1 sprues

 

 

No cooling fans in front of the cylinders ....   I will think about how much I care about fixing this detail ... 

 

They are quite noticable in this photo - I think this is a Ju-88-G1

 

[PeterB]

Hi Steve

 

Yes, I noticed the absence of cooling fans when I built my 188E earlier. Apparently Airwaves did a conversion set with them but I think it is no longer available and I noticed elsewhere somebody is thinking of making a copy of those in a Revell Ju 290 kit, but I did not bother.

 

Pete

[stevesoutar]

3 hours ago, PeterB said:

Hi Steve

 

Yes, I noticed the absence of cooling fans when I built my 188E earlier. Apparently Airwaves did a conversion set with them but I think it is no longer available and I noticed elsewhere somebody is thinking of making a copy of those in a Revell Ju 290 kit, but I did not bother.

 

Pete

Its a small detail, especially at 1/72nd scale, that I would not have noticed - and no-one looking at my models (apart from everyone online here) woould ever realise or care ....   

 

But now I do know, i'm trying to decide how much I care ...

 

I have just printed out a couple of fans onto plain printer paper, and two more on a sheet of glossy photographic paper, so I am going to have a go cutting them out witha scalpel & see if that will do the job well enough for me 

 

Image cropped from a 1/72 BMW 801 engine kit online (PE & resin) - I can't gring myself to pay another £15 for engines which will be mostly invisible once assembled - for a diorama with engines exposed maybe, in the future

 

this is a jpeg & have made - cooling fans cropped, and scaled to around 11mm diameter, which seems to fit nicely behind the spinner  (the circle between is 10mm, as a reference) 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

4 minutes ago, stevesoutar said:

Its a small detail, especially at 1/72nd scale, that I would not have noticed - and no-one looking at my models (apart from everyone online here) woould ever realise or care ....   

 

But now I do know, i'm trying to decide how much I care ...

 

I have just printed out a couple of fans onto plain printer paper, and two more on a sheet of glossy photographic paper, so I am going to have a go cutting them out witha scalpel & see if that will do the job well enough for me 

 

Image cropped from a 1/72 BMW 801 engine kit online (PE & resin) - I can't gring myself to pay another £15 for engines which will be mostly invisible once assembled - for a diorama with engines exposed maybe, in the future

 

this is a jpeg & have made - cooling fans cropped, and scaled to around 11mm diameter, which seems to fit nicely behind the spinner  (the circle between is 10mm, as a reference) 

 

 

A cunning plan indeed.

[Walter]

👍

[stevesoutar]

 

 

If anyone else want to make cooling fans for BMW 801 engines, this jpeg file should come out in the correct size for 1/72 if you download it & print it on an A4 sheet

 

 

Using a scalpel, I cut two fans out of a sheet of plain printer paper, it seems good enough for this scale. The fan goes behind the base of the prop spinner

 

 

Once the motor was assembled, I used fine forceps to put a twist on each of the blades

 

[stevesoutar]

Engine pods are completed. Hiding most of the nicely detailed 14 cylinder engines ... 

 

 

Next step is to cut the front off the Revell engine bay, ready to accept the BMW power egg. 

 

I also want to display this one with landing flaps down, and also some movement in the rudder, trim tabs and other control surfaces 

[Lanmi]

15 hours ago, stevesoutar said:

 

Using a scalpel, I cut two fans out of a sheet of plain printer paper, it seems good enough for this scale. The fan goes behind the base of the prop spinner

 

 

It looks convincing, be sure to soak it with varnish to avoid wrinkles over time. Nice save with those 188 engines, looking forward for further progress pictures. 

[stevesoutar]

2 hours ago, Lanmi said:

 

It looks convincing, be sure to soak it with varnish to avoid wrinkles over time. Nice save with those 188 engines, looking forward for further progress pictures. 

that sounds like a good tip - i hadn't considered that, I guess moisture could mess them up

 

thanks @Lanmi

[stevesoutar]

I haven't made a final decision on the colour scheme for this one yet - I have some good clear photos of R2s in dark green splinter finish, which may have been maritime R2s in some cases, as well as nightfighters  - and there are a handful of good colour photos from the one in Hendon museum as well, but i also found a couple of grainy monochrome shots of R2s with variations on the pale nightfighter schemes, with mottled camouflage around the cockpit & engine areas

 

Can anyone know if there is a list online of jagdgeschwader which operated the late Ju88-Cs or the R models, maybe with an indication of the unit codes as well?

 

I just found this resource, which lists all known unit codes - http://www.rlm.at/cont/archiv02_e.htm 

 

There are quite a few clear pictures of G series aircraft, less of the earlier C & R series.

 

(but I still haven't finished skimming all the photos in the books I have yet, either)

Edited January 11, 2023 by stevesoutar

[vppelt68]

Those fans turned out very nice indeed

[stevesoutar]

first bits of surgery this evening

 

liberating the landing flaps, and playing with my new razor saw (1st time using one)  

 

 

Same treatment for the ailerons (I can use putty to tidy up any roughness where the blade flexed a little)

 

 

Both wings done - landing flaps and ailerons can now be set however I want them. (marked Port & Starboard so I don't mix them up & run into problems fitting them later)

 

 

[stevesoutar]

Next I need to trim the undercarriage fairing at the rear, to allow the flap to come down.

(I have filed inside the wheel fairing to thin out the plastic to make it closer to the thickness of the aluminium on the original machine)

 

 

and also trim the front of the engine nacelle to take the BMW engine from the Ju-188 kit

 

 

1st motor roughly taped in place - it will have the firewall with the 14 exhaust stubs fitted between the two once I have cleaned up the face of the nacelle on the wing - but that is a job for tomorrow

 

[Walter]

Coming along nicely Steve 

[PeterB]

21 hours ago, stevesoutar said:

I haven't made a final decision on the colour scheme for this one yet - I have some good clear photos of R2s in dark green splinter finish, which may have been maritime R2s in some cases, as well as nightfighters  - and there are a handful of good colour photos from the one in Hendon museum as well, but i also found a couple of grainy monochrome shots of R2s with variations on the pale nightfighter schemes, with mottled camouflage around the cockpit & engine areas

 

Can anyone know if there is a list online of jagdgeschwader which operated the late Ju88-Cs or the R models, maybe with an indication of the unit codes as well?

 

I just found this resource, which lists all known unit codes - http://www.rlm.at/cont/archiv02_e.htm 

 

There are quite a few clear pictures of G series aircraft, less of the earlier C & R series.

 

(but I still haven't finished skimming all the photos in the books I have yet, either)

This site "The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945" has quite a bit of info -  http://www.ww2.dk/ .If you select "air units" and then an individual geschwader, there is usually at the bottom of the entry a section listing "Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen" or sometimes "Aircraft Inventory and Movement Reports" for each gruppe. If you open that there are tables showing aircraft on hand at various times and instead of just "Ju 88" or "Ju 88G" it often gives the actual type so for example I/NJG4 is shown as having in June 1944 1x Bf 110G4, 6x Ju 88R2 and 10x Ju 88G1. Have a poke around in the NJG and some of the other day units and you should find out who was using C, R and G versions. As to codes there are a few sites but this one also has a listing under "Miscellaneous" on the side menu.

 

Pete

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by PeterB

[stevesoutar]

2 hours ago, PeterB said:

This site "The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945" has quite a bit of info -  http://www.ww2.dk/ .If you select "air units" and then an individual geschwader, there is usually at the bottom of the entry a section listing "Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen" or sometimes "Aircraft Inventory and Movement Reports" for each gruppe. If you open that there are tables showing aircraft on hand at various times and instead of just "Ju 88" or "Ju 88G" it often gives the actual type so for example I/NJG4 is shown as having in June 1944 1x Bf 110G4, 6x Ju 88R2 and 10x Ju 88G1. Have a poke around in the NJG and some of the other day units and you should find out who was using C, R and G versions. As to codes there are a few sites but this one also has a listing under "Miscellaneous" on the side menu.

 

Pete

 

thats brilliant @PeterB - so now I can identify which units used the Ju-88 R1 or R2 models, then I can cross reference to http://www.rlm.at/cont/archiv02_e.htm  to work out what the squadron code letters would have been 

 

you are a star - thank you 

 

[PeterB]

No problem - as I said that site also has code letter listings and quite a bit of other material such as airfields. I had another site which gave info on units and also other things like badges as well but seem to have lost it when I changed computer but I have the book "Luftwaffe Emblems" anyway and use that when making my own decs. Good for day fighters/bombers but nightfighters did not use them much it seems except for the general nightfighter "Englandblitz" emblem which was common on dark painted machines such as the R1 in the RAF Museum.

 

Pete

[stevesoutar]

All major surgery completed this evening. I just have a little more filler and sanding to be completed, then I will turn my attention to the crew & cabin space before I can join the two fuselage halves & get started on the painting

 

Engine mounts & undercarriage fairings are fixed to the wings - landing flaps cut off, & I used a half-round file to thin out the fairings at the back, so I can get the flaps to sit correctly

 

 

 

Engine firewalls have been fitted to the wings, ready for the motors to be attached.  And I have separated all the control surfaces, and some of the trim tabs, so I can give the aircraft some animation instead of being 'dead-sticked' in a level flight attitude

 

[stevesoutar]

This must be a really old kit - because I realised today there is no cockpit detail apart from two seats on the deck

 

SO I have started scratchbuilding a third seat for the radar operator, plus a control panel for the pilots postion, and the rack of radio equipment at the rear. Luckily I have a ju-88 cockpit detail kit which i ended up NOT using on my Zvezda Ju-88-G6 

 

Not finished yet, but no too untidy I think, I'm finding it tricky working with these tiny brass details  

 

[Walter]

I feel your pain with pe! The benefit improvement over the effort. Carry on.

[PeterB]

Yes, it is an old kit - original A in 1967 and re-1ssued as a C in 1974 according to Scalemates.

 

Pete

[stevesoutar]

Cockpit detailed (as far it goes so far)

 

rear bulkhead made, with PE radio equipment panels - test fit

 

[stevesoutar]

When i popped the gondola into place, the two crew seats are in the wrong position (too far forward) - judging from pictures of other cockpits in this group thread, I decided to drag the cockpit floor a few mm, putting the pilot & radio operators seats in the middle of the cockpit canopy, which now looks right

 

(wrong in this dry fit below)

Upper seat belts are now in place, ready for the crew.

 

& I have picked out the exhaust stacks in deep rust red before the engine pods are glued in place

[stevesoutar]

Crew in place, with PE seatbelts (top straps only - nothing else would be visible, or even possible!) 

 

 

And crew gondola with cockpit installed