In Box Review of Hobbycraft of Canada 1/48th Scale
German WWII Junkers JU-88G Radar-equipped Night-fighter
kit no. HC-1606
By Ray Mehlberger
OUT OF PRODUCTION
Copyright 1990
I paid $24.95 for this kit back in the 90's.
By Ray Mehlberger
OUT OF PRODUCTION
Copyright 1990
I paid $24.95 for this kit back in the 90's.
HISTORY:
The Junkers Ju 88 was a German World War II Luftwaffe twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called Schnellbomber (fast bomber) that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept.
It suffered from a number of technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war.
Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb.
Despite a protracted development, it became one of the Luftwaffe's most important aircraft. The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945 and more than 16,000 Ju 88s were built in dozens of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout production the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged.
All previous night fighter versions of the Ju 88 used a modified A-series fuselage. The G-series fuselage was purpose-built for the special needs of a night fighter, with the A-series' Bola ventral under-nose defensive gun position omitted for lower aerodynamic drag and less weight, and adding the enlarged squared-off vertical fin/rudder tail unit of the Ju 188.
G-1 aircraft possessed more powerful armament and like the earlier R-1, used a pair of 1,700 PS BMW 801 radial engines, the G-1 using the later BMW 801G-2 version.
Electronic equipment consisted of the then-standard FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 90 MHz VHF radar using eight-dipole Hirschgeweih antennas, which could include fitment of the borderline-SHF-band FuG 350 Naxos radar detector with its receiving antenna housed in a teardrop-shaped streamlined fairing above the canopy or FuG 227 Flensburg radar detector homing devices that had their own trio of twin-dipole antenna: one on each wing leading edge and one under the tail.
One Ju 88G-1 of 7. Staffel/NJG 2 was flown by mistake to RAF Woodbridge in July 1944, giving the Royal Air Force its first chance to check out the VHF-band Lichtenstein SN-2 radar and Flensburg radar detector gear.
G-6 versions were equipped with 1,750 PS Jumo 213A inline-V12 engines (using the same redesigned annular radiator cores as the Ju 188s powered by them), enlarged fuel tanks and often one or two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in a Schräge Musik ("Jazz Music", i.e. slanted) installation.
These guns were pointed obliquely upwards and forwards from the upper fuselage – usually at an angle of 70°.
Some of the final G-series models received updates to the engines, using a pair of high-altitude Jumo 213E inverted V-12s with the same revised annular radiator design as the 213As already used, or to the radar, using the mid-VHF band FuG 218 Neptun AI radar with either the standardized Hirschgeweih aerials with shorter dipoles to suit the higher frequencies used, or more rarely the advanced Morgenstern 90° crossed-element, six-dipole Yagi-form antenna.
Only a very few Ju 88G-6 night fighters were ever fitted with the semi-experimental FuG 240 Berlin N-1 cavity magnetron based, 3 GHz-band (centimetric) radar, whose dish antenna was housed in a smoothly contoured radome on the G-6's nose.
Only about 15 of the Berlin systems were completed before V-E Day.
Many Luftwaffe night fighter aces, such as Helmut Lent (110 victories) and Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (87 victories) flew Ju 88s during their careers.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Tactical / dive / torpedo bomber /Night / heavy fighter, Reconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer: Junkers
Designer: Ernst Zindel, W. H. Evers, and Alfred Gassner
First flight: 21 December 1936
Introduction to service: 1939
Retired: 1951 (France)
Primary user: Luftwaffe
Number built: 15,183
Variants: Junkers Ju 188
The Junkers Ju 88 was a German World War II Luftwaffe twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called Schnellbomber (fast bomber) that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept.
It suffered from a number of technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war.
Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb.
Despite a protracted development, it became one of the Luftwaffe's most important aircraft. The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945 and more than 16,000 Ju 88s were built in dozens of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout production the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged.
All previous night fighter versions of the Ju 88 used a modified A-series fuselage. The G-series fuselage was purpose-built for the special needs of a night fighter, with the A-series' Bola ventral under-nose defensive gun position omitted for lower aerodynamic drag and less weight, and adding the enlarged squared-off vertical fin/rudder tail unit of the Ju 188.
G-1 aircraft possessed more powerful armament and like the earlier R-1, used a pair of 1,700 PS BMW 801 radial engines, the G-1 using the later BMW 801G-2 version.
Electronic equipment consisted of the then-standard FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 90 MHz VHF radar using eight-dipole Hirschgeweih antennas, which could include fitment of the borderline-SHF-band FuG 350 Naxos radar detector with its receiving antenna housed in a teardrop-shaped streamlined fairing above the canopy or FuG 227 Flensburg radar detector homing devices that had their own trio of twin-dipole antenna: one on each wing leading edge and one under the tail.
One Ju 88G-1 of 7. Staffel/NJG 2 was flown by mistake to RAF Woodbridge in July 1944, giving the Royal Air Force its first chance to check out the VHF-band Lichtenstein SN-2 radar and Flensburg radar detector gear.
G-6 versions were equipped with 1,750 PS Jumo 213A inline-V12 engines (using the same redesigned annular radiator cores as the Ju 188s powered by them), enlarged fuel tanks and often one or two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in a Schräge Musik ("Jazz Music", i.e. slanted) installation.
These guns were pointed obliquely upwards and forwards from the upper fuselage – usually at an angle of 70°.
Some of the final G-series models received updates to the engines, using a pair of high-altitude Jumo 213E inverted V-12s with the same revised annular radiator design as the 213As already used, or to the radar, using the mid-VHF band FuG 218 Neptun AI radar with either the standardized Hirschgeweih aerials with shorter dipoles to suit the higher frequencies used, or more rarely the advanced Morgenstern 90° crossed-element, six-dipole Yagi-form antenna.
Only a very few Ju 88G-6 night fighters were ever fitted with the semi-experimental FuG 240 Berlin N-1 cavity magnetron based, 3 GHz-band (centimetric) radar, whose dish antenna was housed in a smoothly contoured radome on the G-6's nose.
Only about 15 of the Berlin systems were completed before V-E Day.
Many Luftwaffe night fighter aces, such as Helmut Lent (110 victories) and Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (87 victories) flew Ju 88s during their careers.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Tactical / dive / torpedo bomber /Night / heavy fighter, Reconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer: Junkers
Designer: Ernst Zindel, W. H. Evers, and Alfred Gassner
First flight: 21 December 1936
Introduction to service: 1939
Retired: 1951 (France)
Primary user: Luftwaffe
Number built: 15,183
Variants: Junkers Ju 188
THE KIT:
Hobbycraft of Canada was a model company based in Ontario, Canada. I believe they have gone out of business.
The kit came in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The box art shows a Ju-88G in flight. It is in a mottle of gray and violet gray over a gray undercarriage. The fuselage code is small black 4R + large black UR. No swastika is shown on the rudder.
Hobbycraft of Canada was a model company based in Ontario, Canada. I believe they have gone out of business.
The kit came in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The box art shows a Ju-88G in flight. It is in a mottle of gray and violet gray over a gray undercarriage. The fuselage code is small black 4R + large black UR. No swastika is shown on the rudder.
Both side panels list the kit's features in multiple languages, including English: detailed cockpit and landing gear, engraved panel lines and authentic markings. Markings on the box lid may differ from contents. MADE IN S. KOREA and Hobbycrafts address in Ontario, Canada and their overseas agent's address in England.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX:
This kit contains 6 medium-gray trees and a clear tree in a clear sealed cello bag, the decal sheet and the instructions.
The instructions consist of a single-sheet that accordion-folds out into 6 pages in 8 1/2" x 11" page format.
Page 1 begins with a black and white repeat of the box art, over a 1-sentence history of the Ju-88G in 5 languages, including English, over international assembly symbol explanations and Hobbycrafts street address in Ontario, Canada and MADE IN S. KOREA.
Page 2 through 4 gives a grand total of 10 assembly steps.
Page 5 has the marking and painting guide for the box art scheme as a 3-view. The violet gray is RLM-75, the other gray is RLM 76. (scheme already described above)
The aircraft was with 7./NG 2 in 1944.
Page 6 has another 3-view. It is in a mottle of the violet gray and gray over a black undercarriage. It has a fuselage code of small black D9 + large red N black L.
The aircraft was with 3./NG 7 in 1945.
Medium Gray letter A tree holds: the fuselage, dive brakes, cowling bottoms (6 parts)
This kit contains 6 medium-gray trees and a clear tree in a clear sealed cello bag, the decal sheet and the instructions.
The instructions consist of a single-sheet that accordion-folds out into 6 pages in 8 1/2" x 11" page format.
Page 1 begins with a black and white repeat of the box art, over a 1-sentence history of the Ju-88G in 5 languages, including English, over international assembly symbol explanations and Hobbycrafts street address in Ontario, Canada and MADE IN S. KOREA.
Page 2 through 4 gives a grand total of 10 assembly steps.
Page 5 has the marking and painting guide for the box art scheme as a 3-view. The violet gray is RLM-75, the other gray is RLM 76. (scheme already described above)
The aircraft was with 7./NG 2 in 1944.
Page 6 has another 3-view. It is in a mottle of the violet gray and gray over a black undercarriage. It has a fuselage code of small black D9 + large red N black L.
The aircraft was with 3./NG 7 in 1945.
Medium Gray letter A tree holds: the fuselage, dive brakes, cowling bottoms (6 parts)
2 identical medium gray letter B trees hold: wings and cowling fronts (3 parts each)
Medium gray letter C tree holds: landing gear legs, machine guns, antenna, alternate individual propeller blades, cockpit interior parts, cowling bottoms, gear doors, seats, main wheels, dashboard, drop tanks, joystick, spinners, cockpit floor, tailwheels etc. (84 parts)
There are no letter D or E trees.
There are no letter D or E trees.
Medium gray letter F tree holds the bombs and their wing mounts (12 parts)
Medium gray letter G tree holds: propellers, spinners, engine fronts, cowlings (10 parts)
Medium gray letter H tree holds: Vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizers, antennas and gun pod (17 parts)
There are 2 clear trees. One holds the canopy and the other one the nose front. (1 part each)
A postcard to use to order a catalog, a WARNING slip and another postcard to suggest new kits is included in the kit.
The decal sheet completes the kit's contents.
This sheet has swastikas on it, but they are printed cut in two diagonally and you have to piece them back together.
This was done to make the kit politically correct in countries where it is sold that have outlawed this symbol.
I also copied a line-drawing blue print of the Ju-88G out of a magazine and have added it to this kit.
This sheet has swastikas on it, but they are printed cut in two diagonally and you have to piece them back together.
This was done to make the kit politically correct in countries where it is sold that have outlawed this symbol.
I also copied a line-drawing blue print of the Ju-88G out of a magazine and have added it to this kit.
There are no crew figures included. Detail is engraved and flaps are all molded solid.
Recommended.
Recommended.