Junkers Ju 88 A-1
"Battle of Britain"

Revell, 1/32 scale
 

Reviewed by Brett Green

The Junkers Ju 88 was a versatile and successful aircraft that served with the Luftwaffe in the roles of dive bomber, level bomber, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, night fighter and more. The service of the Ju 88 spanned almost the entire period of the Second World War.

Revell has now released a brand new 1/32 scale Junkers Ju 88 A-1. The kit comprises around 255 parts in pale blue-grey plastic, 26 parts in clear and markings for three aircraft.

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Thumbnail panels:

The quality of the mouldings is excellent. Texture of the plastic is satin. Surface detail is by way of fine and crisply recessed panel lines with selected rivets and raised features as appropriate. All the surface detail is consistently rendered with no fading or soft lines in evidence. A number of dials on the instrument panel suffer from fairly prominent sink marks but these are the only moulding imperfections that I have found on visible surfaces.

The cockpit area is wonderfully fitted out. Nearly half of the total kit parts make up the front office - around 125 pieces in all. The seats, their mounts, radios, instruments, quadrants, guns, ammunition, oxygen bottles, sidewalls and rudder pedals are all realistically detailed. The pilot's seat assembly alone comprises 12 parts. Revell even supplies an optional flare pistol to place on one of the seats if desired. The only omissions are the seat harnesses. In this large scale you really will need to add these. The dedicated superdetailer may also wish to add cable bundles to the rear of the instrument panel.

The dials on the instrument panel are represented by flat disks. Once the sink marks have been filled, the best option for these will be MDC's excellent 1/32 scale Luftwaffe instrument decals. You will be able to use these for the three instrument dials inside each engine nacelle too.

The rear cockpit bulkhead extends well beyond the fuselage sides to form the front of a stout wing spar. The mid-fuselage bulkhead completes this spar. The wings should fit securely with the dihedral firmly set thanks to this thoughtful piece of engineering.

The horizontal tailplanes are also mounted on two sturdy spars.

Exterior detail is as well executed as the cockpit. All control surfaces, including the flaps, are separate. The mounts for the flaps, ailerons and dive brakes may need some minor surgery before repositioning.

The unique early-style tailplanes and wing tips are separate parts too, hinting at later versions to follow. Please note that only the early parts are supplied at this stage, so you will have to wait for an A-4 (or for an after-market conversion).

The rear of the cockpit gondola may also be posed open.

The undercarriage looks to be quite strong, and it is also well detailed. Wheels and tyres look great. They feature raised lettering on the tyres and brake line connectors on the main wheel hubs. The tyres are not bulged or flattened.

Engine nacelles are simply broken down into two halves. Cowl flaps are moulded closed as part of each cowling half. Each exhaust section is supplied as a single strip. This will simplify assembly. The ends of the exhaust stacks are solid. In this large scale it would be worth spending a little extra time drilling these out. Engine instruments are supplied for the inboard half of each nacelle, along with the clear covers.

Surprisingly, the kit does not include the wing-mounted ETC bomb racks that were almost universally fitted. I am sure that the after-market will be quick to fill this gap. Bomb bay doors are moulded shut and there is no internal bomb bay detail.

Clear parts are beautifully presented. They are crisp, thin and clear. Canopy framing is suitably fine. The main canopy comprises six clear parts, so some care will be needed to avoid smudging these parts with adhesive.

Instructions are called out over 92 steps in a 16 page booklet. Although this sounds a bit daunting, construction actually looks pretty straightforward.

Markings are supplied for three subjects. All are finished in standard colours of RLM 70 Black Green and RLM 71 Dark Green upper surfaces over RLM 65 Light Blue lower surfaces:

• Junkers Ju 88 A-1, B3 + DR, 7./KG 54, Battle of Britain, September 1940. This aircraft features the Geschwader emblem (skull and crossbones) on the nose, with a diagonal yellow fuselage band and the number 27 on the outboard of each nacelle.

• Junkers Ju 88 A-1 4D + FL of 3./KG 30, Battle of Britain, France 1940.

• Junkers Ju 88 A-1 U4 + TK, Luftwaffe Test Unit, Norway, April 1940.

Decals are in regsiter and colours look good. Full stencil markings are also provided.

As is the case with all Revell GmbH models, Hazenkreuze decals are not supplied. These will have to be sourced from the spares box or from after-market decal sheets.

We have seen a remarkable number of impressive new kits released in the last year or two, and more will follow in the coming months. Revell's 1/32 scale Junkers Ju 88 A-1 is one of the best large-scale Luftwaffe offerings that we have seen to date.

The kit is highly detailed, sensibly engineered and priced to sell.

There are some very good kits of the Junkers Ju 88 A in both 1/72 scale (the new Hasegawa kits); and the Dragon kit in 1/48 scale, but I reckon that Revell's new 1/32 scale Junkers Ju 88 A-1 snatches the mantle as the best mainstream Ju 88 in any scale.

Revell's 1/32 scale Junkers Ju 88 A-1 just screams to be built. I can hear it calling even now...

Thanks to Revell for the sample

Text and Images Copyright © 2008 by Brett Green
This Page Created on 29 December, 2008
Last updated 29 December, 2008

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