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Junkers Ju 52 "Tante Ju"

by Frank Crenshaw

This is Revell-Monogram's Junkers Ju-52 "Tante Ju" in 1/48 scale.

"Tante Ju" is German for Auntie Ju (Junkers). This is undoubtedly a good-natured reference to the aircraft's matronly lines and gentle nature.

Kit moldings are crisp and highly detailed. The surface detail includes very convincing corrugations, engraved access ports, doors, and other details, and also rivets! The detail has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Clear parts are realistically thin and everything fits like a dream. I used only a few spots of putty during construction. 

The biggest surprise to me was the extent of the detailing. This kit features a fully detailed fuselage interior. It is very complete and in my opinion makes this the most detailed model I have ever seen right out of the box! Also included are very nicely detailed engines and Fallschirmjager figures.

The only trouble I had was removing the direction finding antenna parts from their sprue tree. The parts are so thin that I ruined this part. I fabricated a new one by wrapping some copper wire around a wooden dowel to capture the correct diameter. Other than this little detour, this kit was built right out of the box.

The interior of this kit is very good. I built mine right out of the box. I painted the overall interior RLM 02 grey. The cockpit is fantastic and includes many knobs, switches and levers. The front panel was painted black and after installed after a light drybrushing.

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Painting The model is first painted with an overall coat of Polly Scale RLM 71. RLM 70 is then sprayed on in it's approximate position to give a feel of how the paint scheme will be laid out.  This is necessary because very rarely will the paper splinter patterns for the top view line up with the ones for the side profile view. One will have to adjust the lines some to make everything line up.  The RLM 70 portion of the scheme is cut from the paper section and placed on the airframe (A). Thin strips of Tamiya masking tape are cut and placed where the hard edge will be formed using the paper as a guide (B). More masking tape was added and the RLM 70 color was lightly sprayed on.  If you spray a blast of paint toward the edge of the tape, then the paint will be forced under the tape due to the pressure blast of the airbrush. Always try to spray away from the masking edge. When painting masked areas I usually thin the paint so that I can build up the color layer with very light coats. It is best to slowly build up the color than to "soak it". Once the masking is removed the results are very pleasing and consistent.

Decals

One of the great disappointments about this otherwise beautiful kit is the lack of aftermarket decals. The kit provides markings for two Ju-52s. One set is for a Spanish Civil bomber, and the other is a Troop carrier that participated in the airborne invasion of Crete, and I was not really interested in either. Since most Ju-52s were marked similarly, I just decided to leave the Chess Knight marking off and paint the cowlings slightly differently than indicated in the instructions. This makes my Ju look more like a hard working transport.

I had heard that the kit decals were impossible to use due to distortions caused by the corrugations. This turned out to be completely untrue. I used the kit markings for everything but the underwing and fuselages crosses. I did not use the kits white outline cross as I felt the earlier filled in style would be more accurate based on profiles I have.

I had little trouble getting the decals to conform using Solvaset and cannot tell that they are shorter due to the corrugations. 

To break up the monotony of the scheme (this is a very large model) I used a form of post-shading along the rivet lines after all the camouflage colors had been painted and decals had been applied using thinned Tamiya smoke. This creates very subtle hints of the rivet lines that look great up close - they don't seem to show up well on the photos though.

Overall this was the best model I have ever had the pleasure of owning. Nevertheless, I would liked to have had more markings to choose from. 

Don't let this model sit! It is a fantastic kit and builds up beautifully.