Junkers Ju 88A-4

by John Darlington

images by Craig Sargent

Revell's 1/48 scale Ju 88A-4 is available online from Squadron.com

Here is my 1/48 scale Dragon/DML Junkers Ju 88A-4. The model was labelled as a C-6 but all the necessary 'extra' parts to do the A-4 were included.

I started this kit about five years ago and used the Eduard PE detail set to detail the cockpit, wheel wells and engine fronts, although the cockpit hardly needs it. I must say that this would have to be the most difficult kit I've ever built, not in terms of number of parts etc but the overall fit of the parts was atrocious.

After completing the fuselage, assembling the wings and other sub-assemblies it came time to bring it all together and I couldn't get the wings to fit the fuselage, the engine nacelles to fit the wings. It all became so frustrating I did what I usually do, that is resist the temptation to 'fly it into the nearest wall', and stick it back in it's box for another day.

Well, about four and a half years later, after discovering 'Mr Surfacer' (from HyperScalers I might add) I suddenly got the urge to have another go. Mr Surfacer was the answer to all the filling problems I had struck earlier and suddenly the model was well on it's way to being completed.

I used Revell decals after a generous 'wet look' application of Humbrol gloss paint and they silvered like crazy. I don't know what was wrong with them as I don't usually have this problem.

After painting the only other task which was not so much of a problem as just tedious was masking all the canopy 'glass' with Tamiya masking tape and this took about 3 weeks.

Once painting was complete I could not for the life of me get the three main canopy parts to fit together and fit the model. I filed, sanded and even cracked one part but it still isn't a good fit.

It was a big sigh of relief when I finally finished my Ju 88 about five months ago and I don't think I will be building another one. There's far too many models and too little lifetime as it is. Hope you like it.

Thanks to Craig Sargent for the photos.

Model and Text Copyright © 2002 by John Darlington
Images Copyright © 2002 by Craig Sargent
Page Created 10 July, 2002
Last Updated 04 June, 2007

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