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JU 87D Stuka

Ju 87D Stuka

INTRODUCTION
In 1939 Adolf Hitler thrust the world into the single largest act of violence and carnage the world had ever seen. Hitler’s Germany introduced the concept of Blitzkrieg to the beleaguered Poles in a demonstration of brutal rage lasting a little more than one month.
If the Panzers were considered the blunt instrument of war then certainly the Ju 87 Stuka would have been considered the scalpel. The Stuka was deadly accurate. Impact radius of less than 30 meters was not unheard of. In addition to deadly accuracy, good communication existed between air assets and ground forces. This ensured that munitions were placed on target.
To place ordinance on target, the Stuka typically entered a steep, near vertical dive. With the aid of specially designed dive brakes, the Ju 87 maintained a controlled dive to the point of weapon release. Upon release the aircraft pulled out of the dive with the aid of an automatic recovery system. This system utilized a contact altimeter and was usually activated when the pilot was subjected to at least 6 g. The system was activated by the pilot using a control knob mounted on the joy stick. Following weapons release the pilot made his way back to the airfield to re-arm and re-fit. During the Russian campaign it was not unheard of for Stuka crews to complete up to seven (7) sorties in a single day.
SUBJECT AIRCRAFT
My model is Revell of Germany's 1/32 scale Ju 87D kit. Inside the end-opening (I wish they'd change to top opening) box are 19 trees of parts nicely packaged within plastic bags. The kit decals contain markings for three aircraft that served on the eastern front. I chose markings for a different aircraft as discussed below. The kit cockpit was entirely replaced by Aires' excellent AHM2068 Junkers Ju.87D/G Stuka Cockpit Set. Aircraft markings (and precut cockpit canopy masks for that matter) are included in Topdrawings publication number 7 by Kagero Publishing.
My model was built to represent a Ju 87 D-1 serving with Staab II/St.G.2. The unit badge, located on the engine cowling, was selected by Dr. Ernst Kupfer. He was the appointed Gruppenkommandeur, Hauptmann when the unit was activated in January 1942. The "Horseman of Baumberg" emblem was a tribute to Kupfer's home town. The white name “Barli” stands for “little bear”. This particular aircraft was lost in November of 1942.
KIT CONSTRUCTION
COCKPIT
As is typical with aircraft kits, construction began in the cockpit area. I completely discarded the kit cockpit in favor of the Aires detail set. My choice was simply because I wanted to take advantage of the level of detail inherent in cast resin and photo-etched parts. It was not a statement on the suitability of the kit supplied cockpit.
The Aires set consists of cast resin and unpainted photo-etched parts. In general I found the detail set to be of excellent quality. Resin castings appeared accurate based on my research. I really enjoyed the wiring and other similar details cast into the cockpit. The photo-etched parts were crisp and also appeared accurate. After constructing the component parts of the cockpit it was incorporated into the aircraft. Sidewalls were glued to the fuselage and the floor connected to one sidewall. Special care needs to be taken to avoid breaking off the small bulkheads at the sidewall/floor joint. Also, it was very difficult to protect the PE rudder pedals from breaking while putting it all together.
My biggest complaint with the Aires offering was completeness of the instructions. They were devoid of any color references and the construction sequence is basically up to the modeler to figure out. To build a reasonably accurate rendition of the full-size original the modeler will either need to do research or have considerable experience with Luftwaffe aircraft, or both. In my opinion, this detail set is not suitable for beginners.
FUSELAGE, WINGS, WHEELS AND ORDINANCE
Construction of the fuselage and wings was straight forward. Parts generally fit well but there was a definite joint to be addressed at the fuselage-wing joint. Revell has included a spar to support the wings. This was very helpful and a great idea. Holes to allow connection of the ordinance or fuel tanks to the wing are drilled out prior to joining wing halves. At this point in construction the modeler will choose which D- model variant will be built. Also the wing flaps and engine cowling are joined.
Besides the "connect the dots" instruction following element to construction there are a couple of steps that the modeler can take to really improve the appearance of the model. First, the bolts which fasten the armor plate to the fuselage at the pilot's seat are missing. To replicate these I cut short segments ot Evergreen 1/16" rod cut and shaped to appear like a five (5) sided bolt. I then connected these "bolts" to the armor plate using cyanoacrylate.
The other modification that I recommend is to reconstruct the flap receiver locations on the lower wing and replace the rod actuator on the dive flap with Evergreen 1/16" plastic rod. The kit wing's flap actuator rod will be improved by accomplishing this small fix.
PAINTING AND WEATHERING
German attack aircraft serving on the eastern front were camouflaged with RLM 65 underside and RLM 70/71 topside. Stukas were painted in a splinter type camouflage pattern. In order to paint this scheme it was necessary to create a template and mask.
Revell's kit instructions included the splinter scheme but were not printed to scale. Luckily however, Kagero's fine publication provides complete 1/32 scale drawings in addition to 1/48 and 1/72 scale drawings. Therefore, it was a simple task to use a photocopier and expand the kit drawings to match Kagero's scale drawing. Once the copied drawings were correctly dimensioned I placed strips of Tamiya yellow masking tape sticky-side down on an OLFA Rotary matt. The splinter pattern was then cut out of the Tamiya tape to mask off the XF-61 dark green and placed on the model at the appropriate painting phase.
Painting proceeded using Tamiya acrylics and my Badger 200 airbrush. Tamiya XF-23 light blue, XF-27 black green and XF-61 dark green correspond to RLM 65, 70 ands 71, respectively. Light blue was painted first followed by the darker colors. Both upper colors were initially sprayed straight out of the jar thinned with 91% rubbing alcohol. After these dried upper surface greens were mixed with Tamiya flat white at roughly 85/15 green to white. They were then thinned and sprayed within the interior of panels to darken panel lines simulating weather and wear.
The fuselage band was painted using Humbrol yellow 154 as opposed to placing the kit decal. After the paint had dried a coating of Model Master clear gloss was applied to facilitate decal application. Panel lines and rivets were called out using a thinned wash of Tamiya XF-1 flat black thinned at a 10:1 thinner to paint ratio. After decal application and weathering a coat of Humbrol clear flat was applied to seal the decals and provide the correct finish.
CONCLUSION
Well there you have it. Revell has done a fine job producing a great kit. My Stuka took about 40 hours to complete, more or less. I had great fun building it. I think it is reasonably accurate and hope that you enjoy reading about it.