Revell of Germany Kit no. 4299
1/72 Junkers G 24 on Floats
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Junkers G 24 History for the Revell Kit
The G 23/24, Junkers’ first tri-motor, and the world’s first
all-metal tri-motor, entered production in 1924 in Dessau. The first flight
was, however, made from Furth, near Nurnberg in October 1924. Flight testing
was then moved to Dubendorf, Switzerland as Ad Astra Airline of Switzerland
bought four of the planes becoming the first customer for the type. Underpowered
G 23s built at Dessau, in accordance with the restrictions imposed on
the German aircraft industry by the terms of the Versailles Treaty, were
flown to A.B. Flygindustri in Limhamm, Sweden where they were fitted with
more powerful engines, re-designated as G 24s, sold and then delivered
from Sweden to their operators. All of this was to evade the Allies’
restrictions. G 24s were operated on wheels, floats and skis by, at least,
12 nations between 1924 and 1940. Some were converted to F 24 freighters
later in their lives by the installation of a single engine in the nose
that was more powerful than the three engines normally used. Some F 24s
served well into WWII. The G 24/F 24 evolved directly into the Ju 52 and
Ju 52/3m.
Records firmly account for 72, G 23/24s having been built but the matter
of a total is confused by Junkers’ issuance of 87 werk nummers (w/n)
for the type. It has not, thus far, been determined if any of the 15 numbers
unaccounted for were built
The Revell Kit
As with the F 13, thick trailing edges are THE problem with this kit
too. This time Revell did a good job on the rudder, elevators and ailerons,
which are separate pieces but they went waayyy out of their way to screw
up the flaps and the rest of the trailing edge of the wing. Although the
wing is in three pieces, two top halves and a full span bottom, the flaps
are molded full thickness on the bottom half and are about a scale foot
(350mm) thick at the T.E.! This makes reducing the T.E. thickness impossible.
You can, however, replace the flaps with new flaps made from the inboard
wing T.E. of a donor Ju 52/3m kit. The overly thick T.E. between the flaps
and the ailerons is dealt with by extreme sanding of the under side of
the upper wing halves in this area and then bending it down a bit to meet
the lower half. Heavy sanding of the faying surface of the lower wing
half will complete the corrections to the wing’s T.E. and should
leave you with a good looking wing – apart, that is, from the fact
that it is too long. The Arctic Decals instructions show the changes required
to correct the span.
The kit designer got some other details wrong besides the wing. The
fuselage is 11/32” (9mm) too long - all at the rear. Using Arctic
Decals’ instructions as a guide cut this amount off the fuselage
sides forward of the rudderpost. Before attaching the fuselage top sand
a taper on its bottom from full depth at the bold lateral panel line aft
of the door to naught 1 1/8” (29mm) forward of the rear end so that
the crown line of the fuselage tapers down to the L.E. of the stabilizer.
You will have to fiddle the fit of the tailplane to the, thus revised,
aft fuselage. Two more errors complicate the fuselage. One you can correct
easily, the other you might as well forget, as it’s too difficult.
To correctly replicate K-SALC you must scribe a door on the right side
of the fuselage. Details of shape and location are given in the Arctic
Decals drawings. The other error, which I will ignore, is the essentially
flat bottom of the fuselage from the wing T.E. to the rudderpost. In actuality,
the aft fuselage had a quite rounded bilge.
Now with the fuselage and wings corrected you can address the rudder.
As originally delivered, K-SALC, had a stock Junkers tail. Alas Revell
got the chord too narrow by ~ 1/16” (~2mm). Again, the Arctic Decals
instructions show the corrections required. I think I’ll fix this
by adding a 1/16” strip to the L.E. and filling, filing and sanding
it to blend in.
Not much of the passenger cabin interior will be visible so I’d
suggest you forget about detailing it. Add tied back curtains at the windows
to make viewing the interior even more difficult and you can reduce the
amount of work you must do. The kit cockpit is adequate unless you are
seriously afflicted with AMS.
The kit decals are relevant to K-SALC only as it was upon delivery to
Aero O/Y and err in having the markings applied to the black painted areas
of the airplane in white rather than in silver as on the original. The
kit’s painting instructions also err in several details, the correct
form of which is provided in the Arctic Decals instructions.
Conclusion
This is a difficult but buildable kit if you are dedicated to the task.
Built out-of-the-box with the kit decals it will look broadly like a G
24 but will feature myriad errors. Follow the suggestions above and the
suggestions packed with the Arctic Decals and you can build a superb model
of the G 24. I bought two of these from Emil Minerich’s Skyway Model
Shop in Seattle in 1991 but have forgotten the price.
References
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Hugo Junkers and his Aircraft: Gunter Schmidt, Transpress, Germany,
1998, ISBN 3-344-00303-8.
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Lufthansa, An Airline and its Aircraft: R.E.G. Davies & Mike
Machat, Crown, USA, 1991, ISBN 0-517-57022
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Junkers Aircraft And Engines 1913-1945: Anthony L. Kay, Putnam,
UK, 2004, ISBN 0-851-77985-9.
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Skyways Quarterly, Nos. 22, 23, 24 & 25.
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Aeroplane Monthly, April 1976, August 1984.
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