Monogram Pro Modeler’s 1/48 Ju 87R-2 Stuka By Chris Banyai-Riepl

Overview (from the instructions)

One of the best known aircraft in Germany’s Luftwaffe during World War II was the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber.  Typically, dive bombers were designed to destroy point targets with the accurate delivery of their bombs, but Germany put the Stuka to much wider use.  During the early years of the war, as the German army launched their fast Blitzkrieg attacks, Ju 87’s flew above the ground troops and served as flying artillery.  They acted in close air support of the infantry and panzer divisions on the ground to help insure the success of the lightning war.  Other Stukas were based near the shore for use in the anti-shipping role.

The Kit

If this kit looks familiar to some it’s because it is a re-release of the excellent Hasegawa kit.  You get eleven trees of light gray parts and one tree of clear parts, with everything featuring very fine recessed panel lines and crisp molding.  This kit is engineered to produce multiple variants, resulting in a somewhat different breakdown in parts than might be expected, but the overall fit should be quite good given the quality tooling.

The interior is very well detailed and really doesn’t need much of anything extra.  The sidewalls are molded separately and fit into notches in the fuselage halves.  The cockpit floor has a bit of detail molded on, but the majority of the interior is made up of separate bits and pieces.  You get a control column, front seat, bulkhead, radio equipment, a two-piece gunner's seat, a spent magazine box, and a comprehensive instrument panel made up of a panel, rudder pedals and a gunsight.  Be ready for some painting time, as all of this detail will really stand out once painted and weathered.

The fuselage comes in four parts, with the engine assembly separate from the rear pieces.  The engine section is made up from several parts as well, with the main core being made up of a one-piece top and right & left side pieces.  There's an insert for the upper grill as well as scoops for the sides.  The exhaust stacks are also separate, as is the chin intake.  The propeller is made up from separate blades fitted to a two-piece hub and spinner.  The rear fuselage is split into right and left halves, with a lower window frame & lower window molded separate.

The wings come in three pieces, with the lower section incorporating part of the fuselage as well as the flaps and ailerons.  The wing guns are molded separately and come two pieces per wing.  One of the distinctive signs of the Stuka is the spatted fixed main gear, and in this kit you get four pieces for each side, with the main wheels split in half, as well as the spats themselves.  There is also a separate wheel base that fits onto the wing bottom.  Other bits and pieces for the wing underside include the dive brakes, counterbalances, and weapons pylons.  The kit comes with a nice bomb for under the fuselage and a pair of fuel tanks for the outer wing.

The decal choices offer a pair of Stukas, both from the Mediterranean area.  The first is a Ju 87R-2 of 6./St.G. 1 coded 6G+KT.  This plane features a white rhino on the nose.  The second example is a Ju 87R-2/Trop of Stab II/St.G. 2, coded T6+AC.  Both examples are finished in RLM 70/71 over RLM 65.  The decals are well printed and include all that you'll need to finish either of these choices, including stenciling.

Conclusion

This is easily the best Ju 87 kit in 1/48 and the Pro Modeler release accentuates this with a great set of decals.  If you missed the Hasegawa release the first time around, don't hesitate to pick this one up.

Our thanks to Revell-Monogram for the review sample.