RV Resin 1/72 scale Ju-88

The History

In the strange and wonderful land of aircraft development, no people have tried more permutations of a single aircraft design, than did the Germans during World War 2. The Junkers Ju-88 in this case was modified with the nose of a future bomber, the Ju-288, in order to test aerodynamics. Two such Ju-88s were used, the V-2 and the V-6, so they tended to be the very early marks thus the strange landing gear.

The Kit

This kit comes in the standard sturdy cardboard box we've come to see from this Czech Republic Company. When I received this kit it was state of the art in casting and detail - at least back in 1999. Since then RV resin has taken the standard of resin up a notch with their new 1/48 scale Fw-190 series. The differences are startling between the two kits with five or so years between them.

Not present are a great number of cockpit details that are present in a similar 1/72 scale LF Models Ju-88. As a matter of fact, the basis for this resin kit is the venerable Italeri Ju-88, with modifications and scribed panel lines. The fuselage has the extended nose, done extremely well with excellent scribing and features; the cockpit details are sorely lacking any continuity. The sidewalls are completely bare, even the seats are just knock offs of the AMT kit with no modifications. One might like to see some control boxes or panels; at least the pilot's left side throttle console. You super detailers will have a field day, just supposing the Eduard etch sets are available. The additional Ju-288 nose is completely devoid of internal detail, making it difficult to let it go without putting something in it. Also, when it comes to joining the two fuselage halves together, you must use some spreader bars in that extended nose section so the clear canopy fits properly.

The wings have been given the royal treatment, including new engine nacelles and landing gear doors to backdate this airframe to a V-5. A problem point is the placement of the wheel well roof in each nacelle, it must be dry fit so it sits at the correct height, otherwise the landing gear will cause the plane to sit too high, or too low. The landing gear is cast in a soft white metal, a copy of the Italeri Do-217 gear and looks as though it might not hold up the finished weight of the kit, but only time will tell.

I found attaching the finished wings to the fuselage a bit daunting. The wings tend to be a different thickness in height than the wing roots; it's noticeable when viewed from the front. So some rubbing with sandpaper took another hour out of my busy night. Don't forget to get each wing properly dihedraled, a quick jig or supports on a flat surface will suffice.

The most fiddly part of the kit are the clear vac canopies, only one set are in the kit so be careful when cutting them out. The long greenhouse of the original mothership Ju-88 is very thin and flexible, so rather than trying to mask the windows, the best option is to cut painted decal paper and apply the framing. Since all of them are straight this shouldn't be a problem. The same holds true for the Ju-288 nose section, although use a RLM 02 painted decal paper instead or RLM 63. A big problem was fitting the Ju-288 canopy to the misshapen fuselage. Seeing that my feeble efforts to brace the parts evenly spaced almost worked, the clear part was attached and hopefully no one looks really hard at it.

The construction aspect of the kit was a challenge, as with most resin kits, but I have a sneaking suspicion the overall design may not conform to historical documents. Nowhere have I seen a photo of the aircraft in question, only a small paragraph stating that two early model Ju-88s were modified with a Ju-288 nose as well as the twin tail planes, which this kit does not model. So who is correct? Both or neither would be my guess, until some photograph proof becomes available.

This kit rates a 6 in the fun-O-meter due to the warped parts and lack of interior detailing that I'm used to from RV Resins. The Cool rating is 8 cause it just looks too cool, and lastly the kit is rated for the real die-hard Ju-88 fan who thought he/she had every version of the 88 there was to have. Thanks RV Resin for bringing this interesting kit into being!