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The Ju188, an offspring of the
famous Ju88 was an attempt to improve and capitalize on a well-proven design. By
changing the aerodynamics of the Ju88 enlarging the cockpit and wing areas and
using more powerful Jumo 213A engines, this aircraft almost performed as well
as a fighter plane of the time. It was primarily used in the anti-shipping role.
There were many other variants. The subject of this article is a torpedo bomber
that most likely took part in the bitter North Atlantic campaigns.
THE
KIT: this DML kit had been sitting in my
closet now for a few years, among many others. It is a good kit, but has some
fit problems. I liked the simplicity of assembly; the instructions are clear and
well drawn. The parts are made of a soft light gray plastic and it comes with a
photo-etched fret of tiny parts. The clear parts are of good quality.
CONSTRUCTION:
the first step is to build the cockpit
parts, the detail is a bit Spartan, but with a bit of imagination and patience
it can be improved a lot. The other alternative is to order a very expensive
aftermarket kit. There is not one for the Ju188, but Aires offers a superb kit
for the Ju88 that could be adapted with ease. It may be worth the effort. A lot
of detail can be seen through the extensive canopy of this plane.
The
fuselage’s construction is pretty straightforward. No mayor problems there.
The wings have fit problems, as DML planned a whole series of Ju88/Ju188 models
to be made out of the same mould. Their mould provides you with the main wing
minus a small section and the wingtip. Ailerons are moulded separately. The wing
tip is moulded including the small section of the wing, and this creates a
separation where there is not a panel line in the real plane. To compound
problems a bit more the wingtip parts do not align well with the main wing
halves. I had a bear of a time with these parts. My mistake probably was to
assemble the main wing parts first and then try to fit the wingtip. What I
should have done was to attach the wingtips to the main wing parts before
assembling them. I’ll try that with the Ju88 Nachjaegger.
PAINTING
AND DECALING: DML’s instruction calls for Olive Drab FS34087, dark green
FS34079, RLM Hellblau 65 and RLM Schwarzgrün 70. Masking and painting of the
large greenhouse like canopy was a challenge. I decided to cut very thin strips
of masking tape to outline the framework and then fill the glass areas with
Windsor & Newton’s Artist’s clear masking fluid, which is thin liquid
latex. Caution: do not use this
liquid if you are using acrylic paints. The solvent may affect your painted
areas.
This plane became my test bed for pre-shading. I really liked the
results.
Once all of the painting was done, I sprayed the entire model with
Testor’s Metalizer Sealer, then applied the Aero Master decals and apply a
coat of Testor’s Sealer to the decals. Finally I coated the model with a light
pass of Dullcote, just enough to kill the glare. I personally like my models to
have a little hue. Dullcote if applied very heavily tends to make a model look
like a glazed doughnut!
I really enjoyed this model; it
was a bit of a challenge with the wingtips and its size. It’s really hard to
move it around without breaking off the little antennae or gun barrels while
painting it. If you can leave off all small protruding bits until the assembly
and painting is done you will save yourself a lot of heartache. Happy modeling,
Edward
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