1/48 Hasegawa Junkers Ju-87D-3 Stuka, II / Stg 2, “T6 + EK” winter 1943-44 “Ost Front”
Here's one of the Luftwaffe planes I removed from the display case a few days ago,then took a series of pictures.
I removed 4 Luftwaffe subjects to take pictures of in all. (I'll post the others here in a few more days).
This one is Hasegawa kit #09285, and was built pretty much right out of the box.
It is a real beauty of a kit. The fit was fantastic and it is well engineered. The cockpit is well detailed and looks great as is. The rear gunner's seat / basket is very delicate and will break if you're not careful... ask me how I know.
I repositioned the control surfaces. One aileron is up, while the other is down. The rudder is kicked off to the right side. The elevators are dropped down. The flaps have been lowered. I really don't know if this is how the real Stuka's would have been occasionally parked (probably not), but I simply thought it would be cool to try.
I used Aero Master decals #48-141 for this build. When I saw the green splinter camouflage with a bunch of tiny white spray dots over the original pattern, I thought this would be a cool one to build. I built this Stuka at the same time as my last posting, which was the old school Monogram Ju-87. I liked the fact that the original RLM 70/71 splinter pattern could still be seen under the white dots.
I was recently able to find a few pictures online of what may have been the source photo for the decal set.
I used Model Master enamels, colors RLM 70 and 71 over RLM 65. It was masked off and sprayed with an Aztek air brush. The tiny dots were done using the fine / tan spray tip. The exhaust staining was thinned down flat black paint that was air brushed on from the front of the plane towards the rear. At this point in the War, Germany was refining coal into gasoline, among other things. The coal sourced fuel gave the planes a very dark / black prevalent exhaust. (They also had a distinctive smell to them). If you have ever been around a WW2 German plane you will know exactly what I mean.
However I did make one other small alteration. Applique Armor was available as a field modification on the later Ju-87's. I decided to give this a try and used some thin plastic card stock to simulate the added armor plating. The plates were simply bolted onto the exterior of the cockpit. I used a very small drill bit to make marls on the plastic to represent these bolts. If you look really close you can see this.
The Stuka isn't the prettiest of planes, but it is a cool one to look at ... (if that makes any sense). You either love them or hate them. I tend to really like them...
I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did when I was building it.
Thanks for looking and comments are encouraged.
Take care.
Excellent build, my friend...as I've said before - you do some nice work!
Thanks buddy for the kind words. I sincerely appreciate it.
Nice posting, Louis, just the right amount of information about the build and good photographs. I agree about the Stuka's looks, there's definitely something about it, almost scary. My Chinese mother-in-law needs an "English" name, maybe Stuka would be appropriate!
?
She will be delighted about this name.
Too funny George ! That would really be priceless to see the looks on her face if this happens ! 🙂 🙂 😉
You sir are a braver man than I.
Thanks for the compliments my friend. I'm very pleased to see you liked this one. Take care buddy.
Chapeau for the new foto set-up, Louis!
Thanks Halvar for noticing the new photo setup. That was the whole purpose of removing several planes from the display case and snapping photos of them with the new background and base. Eventually I will mark out sections on the base to try and represent an aircraft parking ramp. Thanks again my friend.
Great job, Louis, mi amigo! I also like the splinter camo with white bits, too.
The Ju 87 is an imposing bird, that's for sure.
Thanks Jeff. It sounds like we have very similar tastes with Ju-87's ! This camouflage pattern is the one that drew me to purchase the aftermarket decals for it.
Thanks again Amigo.
I really appreciate that you liked this one bud.
Damned nice Stuka Louis! 🙂
Thanks Gary !
Have to agree with Halvar, that's a really nice photo set up you have there. Some great angles that really show off a terrific piece of work.
Brilliant work.
Thanks David. I wanted to try something new and this is what I came up with. Other future plans will include more background panels and different bases for photos of planes from different regions of the world. Right now it's just basic stuff but I do plan on improving it in the future. It could use some more lighting to help with eliminating the shadows. Thanks for the compliments buddy.
I think what you've done is great, a nice 'mood' and some really nice perspective shifts that show the best of a very evocative subject. If you plan to improve on this I'll be very impressed, and looking forward to some tips!
Another great-looking Stuka. I'd never seen that dot-pattern camo before - looks unique! I do love the look of a Stuka - iconic WWII image, brutal look, and all that stuff hanging off the bottom (brakes, flaps and bombs).
Thanks Greg. This one is the only Ju-87 that I have seen like this with the white dots. It's really what drew me to building this one. I originally found the decals first, then went on a quest to find the proper kit to match with the decals. I ended up finding the Hasegawa kit several weeks later in the same hobby store where I originally purchased the decals. Needless to say I didn't waste time grabbing up the kit as soon as I saw it. The store owner told me that he had just placed the kit on his shelf about 15 minutes before I walked into the store. I guess it was really meant to happen. Sometimes we just happen to luck out. This was one of those days. For me the Stuka is one of those planes that sort of attract you with all of the drag inducing external bits and strange angles. It's an iconic plane. Thanks again for the kind words my friend.
Louis, it really looks like the real thing. Love the splotches. Can't help but wonder if the ground crew hit it with a spray gun(s) or paintbrushes. Either way, striking camouflage effect.
I think I may have just found a few pictures of the original plane. It's really hard to tell if the dots were brushed on or sprayed. I edited the original posting to include these photos for you. Check them out and see what you think... Thanks for the compliments 🙂
I also just added a few original photos of the other Stuka build that I posted on here a few days ago. I may have accidentally stumbled across a picture of the other plane too. Here's the link Bernard.
Another beautiful evil beast! I 'm running fog cover.
Thanks Bob ! It is a rather scary looking beast... I wouldn't want one diving towards me !
The Hasegawa Stuka is a fun kit to build, they did make a few variations of the "B", "D" and "R". So far I have only build the "B" variant in a very unusual desert scheme. Don't recall ever building the Monogram kit though it is pretty good. Now we have the new Airfix kit which seems to be pretty good. Your Stuka is quite unusual as well. Well done
I have a few of the earlier Hasegawa B / D Stukas yet to build in the stash. The desert versions look really cool ! I think that Revell or Revell Germany may have re-boxed them too. I really want to try one of the new Airfix kits. They have had a decent review so far. This is my second Monogram Stuka build. The first one was build many years ago when I was a kid.
Thanks for the compliments my friend.
Very nice, I have the old Monogram kit I plan on doing in a similar scheme based on an airbrush ad in Scale Modeler back in the early 70s. Of course the Hasegawa Stuka is the current 1/48 gold standard and you did it justice. Nicely done!