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Rafi Ben-Shahar
363 articles

Hasegawa 1/48 Ju 87R-2 Stuka

November 4, 2024 · in Aviation · · 17 · 192

My interpretation of the "Desert Snake" flown by Leu Lt. Hubert Polz from Tmimi, Libya in 1941. The black and white photos confirm that the red color stands out from the camouflaged background.

Reader reactions:
13  Awesome 1 

13 additional images. Click to enlarge.


17 responses

  1. Bravo! Very nice rendition 👏

    Some say the snake appears only on the left side. In truth, difficult to say as picture of the right side seems to not exist…

    • Thank you, Stephane,
      Unlike the USAF logos and nose art, the Luftwaffe's non standard regulated paintings were commonly symmetric. So, it is safe to assume that with the lack of photographic evidence, there was a snake drawing on the right side.

  2. Fantastic job on the famous Desert Stuka, Rafi!

  3. Rafi, @blackmopane, I really like this one. I would like to agree that the pictures clearly show red, but I have been looking a black and white pictures and red usually shows up darker. There are some that argue the spots between the white are actually a darker sand color. Personally I like the red and think you did a great job with the kit. I have the Airfix Stuka kit and want to build this bird too , and when I do will do the spots in red like you. I will be very happy if it looks as good as yours.

    You can see Collin Latta's, @tail-dragon interpretation with the sand color snake here.

  4. Excellent result on this famous Stuka, Rafi @blackmopane
    The snake combined with the camouflage looks beautiful.

  5. Great job on an iconic aircraft.

  6. Great work as usual. I was just looking for the fotos of "The Snake" in the internet. With a quick search I found 4. To me it seems that there are two different Stukas with the snake The Spinner is different, the part in front of the exhaust seems different and the pattern of the snake is slightly different. - Or did someone fool me with a black-and-white photo of an excellent model?

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

    • Thank you, Hans,
      Indeed, the discrepancy between photos raised the suggestion in the past that there were two different aircraft. The aircraft differed also by call signs, which is another reason not to fuss too much about the accuracy of the snake painting.

    • I would suspect the first photo is photoshopped, (probably a model or mockup of some kind) just look at the wheels for one, no sign of flattening due to weight, unrealistic lighting on them, and apparently not circular, but a series of straight cuts to remove it from the photos original background. Same on the spinner.

  7. Excellent build! I just finished the new Airfix 1/72 Stuka, and have Snake decals to apply... I remember building the old Revell kit of this (1/32) when I was in grade school.

  8. A fine looking Stuka. Can't believe I haven't done this one yet. On my "to do"list.

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