Here is a kit that I have been wanting to build for a very long time. This is the modern release by Revell.
I have two others like it in the stash. One is the initial Pro Modeler version and the other one is a Revell kit that I think might have been released first or shortly after the Pro Modeler kit was. I'll go over to Scalemates to see what they say.
The desire to build this model goes back to when I was a teenager and I got to meet Martin Caidin at a local "private" air show that was happening at the Spruce Creek Fly Inn, which was not too far from my childhood home.
At the time he owned a fully restored airworthy Ju-52 that he called "Iron Annie". He introduced himself to my father and I, then asked us if we would like to take a tour of his plane... I immediately jumped at the offer, and in no time flat I was sitting in the pilot's seat, with dear old Dad standing in the walkway.
Fast forward many years later, and now I realize just what kind of an opportunity this was. As it stands, this Ju-52 that Martin Caidin owned, was actually the oldest flying Ju-52 in the world. This next bit of information is about "Iron Annie", and it is copied directly from Wikipedia. This tells the story better, and more accurately than I could ever do.
"D-AQUI, the oldest airworthy Ju 52 in existence, was produced in 1936, with serial number 5489 and given the registration D-AQUI Fritz Simon. It was sold to Norwegian airline DNL (Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S) in 1936 and registered as LN-DAH Falken, only to be confiscated by the German Army in 1940 when Norway was invaded. At this time it was once again given the old D-AQUI registration, but renamed Kurt Wintgens.
After the war, the Allies returned it to its former owners, DNL. It was re-registered as LN-KAF Askeladden and served on the Norwegian coastal route from Tromsø to Kirkenes for SAS from February 1948 until 1956.
After sitting parked for a year at Oslo Airport, Fornebu, it was sold to TAO (Transportes Aéreos Orientales) in Ecuador, with new registration HB-ABS Amazonas issued in July 1957. It was shipped to Ecuador in wooden crates. When it arrived the wings and tail still wore the distinctive blue lettered SAS livery. It was reassembled at the Ecuadorean Air Force Military Base in Salinas, Guayas in the summer of 1957 under the direction of former Lufthansa pilot Christoph Drexel. TAO flew the plane in scheduled airline service from Quito at 10,000 feet elevation to settlements in the foothills of the Andes in the Amazonian region (500 to 1000 feet altitude) of Ecuador with captain Gonzalo Ruales usually flying the left seat. The plane routinely cleared mountain passes at 13,000 feet of altitude, landing on unimproved landing strips often claimed from the shores of tributaries of the Amazon.
It was taken out of service in 1963 as gathering momentum of oil exploration in the Amazonian region began to demand aircraft of increased lift capacity. The aircraft remained parked at Quito Airport for six years. It was bought by a former United States Air Force pilot, Lester Weaver for $52,500. It was given registry N130LV, but American authorities certified it as "experimental".
In 1975, American writer Martin Caidin bought it for $52,500. It was christened Iron Annie, registration N52JU. It saw extensive use at air shows, and was based at Gainesville, Florida. Caidin set a number of records with Iron Annie, among them the shortest takeoff ever made with a Ju 52/3m and the world record for the most wing-walkers on one aeroplane at the same time.
Lufthansa acquired it in December 1984: It was flown to Hamburg via Greenland, Iceland and England, the only west to east Atlantic flight of an Ju 52. After a year it took to the air again, with the official registration painted under the tail as D-CDLH. The old registration D-AQUI is painted on the wings. The aircraft's name is now Tempelhof.
Damage discovered during routine inspections at the end of 2015 led to Lufthansa temporarily grounding Tempelhof until summer 2016. The aircraft eventually returned to service in early 2017 but at the beginning of 2019 Lufthansa announced that the airline had withdrawn financial support for passenger operations and the aircraft would now only be available for airshows. According to later reports the wings were removed from the aircraft and it was transported by road to Munich with plans that it would become a permanent static exhibit in a museum. However, in 2020 it was transferred to the Quax Association at Paderborn/Lippstadt airport for restoration."
I want to paint this plane in the beautiful markings on these planes as they were operated by Lufthansa in the 1930's.
I had a very good friend scan and cut me out a set of masks that will allow me to build this plane with the civilian / villain markings of D-2600, and it will wear the name "IMMELLMANN II". This is how I am linking this build to the Luftwaffe group, as this plane was used as Adolph Hitler's personal transport, until he received the larger and more powerful FW-200 Condor. Surprisingly, the Condor also used the same D-2600 registration.
It should look like this once it's completed.
Here is a good picture of D-2600 in it's earlier paint scheme where the Lufthansa name is present on the fuselage and the name "IMMELLMANN" is much smaller.
This build will commence as soon as I complete my Revell 1/32 scale He-219. It is a part of the new "Night Fighter" group build we have.
So please take a seat and buckle up... as I try to relive a little piece of my youth.
