The Junkers 88 was the workhorse of the Luftwaffe. You name it, the Ju 88 did it: level and dive bombing, night fighter, long-range fighter, reconnaissance … it was even used as a guided bomb!
Revell Germany has raised the bar for 1/32 scale aircraft with this all-new kit. Impressive in size and detail, its highlight is the extensively detailed cockpit interior. The quality of the molding is good, though I found flash on several small parts and the surface does have a slight texture.
How detailed is the cockpit? The first 30 steps are devoted to it. All of the crew stations are featured and represented by an array of parts. The ventral gondola hatch is separate, so it can be posed open.
I encountered a fit problem with the console (Part H162) on the left side wall (C163) and had to trim out a spot for it.
The extensive clear areas (nose and gondola) necessitate a fair amount of planning and work. Be aware that many of the clear parts are molded with their adjoining fuselage. I recommend painting the interior framing to prevent a transparent effect, and because it can easily be seen through the main canopy.
The fuselage construction is complex and demands a lot of test-fitting. My fuselage halves were warped. The fuselage spine (Part B7) also was a problem; I found gaps fore and aft in the fit to the fuselage sides.
The kit's design emphasizes sturdy construction, with two main wing spars and two horizontal stabilizer spars.
I ran into some issues with the wings. The top and bottom wings need careful alignment before gluing, as the attachment pins don't produce a positive location. Also, test-fitting the wingtips revealed large gaps in the underwing joint that would need filling. However, the fit of the assembled wings to the fuselage is very good.
The main canopy is made up from four parts. The individual parts fit well when I tested them. I did run into an issue when attaching the forward canopy's (I34) bulkhead (G165). This affected the fit to the rear canopy parts. To make my deadline, I left out the bulkhead.
The landing gear assembly is complex but well designed and very sturdy.
I painted my Ju 88 with Hobby Color and Tamiya Luftwaffe colors. Decals are provided for three aircraft. The decals are nicely printed but have a matte finish; I recommend a good gloss undercoat, as matte-finished decals make silvering hard to detect. The decals went down well with decal solution. Note: No swastikas are provided; I found mine on a Kits-World decal sheet.
The completed model looks convincing compared with photos and drawings in
Junkers Ju 88 in Action, Part 1 (Uwe Feist, Squad-ron/Signal), and it scales out correctly as well.
I finished my Junkers in 30 hours. There was more work to this kit than I anticipated, but the result is an impressive replica. The complex detail, along with the extensive clear areas and 93-step instructions, make this Ju 88 best-suited to modelers with intermediate or higher skills.
If you are a builder of 1/32 scale WWII aircraft, do not miss this kit!
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