Among the iconic images of the early days of World War II are film clips of Stuka dive bombers attacking. Though rendered obsolete early in the war by faster fighters, the Stuka fought on to the last days of the conflict.
Trumpeter’s new Ju 87B-2 Stuka brings forward the first new early version of this historical aircraft since Revell’s 1969 kit (not including the 21st Century Toys beginner-level replica).
Parts are cleanly molded in neutral gray plastic.
Features include a complete engine, plenty of ordnance, full cockpit detail, vinyl tires, and wing-gun detail.
Studying the instructions, I found the construction sequence to be sound and followed it by assembling the engine. The assembled engine is then attached to the firewall. The cowling finishes up a neat subassembly that’s ready to attach to the fuselage.
I ran into trouble installing the engine exhausts on the first try. The backing plate for the exhaust pipes is too thick to fit through the cowl opening. After some work with a sanding stick, I was able to fit the pipes in position. This brought my attention to the look of the installed exhausts; they seem too thin when compared with photos.
The propeller back plate has a small boss on it that makes the spinner/prop stand off from the cowling. This is correct, based on photos, but I thought it was a bit too much so I lowered it slightly.
The cockpit module was next. This is adequately detailed from the pilot’s position to the gunner’s station. Surprisingly, there were no photoetched-metal seat belts as I’ve seen in other Trumpeter kits. Note: Make sure of the position of Part J18, the pilot’s armor plate/rollover support. I found if it was not centered it would interfere with the installation of the center canopy (Part V12). The assembled cockpit module installed neatly into the fuselage, and the fuselage halves assembled perfectly.
After attaching the engine/cowling module to the fuselage, I noticed an uncharacteristic open slot at the mating point below the line of the exhaust. Checking reference photos and drawings, I could not confirm the accuracy of this.
The wings are broken down as a center wing section and outer wing panels. The center section has spars that aid alignment and secure attachment.
On finishing the installation of the wing-gun bays, I noticed there was no mention of the wing-gun ports or gun barrels! Searching the sprues, I located the gun-port fairings on Sprue B and the gun barrels on Sprue A. Strange that these were missed in the drawings.
The underwing dive brakes can only be assembled in the extended position as given. Minor modification to the mountings should allow them to be shown undeployed. The kit has extensive ordnance, including a large bomb (possibly an SC1000 “Hermann”) for the centerline rack — but none of it seems appropriate for the B version. Check the aftermarket or your spares box for appropriate bombs.
I painted my Stuka with a combination of Hobby Color and Tamiya Luftwaffe colors. Decals are given for three aircraft. These applied perfectly over a gloss surface with a bit of decal solution.
My primary reference was Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (Michulec and Willis, Mushroom Model, ISBN 978-83-89450-49-4). I also found very useful Luftwaffe Colours — Stuka: Luftwaffe Ju 87 Dive-Bomber Units, 1939-1941; Vol. 1 (Peter C. Smith, Classic, ISBN 978-1-903223-69-7).
I completed my Stuka in 29 hours. I liked the finished model, but the kit was a mixed bag due to accuracy issues and instruction errors. With the high parts count, I would only recommend this kit to modelers of intermediate skills or better.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the November 2012 FineScale Modeler.