Hasegawa Ju 88g

[The Wooksta!]

Having done a semi review of the Zvezda Ju 88G-1, I thought I'd contrast it with the Hasegawa Ju 88G-1.

What?  The Wooksta buying a Hasegawa kit?  Has the world gone mad?  Not quite.

This is really look at the bits, because apart from taping one wing and the fuselage together to test a theory (more later), I've not done anything else.

Initial impressions are that the base kit is the Dragon Ju 88 tooling pantographed down, as the breakdown is similar in many respects.  This is a logical approach, given that Junkers had built the aircraft on a "block principle", meaning that they could swap cockpit modules and engines to produce an aircraft to suit differing roles. The kit has a separate tailfin and wingtips, whilst the engines and their mounts are separate from the wings.  The main fuselage and wings are on one sprue, the cockpit section on another and all the other bits are on a load of other sprues.  

Looking at the fuselage and wings they have some very restrained panel lines with all the hatches and access panels marked.  The u/c nacelles are BIG and chunky and look spot on.  The Zvezda kit by comparison looks rather underweight, whilst the older AMT and Italeri examples are positively anorexic!

In addition, it appears that Hasegawa have also managed to get something that all the other manufacturers have missed - the wing washout.  Now I'm no pilot and I know very little about aerodynamics, but there's a very subtle twist in the wing which looks right.

From the main fuselage, we go into the cockpit and unlike virtually every other Hasegawa kit I've seen in their 72nd range, it has a FULL interior, with highly detailed side walls and interior parts.  The radio equipment in particular is superb.  Something wrong here, because Hasegawa generally care f*ck all for interior detail, leaving it for the aftermarket resin boys whilst the poor sap who's bought the kit has to make do with a bench for a seat and a bare floor, with a decal for the instrument panel if he's lucky.

Now we turn to the rest of the kit.  In this case, the extra bits are for the BMW 801 engined nightfighter and as such they look very good.  The ailerons have a enlarged trim tabs peculiar to the G series whilst the engines have the lengthened cowlings which doubled as flame dampers.  Hasegawa have also thought logically about this, and where you should have everything in twos, they've done them on one sprue and given you two.  This does mean you have some spares.  In addition to that, some of the parts specific for the G series replace bits on the 'standard' sprues, so you have even more spare bits.  Spares?  Hasegawa?  What's going on here?

Underneath, and like the Zvezda kit, the weapons tray is integral with the lower fuselage insert

Having been disappointed by some elements of the Zvezda kit, I was anxious to check out tailfin and it looks spot on and compared with Hasegawa fuselage, the Zvezda one looks short too.  I've yet to check the wings, but I'm not too fussed.

Hasegawa have already released an A-4 variant and have announced a C series to come.  With some mixing and matching of components, the modeller could probably get most of the 88 family out of this kit.  I've no doubt that a Ju 188 is in the planning stages and a Ju 388?  I'd bite the f*cker's arm off!

Edit:  I suspect a Ju 388L-0 is in Hasegawa's planning stage - there are two flashed over intakes in the wing leading edges which are intakes for the climate control system.  These are only on the Ju 388 series.

Ah, yes, mention of the Ju 388 brings me to that theory I mentioned earlier. When I was looking at the destructions, I noticed the way the engines were mounted and it looked very similar to the wing in the Special Hobby Ju 388.  Now, that kit is a curate's egg - good in parts.  The fuselage is great, the wings and especially the fit of the engines is utter wank.  In addition, the Special Hobby kit is restricted to the production K/L series aircraft, plus the J-1 with the additional parts.  Schiffer's book on the Ju 388 reveals a lot of very interesting prototypes based on the L-0 series - basically a Ju 188 with the 388K cockpit and BMW 801TJs.  

Could I fit the engines from the 388 onto the 88?  Yes, although I'll need to rebuild a section of the wing leading edge.  This means that one of the BMW 801TJ engined variants operated by one of the Luftwaffe's more shadowy units is possible.

There's also the separate wingtips and cockpit - could these be replaced?  A test fit of the old Toad Resins Ju 388K cockpit module showed that it would fit with possibly a little filler.  Wingtips could be a little more problematic, although these could be hacked off the Matchbox Ju 188.  So, the more enterprising could possibly get a Ju 388 out of the kit AND use the resulting spares from the G kit to use on the other Hasegawa kits.  Result!

I'm also tempted to copy the engine mounts to use on the Ju 388 kit to sort out the wing and mount other engines.

This is the canine's testicles and quite simply the definitive Ju 88.  Is it worth money?  Yes.

So, Zvezda or Hasegawa, which one should you buy?  Well, the two kits are different variants and I daresay that the more enterprising modeller could probably swap out the spare BMW engines from the Italeri Ju 188 and backdate the Zvezda kit, but this doesn't correct the kit's inaccuracies, such as the tailfin and the woefully thin u/c nacelles, not to mention the possible inacuracy in the fuselage length.  The Zvezda kit does have some very tasty crew figures though, but most modellers ignore figures. No doubt Hasegawa will release a G-6 at some stage but frankly you pays yer money and takes yer choice.  And based on this kit, I'd go for the Hasegawa one every time.

[matrixone]

Wooksta,
I have the Hasegawa kit on order and should get it in another week or two. For years I have had a couple of those Special Hobby Ju 388 kits and an old AMT Ju 88G in my stash but never felt up to the challange of building them because of all the fit problems these kits have, it is hoped Hasegawa will produce a Ju 388 kit because it will save me a lot of trouble trying to correct the Special Hobby kit or cutting up other kits in an attempt to make a Ju 388.
It is possible Hasegawa will make a Ju 388, a few years back they made a kit of the Ta 154 in several different versions (I still have the day fighter version in my stash) so if they bothered to make a kit of that rare airplane they will likely make a Ju 388 based on the Ju 88 kit, I think there were more Ju 388s built than Ta 154s so it might be a good seller for them because of greater interest in the aircraft type.

Matrixone

[matrixone]

Wooksta,

I did get the Schiffer book last year and I am very happy with it even though the book reveals the Ju 388 was not as good an airplane as it was expected to be.

After looking at how Hasegawa started out with the 1/32 Bf 109 series of kits I think they could do the same with the Ju 88, Ju 188, and Ju 388 family. Even if they could only do the Ju 388L-O I would gladly get a couple of them.

After reading about the build of the Special Hobby Ju 388 kits I am holding off on building mine until I get more building experience, I don't have much experience in dealing with resin, PE, and vac-form parts. Sure I could build it but it I might not be happy with the results.

Matrixone

[NARSES2]

Thanks for that reveiw Lee - I was wondering wether to get one or not - I know now  

Chris

[nev]

Looks like you'll have to wait for a Revell re-boxing and buy a boat-load Lee