1/72 Junkers Ju88A-4

An all-new tool of the Ju88. Obviously the first in a series, the tooling gives clues as to what may (MAY!) be coming: separate wing-tips, ailerons, rudder, engine housings, belly panels and nose section point towards an ability to make basically any non-stretched variant of the Ju88 merely by swapping out a few parts frames. While we don't know how far Hasegawa will go, clearly they are thinking ahead with this release.

OK, enough about what "may" be; what is actually in this kit? Well, starting with the front you get an exquisitely detailed cockpit, with full console, bulkhead and sidewall detail. The instrument bodies are molded onto the back of the panel, and three different styles of pilot's seat are included to be used at your chooosing. This is joined to the main fuselage section, which includes pass-through spars for the wings, an ADF antenna with clear cover and a proper tailwheel assembly which fills the inside of the aft fuselage. The engine assemblies include both exposed and dampered exhausts. The landing light in the wing leading edge has a clear lens that mounts inside the wing, then a clear cover is added over that for the ultimate in realism. The main landing gear are also very realistic multi-piece assemblies. The separate ailerons are a very nice touch: photos of parked Ju88 almost always show the ailerons to be deflected. This is because the pilot's yoke folded to one side to allow the pilot access to his seat in the crowded cockpit. When the yoke folded over, the ailerons deflected. I believe this is the first time the builder would be able to correctly represent this feature in a 1/72 scale model of this aircraft type without having to resort to surgery.

Stores consist of 2 SC250 bombs and 2 SC500 bombs mounted on very realistic-looking racks. With the bombs and racks on their own sprues, could it be long before we see an A-17 torpedo-toting variant? Decals are for three aircraft: 9K+DS of 8./KG51 in Russia, Werner Baumbach's A6+HH of I./KG30 used on anti-shipping missions from Norway (and with an impressive scoreboard on the tail!) and the black-bellied M2+AK of 2./KGr.106. A worthy addition to your Luftwaffe collection.