JU87-G2 Stuka Tank Buster Border 1/35

[BeaveringAway]

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Hi. My name is Andy Szikla and I have chosen as the subject for this build: Junkers JU87-G2 Tank Buster, S7+AN in winter camouflage, flown on the Eastern Front by Stuka Ace, Andreas Kuffner, a Squadron Captain within the Tenth Tank-Busters, Battle Group 3, or 10(Pz)./SG3, established in March 1944.

 

The G series are not much more than D3s and D5s with their dive-brakes removed, and re-equipped with a 37mm Canon under each wing. This was the brainchild of Stuka Ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel, who around Christmas 1942 was lamenting the JU87 Stuka being steadily replaced as a Dive Bomber - mainly by the JU88. He re-imagined the JU87 as a low level attack machine with flack canons that could be used to destroy Soviet Tanks. The big brass indulged him, and he went out and proved his concept with great success. Rudel was Germany's number one air ace, and most decorated pilot. His planes were distinctively marked, especially in winter, and model kits of his various aircraft have been offered by every company that ever extruded plastic. He was, however, a massive Nazi, who after the war moved to Brazil and set up an immigration service to help ex-Nazis escape prosecution. His house-buddy there was Josef Mengele, the infamous doctor from Auschwitz who performed medical experiments upon the inmates.

 

I didn't want to celebrate an airplane piloted by one of the biggest bastards who ever lived, so I looked for a smaller one.

 

I was pretty happy with S7+BU flown by Stuka Ace Josef Blumel, only to find that @Thomas Lund <https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/87254-hasegawa-ju87g-josef-blümel/#comment-1241915> had in 2020 researched his way to the exact same plane for the exact same reason, and made a very fine job of it. I don't think I need to be cutting Thomas's grass.

 

So I kept looking, and finally arrived at S7+AN, Andreas Kuffner. I only have one illustration of his plane - in October 1944 summer camouflage - but assume it was in its winter whites by Christmas. I'll make my own guess as to what it might have looked like, whilst being mindful of that of his colleagues. The illustration above is my starting point, which I cobbled together from several web sources. I have lots of photos of D5s in mid winter, and they will be my main reference for the whitewash.

 

Andreas Kuffner (30 May 1918 – 30 April 1945) was a highly decorated Hauptmann in the Luftwaffe during World War II, and one of only 882 recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. During his career he flew 900+ missions and is credited with the destruction of 60+ tanks. In February 1944 he was appointed Staffelkapitan in 10(Pz)./SG3, where he flew this Stuka. In January 1945 he left SG3 having been appointed Group Commander of 1(Pz)./SG9. Andreas Kuffner was killed on 30 April 1945 when the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 he was flying was bounced and shot down by a Royal Air Force Spitfire XIV from 350 Squadron as he was attempting to land near Schwerin.

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Kit and Materials.

 

Border Kit BF002 1/35 G1/G2 Stuka, will by now be well known to most who read this post. I like the extensive riveting. It features etched metal parts, choice of open or closed rear gun canopies, three different front canopies, optional side-armour, and a nice basic engine.

 

 

Engine Block And Cowls.

 

The border kit features a pretty good Junkers Jumo 211J, and with any kit that includes an engine you get two choices: 1-Remove cowling/s to display engine. 2-Seal up to display without engine.

 

Border have miraculously omitted choice #1, and provided us with the third of two possible options: 3-Remove half a cowl !!

 

I chose option 1, which necessitated gluing the upper half-cowl to the other half with Extra Thin Cement, and then finding out how the cowls are arranged on a real Stuka.

 

 

The first thing I discovered was that the lower cowl annoyingly had the front part of the oil cooler moulded into it. Transferring that bit over to the cooler itself involved cutting it from the cowl, which I did with a very thin circular saw on a miniature hobby tool.

 

 

Cleaned up, this is how it should sit afront the cooler. Notice that the cooler entrance is nicely moulded plastic, but the exits are metal, with nil increase in detail. This seems pretty silly, as now I need two different primers for the same part.

The gap in the lower cowl also has to be repaired, since the real one has no hole. A bit of masking tape made a good enough die wall, and I pasted in some epoxy mixed up with scenic grass (off the floor) from my last project. I marked up where all the cowls separate from each-other, and later cut them apart with the little circular saw.

 

 

Dremel grinding stones helped thin the cowls from the insides - especially at the edges - to more resemble the thickness of the real ones. I figure if the edges are thin enough to tell the story, then you won't notice the middles have been left slightly thicker for strength.

 

 

Thanks. See ya next time!

[Mals Way]

Sweet, a real great start here Andy.

 

That camo sure looks badass, looking forward allready to see that part.

 

 

[BeaveringAway]

Thanks Mal. Never done whitewash before, so am going to test a range of media before I settle on a plan. my reference tells me by mid winter the washes were deeply worn and stained by exhaust and handling, and looked very dramatic. Even with the german fighters there is a faint sense that they participated in something noble, like a one on one dogfight, but the Stukas never did anything remotely noble for anyone - they were just a hammer to smash heads open. I am moved to make mine look as disgusting as possible, and the base this time will be snow and ice.

[AngryJazz_Models]

Great start! Really like where you are going with this one. Ill be taking notes for my own build 😉

 

From what I gather. This kit is one of Border models better ones... 

[BeaveringAway]

Thanks Angry Jazz! Bee Bop A Doo Daa Aaaaaarchpertooie!

 

I can't say where this model sits on the Border roll of honour, as it's my first one, and as BF-002 I'm guessing its their second ever. I can only compare with the new Heinkel 111 which I have also just taken delivery of, and which I would describe as a truly exciting prospect. So far this JU87 kit has got me annoyed with the cowl business, as well as in the instruction manual where they don't get involved in the hassle of telling you what colour anything is, where any of the smaller decals go, or why you would choose one optional part over another. I have downloaded helpful instructions from Hasegawa and Trumpeter, but mostly relying on research, and the 1 Man Army stencil set I just bought! Hooray 1 Man Army! Didn't expect them to do 1/35 planes, and found it by accident on BNA. Hooray BNA!

 

The HE-111 is a Disneyland of plastic, appears to have all the above stuff sorted out, and has got my juices going. 

 

But first... the evil 87.

[Archimedes]

Nice start Andy - you have quite the eye for detail! 

 

I am looking forward to seeing how you go with this one: The Ju-87 G2 with those big cannons always looks ‘right’ to me in the way that the Ju-87 dive bombers never do. 

 

Kind regards,

Paul

[BeaveringAway]

Thanks Paul. Yeah maybe you're right. I think most German planes look 'wrong' to me, and I think that's what I like about them. Even this one. And they had a real obsession with making them lopsided so they wouldn't fly straight. Any kind of Stuka looks odd to me, I mean I think they came up with the gull wing idea first and then figured out how to make it fly. Does it need gull wings? If you let go of the controls in an HE-111 it flies in a circle, and even the BF109 has the drop tank off centre. When I see the version of the Stuka with Passenger Pods on the wings I just shake my head. They were wacky dudes. Field Ordinance bolted to the wings? How about a couple of washing machines! A piano? I need to lie down now.

[BeaveringAway]

Cowlfusion .

 

Hi again. Long time no post. As well as being side-tracked by life in general, I have also been researching and downloading info and traipsing around second hand bookstores trying to find a picture of the inner walls of the D/G Stuka Cowls. So far nobody seems to have been interested enough to take such a photo. The best I can find is this one of a D in Africa.

 

 

Based on the cowls plopped on the ground, I have extrapolated to the scheme below - rather like when an archaeologist finds a big toe, and from that makes his drawing of the entire dinosaur.

Here I am using 0.4mm thick Polystyrene Sheet by Evergreen that I have sliced into 1.5mm and 0.5mm strips, fixed in place with Super Glue, and then cemented with Extra Thin. Feeling very uncomfortable though, about the degree of assumption involved. Going back now to my other life for a few days, and I would love it if one of you learned fellows is able to help me out with a Cowl Photo with more of its insides on display!

 

 

Thanks. Cheers!

[BeaveringAway]

Let's Cowl Again, Like We Did Last Summer...

 

Hullo again. I hope your own projects are all going swimmingly.

 

I have been distracted by other matters, but I have also done a bucket load of extra research to try and sort out these cowls. Long afternoons on the web, a day or two of stalking the second hand bookshops, and going over and over the photos and books I already had. Bye and bye I found some bits of cowl lurking in the shade under Stukas that I had filed as photo-reference, in other categories such as armaments, and using Photoshop I was able to lighten up the shadows and reveal more detail. Eventually, I found enough bits to explain the overall system.

 

The JU87D/G cowls were attached via studs which either screw or bayonet (don't know which) into female brackets fixed to the engine or to other cowls. My assumption that ribs must align with female tabs was erroneous - of course they must line up with the rivets on the outer skin - so I ripped most of them up and started again.

 

Here's the upper cowl. The white plastic strips are 0.4mm thick Polystyrene Sheet by Evergreen, mostly glued with Extra Thin. I found the rivet wheel too hard to control in these cramped spaces, and ended up poking all the rivets in again individually with a compass needle.

 

 

 

0.8mm holes were drilled with my fab new toy, a rechargeable drill that rotates slowly, at (selectable) 500/600/700/800/900 RPM so it won't melt your plastic. Its the size of a carpenter's pencil, so I find it easy to work with and position accurately. I got it on AliExpress for about $40USD.

 

 

The lower cowl is also ribbed but differs from the upper in several ways. It features cotton-bud shaped prongs which appear to 'snap' into some unknown receptacle when you push the cowl upwards, and the front end has a pair of 'ears' that appear to mate in some fashion with the roundel between engine and propeller. For fastening, there are four female bracket holes, but also side-clips, and a big round plug which provides support through the cowl's belly button. The oil radiator has a short and a long side (see initial post) and I have discovered that the lower cowl featured a built-in lid over the short-side exhaust area, to keep its fumes out of the engine bay.  

 

 

I shaped the frontal ears around a soldering tip set to 150 deg C. The prongs are 0.6mm copper tube super-glued into pre-drilled holes, and then gooped with a bead of CA on the end which I've tidied up with a sanding stick.

 

 

If you were a mechanic, getting into the Jumo engine wasn't just a case of lifting the hood like on a BF109; you had to remove one of the side panels first, and then proceed to dismantle your way inwards by removing all the others. In photos of the engine being serviced, these cowls and bits can sometimes be seen set in a row aside the plane, or parked under it in a pile.

 

 

My studs are 0.6mm resistor wire super-glued into pre-drilled holes. I have also drilled out the air-intakes, crank cap, and oblong something-or-other door. I did so because they were not indicated on the inside surfaces, and I decided the easiest way to line them up was to drill them out and then deal with the holes. The silver hatch is just a bit of copy paper with some tinfoil stuck to it (it was laying around in the workshop) super-glued in place. The round crank access cap is a bit of sprue that has been sawn off like a slice of sausage and Extra Thinned in a slightly open pose. I cut into the little trapezoid door top and bottom with the same tiny circular saw, and scribed down the hinge on both sides.

 

 

I'm pretty confident I've now got the cowl assembly structurally correct, with the caveat that I still haven't seen a proper photo of the whole insides, so my depiction of the cowl-ribs can only be regarded as an educated guess. On the other hand the side panels appear to be simple slabs of aluminium, with no ribbing and just these few hatches attached. I think I can now go ahead and shoot some primer.

 

 

 

Engine Mounts.

 

Quaintly, when I arrived at the Engine Mounts I noticed that Border has supplied them with 6x holes, and 1x not-a-hole. I asked Border why the not-a-hole? They replied that:

     "...we are very disappointed not to provide the 3mm holes, which are on backorder. Most available 3mm holes in China have been purchased by the Space Program, leaving shortages elsewhere in the economy. Also we are are upset with Party officials who have diverted our recent 3mm holes shipment to Trumpeter. We tried to import an imperial equivalent from the USA, but due to Trump tariffs, when they arrived those holes measured only 1.5mm!  So for now we can only provide you with 3mm Hobby Boss not-a-holes from old kits we source from ebay..." 

 

The plastic model business sounds pretty tough. Anyway its not a problem for me, because I have an expensive new drill, see below.

 

 

 

Actual Engine.

 

I don't mind the Border engine. Not much detail, but I can see no barrier to adorning it.

 

To get started, I didn't like their tiny spaghetti pipe (see initial post above) so I ground it away and added my own, made from 2mm brass tube. In Luftwaffe Jumo 211J literature the end of these pipes are open (one on each side) so I think they must be like a reverse bass-reflex input for the Supercharger. On the port-side I turned the rear end 90 deg using pliers, and super-glued them both in place.

 

The same literature showed the spark plugs arranged in an unexpected way, which is confirmed by some other reference. My loom pipe is 1mm brass tube, which has been pre-bent around the actual engine and then drilled at marked intervals with 0.6mm holes at 45 degrees. The ignition leads are 0.6mm resistor wire which has been inserted and then soldered. I marked on the engine block where to put the spark plug holes, and made them 0.8mm to provide wiggle room for fitting. Once each was in place I used tweezers to sit the ignition wires up a little bit further off the surface.

 

 

The cowl mounting-flanges were, like the pipe, also too narrow - so I Extra Thinned four new 0.25mm thick ones straight on top.

 

Again from AliExpress, I bought a bag of these Super-Glue nozzle extenders which have proven a great help in getting the glue into tight corners. Now I no longer need to transport glue on the end of a toothpick, because the nozzle tip will go absolutely anywhere. This one is cut to half-length, and was used to glue the pipes in place.

 

 

I think the current state of the engine constitutes a good start, and I shall now be looking into business at the firewall.

 

Interestingly, at least to me, I have not yet applied a single drop of paint.

 

Thanks. See u later.

 

 

 

 

[Gazzas]

Nice work!  Those panel interiors look great.

[BeaveringAway]

Thanks Gazzas

 

So, of course, about half an hour after yesterday's post, while I was looking for photos of the starboard engine view, I hit the jackpot by finding a very good photo of the upper cowl innards which I have displayed below. I think I may have muttered something like "Oh Fecal Stool" when I saw it, but that attitude became more positive when I realised I didn't have to rip up any of my work - just add to it, which I am doing presently. There's a new horizontal line of bracing, and an extra rib at rear, as well as adding some height to rib centres. I will have to look again at the lower cowl in terms of harmonisation with the upper.

 

I read that at the end of the war there were only a handful of Stukas left in service, so I probably shouldn't be so narked about the scarcity of 'walk-around-the-engine' photographs, but I am finding that having to dig so hard is a little bit frustrating, in terms of getting going on this model.

 

Cheers!

 

[BeaveringAway]

Done Deal.

 

Hi all.

 

I have updated both upper and lower cowls, and engine, and am finally happy! Yay.

 

Added strips of plastic everywhere to make the cowl- ribs prouder. Where they needed to be extra-proud I used the 'wire-pronged shapey tool' to help cut 0.65mm thick sections. (I Extra-Thinned a 0.25mm and a 0.4mm layer together, as I didn't have a similar thickness on hand). These were Extra Thinned in place, and shaped with a grinding tip loaded into my fancy Drill Pen.

 

 

Following my own advice, I drilled out the upper cowl fluid hatches, and fitted some lids into them, slightly open...

 

 

...and on their underside, a circular mechanical bit, which is just a sausage-slice of sprue secured with Extra Thin.

 

 

The lower cowl has also been fiddled with, guided by some new evidence, as well as a strong sense that its structural approach must also relate to that of the upper cowl.

 

 

I moved the exhaust shelf to above the supporting rib, and deleted its rear grille (which turned out to be an optical illusion) - replacing that with a single upright which is cut from a soft-drink can folded in half and super-glued in place.

 

 

...and a little extra outer skin wanted to protrude into the oil cooler intake.

 

 

 

I Also Moved The Engine Stuff Along...

 

...making Side-Brackets and the Oil Cooler Surround, and using Adobe Illustrator to help me with both.

 

In my research I have found at least three different looks for a naked D or G Oil Cooler. I have no clue why; maybe its just different factories. I chose the one below because it looks like the dish that carries the roast chicken to Grandma's for Christmas lunch, which tosses some much needed irony into the face of this poster-boy for Nazi killering.

 

I measured the radiator, figured out the metalwork, and drew it up. I also did the same for the engine bracketing, and employed my new Vevor Vinyl-Cutter to slice that out of 0.4mm plastic sheet. I still haven't got the Vevor set up properly so I had to finish the cut using a hobby knife. Also did the same for upper cowl petrol caps.

 

 

Mirrored printouts of the radiator surround were aligned and pasted onto each side of some soft-drink can metal. The thick lines tell me to push one way, and the thin lines the opposite way. I started pushing with a small screwdriver, and got the poor result seen in the top right corner. After that I only used my (blunted on purpose) glass-cutter depicted above, to score the lines evenly against a cutting mat. The resulting pressed metal was wrapped around the now filed-down radiator part, then trimmed to size and liberally super-glued in place. Any exposed colour was subsequently sanded away (which I should have done before I started).

 

I committed to the piece depicted, despite the inferior section, as somehow my sloppy work seems perversely to come back to me as a head start on my weathering.

 

 

Anyway, it all worked out well - as did the cut plastic, which I proceeded to bend and Extra-Thin into the engine space. I also woke up to the obvious oversight, that my socket rail above the exhausts was not supposed to be like the one below it, so I had to shave it down and fill in the divots.

 

Someone on LSP said they used Bicarb of Soda and Super Glue as filler, and I wanted to try it. The closest thing I had was Baking Powder, which worked like nano-second concrete. Sprinkle powder into gap, drip in a drop of CA, and then in the time it takes to let go of the CA and pick up a file - it is set, and I can file it!  Wow!  Anyway I used that on the engine brackets, but mostly on the cowls if ends didn't quite meet and things were very untidy as a result.

 

 

Since it already sports the finish I want, I intend leaving the chicken pan uncoated, as-is. I really wanted to have the metal, radiator, and radiator front bits separated for painting, but the only way to build them turned out to be all together, so I will have to address that section with brushes. (NB: both engine mounts and the oil cooler are blu-tacked onto the engine for these photos.)

 

The port-side bracket has the crank tool entry hole. The fore edge of that feature has (on port and starboard) been bent inwards with a 150deg soldering iron.

 

 

 

Thanks. I hereby put a stake in the ground and declare all the above ready for paint.

 

signed Mr Beaver.

[Mals Way]

Very nice scratch work going on here, and super detailing, yes like it very much..

 

Looking forward to see some paint on that engine.

[BeaveringAway]

Thanks Mal. Yes the amount of research to simply get to this point boggles my brain. There's so little close-up detail out there. Will hopefully paint my first primer coat tomorrow. Have learned much from watching your blog and love to see photos of your bench, because it tells me what stuff to buy! 😁 (I currently have one of your Circle Cutters on its way from AliExpress)

Bestest.

 

[OzzieNick]

Loving this @BeaveringAway as I hv both 1/35 Border and Hasegawa 1/32 in the stash ……

pass the popcorn …..🍿