1/48 Hasegawa Ju-87 B2/U4

Stuka with skids

by Carlos Quiroz

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There is not much to add to the history of the Stuka being one of the most recognizable aircraft in history. Famous for the dive attacks using the sirens which provoked terror on the population and soldiers even before the bombs hit the ground.

The Germans were very keen to produce specialized variants of their aircraft and this model is one of those cases. The Ju-87 B2/U4 was a modification of the standard B2 version with the addition of skids for operations on the snow. There is not a lot of information about this particular variant, but it was used in some amounts in Norway and on the Eastern front. However, the results were not very satisfactory making the Stuka, already somehow slow, even slower and less agile. Very little information can be found about this variant in fact. I could only locate one picture of the aircraft.

This particular model is one of the typical variants that Hasegawa makes from their basic models, in this case the well known Ju-87 B2. The only difference is the skids which are provided in the form of a few resins pieces. This would be an ideal project if you want to get a little taste of using resin since the pieces are very easy to clean and the fit is almost perfect.

The construction started as usual with the cockpit, which was painted with Gunze RLM 02 and diverse internal detail with black. Smaller details were picked using different shades of white, red, etc. Also the cockpit got some drybrushing and a few washes. The seatbelts come from a Eduard prepainted set. Other modifications in the cockpit was the use of an Aires MG-15 machine gun instead of the one provided with the model, and a few small details made with plastic rods.

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The fuselage went together very easily with just a minimal amount of putty. The wings also presented no problems. The model uses rather thick supports for the distinctive Stuka flaps which are not very similar to the real ones. I didn't change them, but I think they should be replaced for more realistic supports. This should also ease the masking of the wings.

I also modified a bit the landing light using a stock lens and I think this looks so much better that way. The ailerons also fitted very well.

The wing root joint to the fuselage was almost perfect and I used just a bit of Mr Surfacer to hide the join. At this stage I started painting the exterior using Gunze RLM 65 for the bottom and the skids. Then the masking of the camouflage was done using Tamiya tape. This task wasn't very difficult except for the already mentioned flaps. The next colors were then Gunze RLM 70 and RLM 71 without any bleedings producing a nice camo.

I left the canopy till the end since it was clear that the fit couldn't be more perfect. I got the Eduard masks, but they didn't really stick very well to curved surfaces so I when I took them off there was paint bleeding everywhere.  I then removed the paint and used Taimya tape for the masking and I painted it again. I think the end result was quite satisfactory and the canopy was finally glued using krystal klear.

The Aeromaster decals went on easily with little silvering. As a last stage many small details were added including the aerial, bombs, mass balancers, dive brakes and the nose.

All in all I'm pretty satisfied with this project especially since it is my second 1/48 model and just the 5th after I returned to the hobby. It was an easy build and the plane looks impressive in my shelf.

Hope you enjoy

Carlos

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Photos and text © by Carlos Quiroz