Cyber Hobby

1/48 Junkers Ju 88G-6 ‘Nachtjäger’ w/ Luftwaffe Pilots decal sheet

Product #5563 from HobbyLink Japan http://www.hlj.com

Product Article by Dave Johnson on Nov 3 2010

 

Product #5563 (http://www.hlj.com/product/CYVCH5563) from HobbyLink Japan 


*History -*
The Junkers Ju88 was designed by Hugo Junkers company in the mid-1930s,The Ju 88 suffered from a few number of technical problems and setbacks during the later stages of its development and early operational roles. But the Junkers Ju 88 became one of the most versatile combat aircraft during the Second World War. The Junkers Ju 88 was found to be suited to virtually any role it was used for. The Ju 88 assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945, and more than 16,000 Ju 88s were built in many forms of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of that period. Throughout the production, the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged, proof of the outstanding quality of the original design from Hugo Junkers. The Junkers Ju 88G was developed as a night fighter that used a modified A series fuselage. The G series fuselage was purpose-built for the special needs of a night fighter role. The Ju 88G-6 versions were equipped with 2 Jumo 213a inline-V12 engines, enlarged fuel tanks and often one or two 20 mm MG151/2 cannons in a slanted installation, that fired obliquely upwards and forwards from the upper fuselage. Many Luftwaffe night fighter aces, such as Helmut Lent (110 victories) and Heinrich vonund zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (87 victories) flew Junkers Ju 88s during their careers. 

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*The Kit -*
The Junkers Ju 88G kit was first released before under DML/Dragon name back around in the early 2000’s if my brain is correct, and has been out of production for a while. With Dragon releasing newly tooled kits under the Cyber Hobby name, they have slipped in some newer boxing's of these older kits that have been released in the past. The kit it's self is fantastic with excellent molding and crisp details. The cockpit has some mighty fine details even with a kit of this age featuring control panels and radio equipment that is fitted into the nose of the aircraft that is molded separately from the fuselage. There are no seat harness supplied with the kit, these will be very visible through the canopy and the modeler may want to seek a aftermarket or a scratch built solution. Each wing assembly’s are molded in 4 parts two wing half’s and two other parts that make up a insert for the wing tips. The controllable surfaces are molded as separate parts, that are designed to install in one position, but with some clever modeling these could be easily positioned differently to what its intended too. The main landing gears comprise of 10 parts that build into a sturdy assembly that will support the weight of the finished model. The inline Juno engines are not supplied in the kit, but the engine cowls come with night fighter exhaust dampers, optional cowl flaps in the open and closed positions. The propellers are made up 3 individual prop blades and a single hub and spinner. Also
included in the kit is a photo etch fret that contains *control surface actuators, exhaust grilles and other small items*. 

The kits decals are printed on a small sheet of decal paper that appears nice and thin paper. Decals are in good register and are well printed.  There are no swastikas included on the sheet, so you will be required to dig into your spare/leftover decals. There are two schemes that are offered in this boxing –

*3./NJG 101 at Praha Gbell Airfield in 1945. *

*4./NJG 4 in 1945.*

*Also included in this boxing are 6 Luftwaffe pilots in different poses. Two of the figures are laying back in deck chairs and the four others are playing and watching a game of cards. There are chairs and tables include too.*

*Overall the kit is excellent for its age, and gives people the chance to pick one or more of these kits, if you missed out on the first time it was released. For what is included in the box its worth ever cent that you pay. I am looking forward to see what else Cyber Hobby re-releases, as there is a couple of out of production kits that I would love to add to my stash! * 

I would like to thank HobbyLink Japan for supplying this review sample.

Dave Johnson

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Photos and text © by Dave Johnson