Scale aviation modeller international

bit of masking to do. Fortunately

the Big Ed set includes their

excellent pre-cut masks, which

speeded up the procedure.

The dark grey used for the

pre-shading was sprayed on the

masked canopy to represent the

internal colour of the frames. I

then sprayed Humbrol 11 silver

over the canopy to help prevent

any bleed-through from the

internal lights. This was repeated

on the wing tips, the rudder,

and around the landing light.

The undersides were painted

RLM 78, which were then over

painted in a temporary flat black.

I used Humbrol’s RLM 79 match,

Matt 249, for the sand, and

Xtracolor’s RLM80 for the green.

I applied the sand colour and then

applied some sand, which had

been lightened with a little white,

to the centres of the panels.

Next, I applied the RLM 80

mottling. The paint was thinned

to a milky consistency before the

blotches were airbrushed freehand

with the compressor turned down

to 11 psi. With the top colours

masked off with copious amounts

of Tamiya masking tape, I then

applied the black undersides.

Utilizing the aftermarket decals

does not make the ones from the

kit totally redundant. The stencil

data is still needed, but only on

the topside as the lower surface

stencils would have disappeared

under the temporary black coat.

The kit decals are well printed

and the writing is clearly legible.

The walkways took some time to

apply but they all went down well

over Tamiya’s Gloss varnish.

The EagleCals’ decals are

also finely printed, and they

include the swastikas as two part

decals, which for legal reasons

are not on Revell’s sheet.

Once the decals had dried and

settled down over the engraved

panel lines, I started weathering

by applying a dot filter to give the

colours a sun-bleached look caused

by the southern Mediterranean sun.

The oil paints were squeezed

out onto cardboard, which soaked

away any excess oil. Once a section

was covered in the random pattern,

I used a flat brush, moistened

with thinners, to blend the

colours and thin out the dots. Note

that the brush requires regular

cleaning and re-moistening to

remove any buildup of oil paint.

Once one part of the airframe

was done to my satisfaction, I

started on another, moving across

the entire surface of the aeroplane.

When finished I applied a wash to

the panel lines using raw umber oil

paint thinned with white spirits.

Raw umber was also used to

create oil leaks and dirt streaking

across the model. The oils were

left to dry for a couple of days

before I applied Xtracolor’s Matt

Varnish to seal everything down.

On to this matt finish, I applied

paint chips and scrapes using a

silver pencil. The last stages of

weathering involved exhaust stains

and the dirt and dust thrown up

by the tyres and prop wash.

FINAL STAGE

It was now time to remove the

masks and fit the gun barrels,

undercarriage, aerial masts, and the

Lycra thread aerial cables. A final

electronics check confirmed that

there was no light bleed-through

and the propellers were spinning

in the correct direction. The

battery box can now be unplugged,

and the connecting wire tucked

away into the tail wheel bay for

static display and added when

you want to run your model.

CONCLUSION

The kit on its own is an impressive

large-scale Ju 88, and straight out

of the box there is plenty of detail

to keep you busy and produce

a very well-detailed model.

The Technik boxing adds the

magic of light and motion, which

looks very effective. The pre-

assembled electronics is virtually fool

proof, if you study the instructions

and don’t get your wires crossed!

If your bank manager is in an

extremely generous mood, you can

lavish a whole range of aftermarket on

the kit (what I used is only the tip of

the iceberg of items available for the

Ju 88!) to turn an already well-detailed

model into an amazing tour de force.

And who can resist the fun of

spinning propellers and flashing

lights? It certainly makes people

stop and stare at shows!

I thank Revell for giving

me the opportunity to build

this outstanding model. It is a

highlight of my collection and

is available to purchase from all

Revell’s stockist across Europe.

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