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Ju88 Question


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The A4 did not appear until well into 1941: even the Balkans campaign was mainly A5s. The A5 was certainly used during the Blitz, but I'm not sure whether it saw action in the daylight raids of the BoB.

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The Ju-88A-5 was powered by either a Jumo 211B, Jumo 211G-1 or Jumo 211H-1 series. The BMW was a radial and appeared later on, the most notable version being the G-1, H-2. But was were a couple others.

Depending on which boxing of the kit you have, some came with both sets of engines and props. HTH.

c.

Edited by chomper
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@ Forseti42, there is a BIG difference between the JUMO and BMW engines, size, type and shape.

As already mentioned, the JUMO is an inline engine and the BMW is a radial engine. Aside from looking at all the Ju.88 variants tl clearly illustrate this, take a look at the Fw.190 series of aircraft. The early Fw.190A/F and G series of aircraft were BMW, radial engine powered aircraft, now look at the Fw.190D, which was powered by a JUMO inline engine. The noses do not look at all the same.

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CeeTee,

You cannot get to an A-5 from an A-4 without some conversion work. The A-5 actually preceeded the A-4 in production series. Both aircraft used the inline Jumo engine, however the cowlings are very different. The A-4 had a large bulge under the cowl where the A-5 cowl was cylindrical and smooth.

The other noticable difference is the vertical fin/rudder. The A-5 and early A-4s had a straight hinge line at the rudder. Early in the A-4 production a balance horn was added at the top of the rudder putting an 'L' turn into the rudder hinge line.

If you want to do an A-5 you can start with the Dragon/Monogram A-4 and add the A-5 conversion available from Model Design Construction. You should be able to find the conversion (#CV029) on MDC's website along with a photo of the parts which will show the differences being talked about.

HTH.

Dave

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The large bulge underneath is to hold the oil cooler, which was integral to the radiators on the A-1/A-5. The pattern of the radiators/intakes in the annular mounting is thus different as well. The 1/72 models get very confused about this, the Italaeri A-4 providing the earlier pattern, the later one being given by the AMT, where it should be the Jumo 213 pattern, different again. I presume that the 1/48 kit has the correct pattern for the A-4.

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If you want an A-5 keep a sharp eye out for the A-6 boxing coming from DML later this summer. An A-6 was simply an A-5 with a ballon fender on it so leave off the fender mounting hardware (hopefully they'll leave in the 'original' parts) and you'll have an A-5

http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=...le&sid=2664

Matt

Edited by Matt Roberts
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Another visible difference is the gondola, especially the ventral gun. The A 1-5 series have a single gun mounted it a round window, a 4 and others had twin guns mouted in a slit window. I think that the wings were also shorter in the A1-5

Falcon makes a number of vacuform sets that assist in the conversion to early ju88s

Rob

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Did the A4 version of the Ju88 do most of the bombing during the Battle of Britain? Or was it the A1?

Thanks

MDC do a conversion back to an A1 which includes new wingtips and ailerons for the shorter span wing of the A1.

I found the wingtips were a bit short chordwise but cutting them in half glueing them in place and filling the resultant gap worked OK.

-keith

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... I think that the wings were also shorter in the A1-5

Falcon makes a number of vacuform sets that assist in the conversion to early ju88s

Rob

The A-5 had the longer span wings that were used on the A-4. While perhaps over simplified, think of an A-5 as being an A-1 with long span wings.

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Thanks for the link Matt!

One question though, the link Matt posted seems to show the Ju-88A-6 (i.e the Ju88A-5 also) having the late "L"-turn in the rudder hinge line, and MDCs link for their Ju88A-5 conversion also seems to show this but the consensus on this thread seems to be that the later rudder configuration didn't start till some point in the A-4 production. So did the Ju88A-5/A-6 have the straight or horned rudder?? :woot.gif::woo:

DML kit

Dragon_Ju88A-6_5.jpg

MDC conversion

L_CV48029.jpg

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The A-1 had shorter wings (the outboard end of the ailerons were part of the wing tip), no bulge under the engines, smooth canopies (no bulges at the aft end), single aft facing mg in canopy and a straight rudder line.

The A-4 had extended wing tips (as did all subsequent models), the bulge under the engines, bulges introduced in the canopy above two mgs, and early versions had the straight rudder line which was replaced on the production lines w/the jogged rudder line (balanced rudder)

The A-5 was an early A-4 airframe w/the A-1 engines (the newer, more powerful Jumos weren't ready when the airframe was). There are also pics out there of A-5s having the single gun aft canopy as installed on the A-1s (probably a case of using up existing stock before starting to introduce updated units.

Plus the various and assorted field mods that all airforces seem to come up with during a shooting war - best example would be the two additional mg-15s added to the sides of some Ju-88s firing latterly from positions just aft of the pilots seat (must have been interesting - 1 gunner, 4 different MGs - kinda like a one legged man in a butt kicking contest)

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A-5's were basically A-1's with the 'big' wing but the earlier engines and were adapted from A-1 production so it seems most likely that the rudder would be without the horn balance. I have a couple of pictures captioned as A-5's and the rudder is without the balance.

peebeep

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Looking at the images Dragon has released on the impending "A-5" release, it looks like the nacelles have the cooler bath underneath and the rudder has the kink for the balance horn. From here, it looks like the "A-4" kit with a cable cutter.

Hopefully, the box has the corrected parts in it.

Dave

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  • 1 month later...

Greetings,

I had thought all A-1's were recalled for refit after dismal results in France and Norway at the war's start.

The plane was optimised as a dive bomber, with wings too short for anything else (like carrying bombs) and the rush to production left many details unresolved.

DErickson

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So the Dragon A6 without the cable cutter can serve as an A5?

Out of the box, the Dragon Ju-88 with cable cutter is Dragon's standard A-4 kit. You will still have to change the engine nacelles and the vertical fin/rudder. Depending on if you are doing an early or late A-5 you may have to change the rear canopy to the single gun configuration.

Dave

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Greetings,

I had thought all A-1's were recalled for refit after dismal results in France and Norway at the war's start.

The plane was optimised as a dive bomber, with wings too short for anything else (like carrying bombs) and the rush to production left many details unresolved.

DErickson

Most of the 88s that fought in the Battle of Britain were A-1s.

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Out of the box, the Dragon Ju-88 with cable cutter is Dragon's standard A-4 kit. You will still have to change the engine nacelles and the vertical fin/rudder. Depending on if you are doing an early or late A-5 you may have to change the rear canopy to the single gun configuration.

Dave

According to what Matt Roberts said in an earlier post, the Dragon A-6 is an A-5 with a wire cutter. Who is correct here?

Edited by CeeTee
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According to what Matt Roberts said in an earlier post, the Dragon A-6 is an A-5 with a wire cutter. Who is correct here?

CeeTee,

I think Mat said to keep an eye out for the kit being released. The kit has now been released. You might want to go through the posts, compile the information on what an A-5 looks like, and then go look at the kit and make your own conclusion as to what is in the box. And, yes sir, an A-6 is definitely an A-5 with a cable cutter. Sadly, Dragon chose to give us an A-4 with a cable cutter.

HTH,

Dave

Edited by HistnScale
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