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I bought the Hasegawa St25 Stuka last night. I've been searching for upgrades and have become confused. I see that there are a few different kit numbers of this scale. Eduards site will not pull up the St25 nor will Verlinden. I would like to upgrade the gun barrels including the flak 18 also the cockpit wheels prop and whatever else I can get..I just need help with specific part numbers for these upgrades. Thanks.

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If you decide to build it as an earlier G-1, there's a curious goof on the markings-placement drawing: the four-letter Stammkennzeichen, GS+MD, is shown outboard the underwing crosses. To be correct, they should straddle them, thus G+S M+D.

If choosing the boxtop art version, WNr.494193, Rudel & Gadermann were using this one in the autumn of 1944 over Hungary. The kit omits the Stammkennzeichen that were still beneath the wings, S+O F+W. Rudel was wounded in this machine 17.November 1944, making an emergency landing at Budapest-Budaƶrs airfield.

Good luck with your build, this big bird will be impressive when completed!

GRM

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The G-2 was a year in the future at the time of "Citadel" (the German's code word for the Kursk offensive in the summer of 1943); the G-1 had its experimental debut a few months earlier in March 1943. Rudel's first successes with this specialized aircraft was against Soviet landing craft in the Crimea (there are propaganda newsreel film segments from the Deutsche Wochenschau on YewToob showing some of these - those 37mm shells make quite a splash!).

Here's his earliest-known machine (the caption incorrectly labels it as a G-2, but it's a G-1): Panzerknacker This image is one of a series that PK-photographe Grosse shot of this aircraft preparing for takeoff.

The machines (there were at least four) marked with the chevron and horizontal bars date from after Rudel became Kommodore of the SG 2 "Immelmann" at the beginning of August 1944.

GRM

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You asked, "Did his G-1 have thever (sic) forward facing arrow at the time of Kursk?"

No, not even his first G-2, when he was Gruppenkommandeur of the III/SG2. This 'arrow' marking was adopted from fighter pilot Kommodore, and variations can be found on Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfs (and some other types as well), but it certainly was not common on Stukas. Earlier Kommodore of the St.G. 2 (they changed the unit designation to SG 2 in Oct. 1943) such as Hozzel or Kupfer had used the more conventional "T6+AA".

Sorry to disappoint. There's been a lot of misinformation printed about the Stuka, and even some recent works still suffer from miscaptioned photos, etc.

GRM

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Stuka finally arrived yesterday from Japan. Still confused on markings for Rudels bird..i read that he flew the first production G1 and Im thinking of building that aircraft. Pictures of it have yet to be found. I want this to be an accurate representation of any G model flown by Rudel.

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I want this to be an accurate representation of any G model flown by Rudel.

The kit's decals are 'almost complete; I mentioned the omission of the Stammkennzeichen letters beneath the wings in my first reply, back on 19.Oct. The kit depicts 494193, which he was flying over Hungary in the autumn of 1944 (observe the yellow "V" beneath the port wing, added to 'friendly' Luftwaffe and Hungarian machines, after Romania switched sides, but was still operating German-built aircraft). Rudel was WIA in this aircraft 17.November 1944.

I know of at least seven different Ju 87Gs operated by Rudel, only one of which is a G-1 (and which was re-marked at least once). The kit's markings are fine, but if you wish to depict a different machine, some had code letters, others the "<-+-" marking he adopted when promoted to Kommodore of the SG 2 "Immelmann." The theft of Rudel's logbooks in May 1945 robbed posterity of, among other things, the ability to easily determine which machine he flew at Kursk, which seems to be your Holy Grail. It MAY have been the G-1 whose Stammkennzeichen began with "GS+" (but there's no certainty that it was the GS+MD included in Hasegawa's kit, and in any case, it was re-marked with the "B2" on the spats, typical of the St.G. 2). Eaglecals likely goofed on their sheet with this one, far more likely it was coded T6+BH than the T6+BB they chose.

Good luck, GRM

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Thanks for the feedback sir. I will stick with the kit decals..it's no big deal. My next question is I received a jar of rlm 23 which is supposed to be red. The jar I have looks to be a pinkish orange. Its model master and I've never had this problem before.I'm no expert on German paint so any help is appreciated.

Edited by rcflyerguy
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You're welcome. Happy to help when I can.

RLM 23 is certainly red, not whatever color resides in the paint jar. However, sometimes, when stirred and applied, one can end up with a color very different from what it SEEMED to be in the jar.

The undersides of Ju 87s were a standard paint color, RLM 65, which is a pale blue. The uppersurfaces of Ju 87s were a factory-applied so-called "splinter" pattern of RLM 70 (black green) and RLM 71 (dark green). The B+W spiral spinner decoration on your model was a common marking in 1944 for fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, and ground-attack machines.

As to how your final finish appears, a couple words of advice. From the North Cape (Finland) to North Afrika, these were "dirty birds." They often flew from unimproved frontline strips, and both ground and flight crew walked on and clambered into them with muddy footwear. So what would the tires, wheel covers and lower fuselage look like, too? Dirty.

Exhaust stains are always prominent and describe a particular arc along the cowl and fuselage -- check photos.

The prop blades were wooden, so don't put silver 'paint chips' on it.

Don't go overboard with the wear & tear, however. Being the boss' machine, it was well taken care of, and considering how quickly these were 'used up' (constant ground fire/hits. As Col. Hitschold said, "Bei den Russen, schieƟt ja alles." - With the Russians, everyone and everything shoots.) the machines tended to last weeks, not months. Rudel ran through a number of them.

GRM

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You sir are a world of knowledge and I appreciate your help..I bought the so called red for the Arado Ar 196 A3. That's a story in itself. I hope to start the stuka soon. I'm looking for metal cannon barrels and I see master models has them but it will take some time to get them here from overseas.I will probably be looking for more info as the build gets closer and during as well.

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