1:32 Ju 87B-2

A Stuka over the Channel

The Junkers Ju 87B-2 was the peak of the early series of the dive bomber: a Jumo 211Da engine, strengthened landing gear legs and the famous ram-air driven sirens on the wheel fairing. In Spain, in Poland and during the campaign in the west it made a crushing impression, but over southern England in the autumn of 1940 it became clear what it paid for its accuracy. Without cover of its own it was slow and hard to defend, and the losses forced the command to withdraw it from attacks on British airfields.

What the set is made up of

The extensive glazing of the cockpit is covered from the outside and the inside and four separate stencils serve for spraying the national insignia. This variant adds no decals, so the result stands or falls with the quality of the spraying.

The craft: press the edge down, do not just lay it on

The commonest disappointment with cut stencils comes from the film being merely laid on. On the intricately shaped greenhouse canopy of the Stuka you have to go over the whole perimeter of a piece with a rounded toothpick or a burnisher and literally roll the edge into the plastic. Especially in the corners, where the frame breaks, a microscopic gap otherwise remains and paint creeps under it. A finger is not enough for that; it presses the film down in the middle and lifts the edges.

Useful small points

• Work in the warm; cold film beds down less well into recesses.
• Spray the insignia over a layer of base color underneath them.
• Use the set once; a piece that has been lifted no longer holds.
• The plastic bomber itself is not included.