Greetings from Colombia, this work
is very special because it is the resurrection of an old kit that was originally
an Italeri civilian version that became a military version of the Ju-52.
This model I presented to a friend of Cali, Colombia, Andres Ocampo called "Kater,"
confident in my abilities to restore this model and here are the results!
But first, some history:
The Junkers Ju 52 (nicknamed Tante Ju - "Auntie Ju" -
and "Iron Annie") was a transport
aircraft and bomber
manufactured 1932 – 1945 by Junkers.
It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a
civilian role, it flew with well over a dozen air carriers including Swissair
and Lufthansa
as an airliner and freight hauler. In a military role, it flew with the Luftwaffe
as a troop and
cargo transport, with a secondary role as a medium bomber. The Ju 52 continued
in postwar service with military and civilian air fleets well into the 1980s.
In its original configuration, designated the Ju 52/1m, the Ju 52 was
a single-engined aircraft, powered by either a BMW or Junkers liquid-cooled
engine. in 1936, James
A. Richardson's Canadian
Airways received (Werknummer 4006) CF-ARM , the sixth ever-built Ju
52. The aircraft, re-engined with a Rolls-Royce
Buzzard and nicknamed the "Flying Boxcar" in Canada,
could lift approximately three tons and had a maximum weight of eight tons. It
was used to supply mining and other operations in remote areas with equipment
too big and heavy for other aircraft then in use. The Ju 52/1m was able to land
on wheels, skis or floats.
However, the single-engine model was underpowered, and after seven prototypes
had been completed, all subsequent Ju 52s were built with three engines as the Ju
52/3m (German
drei motoren, meaning "three engines"). Originally
powered by three Pratt
& Whitney Hornet radial
engines, later production models mainly received BMW
132 engines, a refinement of the Pratt & Whitney design. Export models
were also built with Pratt
& Whitney Wasp and Bristol
Pegasus engines. The upgrade improved performance and load carrying
abilities. As a Lufthansa
airliner, the Ju 52 could seat 17, and could fly from Berlin
to Rome in eight
hours.
The Ju 52 first saw military service in the Spanish
Civil War, as both a bomber and transport aircraft. In the former role it
participated in the bombing
of Guernica. It was again used as a bomber during the bombing
of Warsaw
during the Invasion
of Poland of September 1939. The Luftwaffe
then relied on the Ju 52 for transport roles during World
War II, including paratroop
drops, most notably in the Battle
of Crete in May 1941. Lightly armed, and with a top speed of only
165 mph – half that of a contemporary Spitfire
– the Ju 52 was very vulnerable to fighter attack and an escort was always
necessary when flying in a combat zone. Many Ju 52s were shot down by anti-aircraft
guns and fighters while transporting supplies, most notably during the
desperate attempt to resupply the trapped German
Sixth Army during the final stages of the Battle
of Stalingrad in 1943. During the final phase of the North
African Campaign 24 of the Junkers were shot down in the infamous "Palm
Sunday Massacre" on 18
April 1943,
another 35 staggered back to Sicily and crash-landed. The transports' escorts, JG
27 claimed just one enemy fighter.
Various Junkers Ju 52s continued in military and civilian use following World
War II. In 1956, the Portuguese Air Force, who was already using the Ju 5s as a
transport plane, employed the type as a paratroop drop aircraft for its newly
organized elite parachute
forces, later known as the Batalhão
de Caçadores Páraquedistas. The paratroopers used the Ju 52 in several
combat operations in Angola and other Portuguese African colonies before
gradually phasing it out of service in the 1960s.
The Swiss
Air Force also operated the Ju 52, with three machines remaining in
operation until the early 1980s. (source Wikipedia)
Click on
images below to see larger images
The restoration of the model was wasteful but not complicated, Kater sent me
the model disassembled, saving me that complicated step. I began with
assembling the wings and painted some parts of the fuselage. I searched a lot of
information about the military version of Ju-52 and I had to put a piece of
transparent plastic on the floor of the cabin to hide spaces for the chairs of
the civil version.
I took the legs of chairs to make the civilian media seats for military passengers, the
benches were done with a piece of card, the rear bulkhead where the door
is located in the luggage compartment and the chair of the hostess and I altered
other bulkheads to match the military version.
The bulkhead that separates the cockpit was also redone and got him the job of radio operator and
navigator. While the cabin
was drying, I proceeded to paint the landing gear and engines to give a
"burned" finish showing use, the engine exhausts also received a coat of
copper colored paint to make them more real and the propellers were arranged so they could
return to tumble!
When the pews were painted with seat belts for passengers and installed.
I was then to install the rear bulkheads, I closed the fuselage with the
interior installed. Once I closed up the fuselage I realized the roof
needed to be removable to show off the interior detail.
On the roof of the military version is a machine gun for air defence, which
required cutting a hole in the roof and sourcing machine gun parts from my spare
parts bin. The support
and ring so that he could operate the gun were next. The ring was a bomb in a kit that
I had not used
and I could make a machine gun so that it would be as realistic as possible.
When the fuselage was stuck and I proceeded ready to give the first coat of
paint
and locate the wings to the fuselage. It was finally beginning to look
like a plane again.
With wings attached to the fuselage, I could focus on the assemble of the engines and complete certain details
such as one of the backdoors that will separate and a
ramp to load bulky items into the cargo area. Once ready with all that, I could
organize the figures to accompany the diorama when the plane was completed and finally
give them the first coat of paint!
After painting the yellow marks at the ends of the
wings, the model received a clear gloss coat for the decals. I
applied a dull clear coat to seal the paint and decals, I then installed the windows
using transparent acetate and the Junkers was
completed and ready to be placed on the base.
Finally, to give a more realistic touch, I prepared a base with green sawdust
and carefully placed the figures of mechanics, pilots, soldiers, passengers and 2
horses. One of the mechanics had a ladder so that he could reach one of
the engines and the same material was used to make a ramp for a kettenkrad
struggling to climb aboard the ramp, I hope you like this work!
Tigre del Aire
COLOMBIA ES PASION!
Greetings from Colombia, the land of Juan Valdez!
Saludos desde Colombia, la tierra de Juan Valdez!
Click on
images below to see larger images
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