Building Huma's Junkers Ju EF 128

By Stuart Beatson

This is one of quite a few motel models that I have built in the last couple of years. I work in the mining and resource industry for an instrument supplier, and I can spend anywhere from 40 to 80 days a year away on business. I am normally in remote townships or mining camps and modelling is a useful way of whiling away the time.

I normally build 1/72 scale, as this is an easy size to pack in bag and take away. I have a small wooden box that I use to carry a few tools with me, such as a paint brushes, hobby knife, scriber, glue, small drills, tube of putty and a ball of blue-tac whose uses are endless.

The Ju EF 128 is one the many Luft 46 kits that Huma produce and the parts are beautifully moulded with engraved panel lines and no flash.

I started the kit with building up the cockpit, which is rather sparse. I discarded the kit seat and made up my own seat from scrap plastic that I had with me and used paper strips to simulate the harness. I also made from scrap plastic some side instrument panels and used paper strips to simulate the internal ribbing of the cockpit wall.

I then assembled the whole cockpit and brush painted it with Gunze RLM 02. Next came the wheel wells, which are very basic in detail and are not enclosed, so when the fuselage halves are assembled you could see into the model. I used some plastic sheet and part of an aluminium drink can to close in the main wheel well so as to eliminate that see through look. Once complete the wheel wells were painted with Gunze RLM 02 and left to dry. As this would be a tail sitter I added some weight up front by using some sinkers that I purchased from a bait and tackle shop in the town were I was staying. These were glued behind the cockpit using super glue.

With the cockpit and wheel wells complete and nose weight added I glued the fuselage halves together. The fit was excellent and only a little clean up with some wet and dry sand paper was required, to eliminate the join line. The wings were attached and the vertical stabilisers were added. Once again here the fit was excellent and only minimal filling was required. The canopy was glued into place and this was as far as I could go with this kit on the road.

When I returned from my trip I started painting. Painting was done with Testors Acryl RLM 78 Hell Blau on the underside and the top in RLM 82 Dark Green with RLM 83 Light Green stripes, which were airbrushed free hand. The panel lines were highlighted using a lead pencil and a few paint chips were added using some silver paint.

The landing gear was painted RLM 02 and then attached, as were the gear doors. The kit decals were used but the shield and the swastika's came from some spare sheets that I had around. The model was then finished in flat clear.

This was an enjoyable build that did not tax me too much, and it also gave me a chance to do some scratch building, which I had not attempted before.

This is the 4th Huma kit that I have built and I would recommend them to anybody.

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