Junkers Ju 87 B/R Stuka

21st Century Toys, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

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21st Century Toys has been making a name for itself in the collector's market with their large-scale, pre-assembled and painted aircraft and military models. Now, 21st Century Toys has expanded into plastic construction kits.

The first batch of 1/32 scale kits includes a Junkers Ju 87 B/R Stuka.

Hasegawa has recently released the later Ju 87 D and G variants, but we are still waiting for the definitive early-war Stuka versions - the B and the long-range R. 21st Century Toys has cannily chosen these variants for their first Stuka kit.

21st Century Toys' 1/32 scale Ju 87 B/R Stuka comprises 98 parts in grey plastic and 8 parts in clear, plus a bag of metal screws. The grey plastic appears to be regular hard polystyrene, and responds normally to model cements. Parts are not attached to sprues. Instead, they are packed in small groups of loose parts in separate plastic bags.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Surface detail is by way of recessed panel lines and a small number of rivet lines. The surface detail is heavier than Hasegawa's Stukas, but not as exaggerated as some mainstream releases of late. In my opinion, it also seems slightly more refined than the 21st Century Bf 109 F reviewed last week on HyperScale.

The outline of the kit conforms to scale drawings.

At first, I thought that the absence of individual cowl flaps was an oversight, but it seems that the Ju 87 B-1 featured this style of radiator outlet. If you are building a B-2 or an R-2, you can simply scribe the individual cowl flaps.

The canopy parts are clear, but the outlines of the frames are raised and quite noticeably overlapping. Unlike the Bf 109, though, the locating pins do not intrude into the clear areas of the canopy.

Most details are very nicely done, including the cockpit sidewalls, radios, radio operator's "grid" seat and radiator face texture. The only real exception is the pilot's seat, which is oversimplified and incorrectly shaped. As far as I can tell, the early Stuka pilot's seat was similar to that fitted in the Bf 109 E. Cutting Edge sells a replacement Bf 109 seat in 1/32 scale that will do the trick.

The seated pilot and radio operator figures are up to the same superb standard as those supplied in the 21st Century Bf 109 kit. They are each made up of a body, two poseable arms and a separate head. The figures are both completely different too - great attention to detail.

Options and features include sirens for the wheel spats, bombs for the centreline and wing racks, and drop tanks for the R variant. The 300 litre tanks are poorly shaped, being too symmetrical from front to rear. This is surprising, as the shape of the same style of drop tank in the Bf 109 kit released around the same time is quite good.

Markings are supplied for three aircraft:

1. Ju 87 B-2 Stuka - RLM 70/71/65, France, August 1940

2. Ju 87 B-2 Stuka - RLM 70/71/65 with prominent yellow theatre markings, Austria,1941

3. Ju 87 B-2 Stuka - RLM 70/71/79/65, with snake down the fuselage side, Libya, August 1940.

The decals are a real highlight - thinly printed, crisp and plenty of tiny detail extending to the smallest stencils.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Kit Engineering

I assume that, in addition to its current guise as a construction kit, this mould will also be used as the basis for a pre-built and painted static display model. That being the case, kit engineering has been optimised for ease of mass production by unskilled labour. The good news is that it should be easy for new modellers to build too.

The first thing you will notice when you open the box are a number of large holes in one fuselage side and on the bottom of the wings. These are holes for the screws that hold the main fuselage and wing assemblies together. Plastic plugs are supplied to fill these holes, but these vary in the standard of fit and, in any case, many modellers will also want to fill and sand the circles.

While building the Bf 109 kit I found the screws to be hard going in the styrene, and a combination of the positive locating pins and plastic glue seemed to do a fine job at holding the parts together. I won't bother using the screws this time around.

I do not see any reason that the Stuka should not be as fast and easy to build as the 21st Century Bf 109 F.

I think that 21st Century Toys is on to a winning concept here. Their 1/32 scale Junkers Ju 87 B/R Stuka is accurate, nicely detailed, will be quite fast to build and can be had for a pocket-money price.

Even with this larger parts count, the Stuka should be perfectly suitable straight from the box for beginner modellers, while superdetailers and scratchbuilders will be able to go to town on the cockpit and possibly the separate ailerons and flaps.

The only competition for this variant in 1/32 scale is the 1960s vintage Revell Ju 87 B. This new kit is superior to the Revell kit in all respects except the canopy.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to 21st Century Toys for the sample.

Review and Text Copyright © 2007 by Brett Green
Page Created 16 January, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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