Junkers Ju 52 "Toucan"

Italeri, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Italeri's 1/72 scale Ju 52 Toucan will be available online from Squadron.com
 

The Junkers Ju 52, nicknamed "Tante Ju" (Auntie Ju), was a bomber and transport aircraft. Production spanned from 1932 to 1945. The Ju 52 saw widespread civil and military service both during WWII by the Luftwaffe, and post war in many countries. Eight Junkers Ju 52s remain airworthy today.

Italeri released their original Ju 52 kit in the 1970s. Despite its age, the mouldings are holding up well and the overall effect is still impressive, especially the characteristic corrugations that cover the airframe.

Italeri's latest version of the Ju 52  comprises around 159 parts in dark green coloured, long run injection moulded styrene, and an additional 15 injection moulded clear parts. All the parts feature small sprue attachment points and are crisply moulded. There are no sink marks present on visible surfaces, and only a little fine flash around some of the parts.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The Ju 52 featured a unique corrugated surface, and the kit depicts this very well. Elsewhere, surface details are represented by very finely raised lines.

A basic interior is supplied, with bench seats and a stretcher in the cabin plus several figures.

Options abound in the boxing, with standard undercarriage provided, plus large spats and skis if desired. Clear parts are also provided for either the armed or unarmed version of the Ju 52.

The transparencies are cleanly moulded, thin and quite clear, with crisply raised framing.

Kit engineering is conventional. The wings and tailplanes are secured with the assistance of slots and tabs. The other parts, including the fuselage halves, feature locating pins.

The big decal sheet is a real highlight, with one post-war French "Toucan" and four Luftwaffe examples provided in desert, winter plus pre-war and wartime camouflage colours. 

Decals are nicely printed with a satin texture and minimal carrier film. Registration on my decals was perfect.



 

Italeri's 1/72 scale Junkers Ju 52 is just as good today as it was when it was first released, and stands up well in comparison to more recent releases in this scale.

Whether you want to depict Tante Ju in civil or military guise, Italeri's kit will do the job.

Recommended.

Peter Willicks has offered some additional information about construction of the model as the French "Toucan" variant, and about the colours, markings and decal options:

General Remarks:

Straight from the box the kit can be build as a Ju 52 g5e or g6e. Earlier and later subtypes of the Ju 52 need some rescribing/rebuilding, as they had different cargo doors, extra doors on the right side of the fuselage. Many Ju 52 had much smaller undercarriage struts than those included in the kit. These can be used for early Passenger-, transport- or bomber aircraft and for the latest versions including the AAC 1 "Toucan".

Finally the prop blades are to broad, those of the Heller Ju and even those of the old Airfix kit are better.

The decal options of the actual kit:

A. The "Toucan"

The Toucan used the smaller main-wheels of the C-47. Strangely, the box art depicts a Toucan with these wheels, but they're not included in this kit, but had been part of the passenger kit of the Ju 52 which had been produced by Italeri too. The Toucan had additional square shaped inlets under each engine. These inlets are included in the Ju 52 from Heller and Airfix. The Exhausts of the Toucan were much longer than those depicted in the instructions and protruded from the backside of the nacelles. The parts are on the sprues but marked as "not to use". Finally, the Toucan had an extra door on the starboard side of the fuselage, straight after the cockpit.

B. 1Z + BF

This can be build straight from the box. I would only suggest, that this aircraft was painted in a RLM 62, 63, 71 scheme, not RLM 73 as in the instructions. To me it seems, the aircraft was painted in the pre-war scheme and was incorporated into KGzbV 1 before the repainting in RLM 70/71 could be completed. But that is a speculation.

C. H 4 + AA

Correct, a photo of the wreck of the aircraft is in Transporter vol. 1 by Martin Pegg, p. 87. As the aircraft has been used for towing gliders, a rear-view-mirror was added to the cockpit roof.

D. P 4 + FH

No changes necessary. A photo of the aircraft in Transporter vol. 1 by Martin Pegg, p. 47, shows the aircraft equipped with skies. Only the name of the unit was "Transportstaffel Fliegerführer Nord (Ost)", the name in the instructions is wrong.

E. DB + RC (not D9 + RC!)

The code on the decal sheet is wrong. I guess Italeri used the codes from a profile in "Model Fan Encyclopaedia 4 Ju 52, by: M.Rys, P.Skulski, J.Magnuszewski", which depicted this same incorrect code. The aircraft was destroyed after it landed on Lake Hartvigvann, so the date "1941" is wrong too. And finally, I do not think that DB+RC was equipped with the hooded gun-position on the cockpit. Photos of Ju 52s in action in Norway and the Netherlands in 1940 show an open gun position.

F. 32 + V22

Here again Italeri has relied on a profile from Model Fan Encyclopaedia 4. I found a photo of the aircraft in the Ju 52 book by Heinz Nowarra. The aircraft was a Ju 52 g3e or g4e, a bomber or transport aircraft. Unfortunately the unit is not mentioned in the caption. This subtype had a small cargo door on the right side of the fuselage, just before the Balkenkreuz. On the photo, the door is open, so the code is not completely shown. But following the explanations of the five-letter-code by Kenneth Merrick, the code should be 32 + V12, because the first number behind the letter means the Gruupe, the last the Staffel. As is it an aircraft of the 2nd Staffel, the Gruppe-nr. should be a "1", because a 2nd Staffel was not part of the second Gruppe.

Thanks to Italeri for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2007 by Brett Green
Supplementary Text by Peter Willicks
Page Created 23 April, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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