Reviewed by Rodger Kelly
 

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FirstLook

Now here's something different!  Cutting Edge Modelworks CED48222 provides markings for a Ju 88D, but not a normal Ju 88 by any means. 

Ju 88 D1/Trop, W.Nr.430650 of the Rumanian Air Force was surrendered to the RAF by a defecting pilot at Limassol, Cyprus in August 1943.  Following a re-paint in the RAF desert scheme of dark earth, middle stone and azure blue the machine was presented to the USAAF who flew it to the United States and tested it at Wright Field.  The machine survived the testing as well as the post-war scrapping drives and ended up at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio where it resides to this day – albeit re-painted in the colours and markings it wore whilst it belonged to the Rumanian Air Force.

Following its receipt by the USAAF it acquired markings that left no doubt as to who its new owners were.  It is these markings that are the subject of this sheet.  They consist of: 

• US flags for the top of the fuselage, either side of the fin and rudder and the under surfaces of both wings.  Two different sets of flags are supplied for the fin and rudder, an unmarked set to depict it as it was when it was freshly painted and a rather tattered set that duplicate the aircraft as it appeared later in life.

• A yellow theatre marking band for the fuselage.

• A set of red-surround national insignia that were applied when it was initially painted.  These were worn on the upper and lower surfaces of both wings as well as the fuselage contrary to normal practice but no doubt applied in this manner to remove any doubt as to the identity of its new owners.

• A further set of blue-surround national insignia that replaced the short-lived red ones.  These markings are "faded" with the surround being a darker blue to simulate the over painting of the red surround with fresh blue paint.

The placement sheet is A-4 in size.  It shows full colour illustrations of both the upper surfaces and left and right hand sides of the aircraft in the centre pages.  The upper surfaces of the fuselage and wings as well as the lower surfaces of the wings are shown on the rear page.  There is a further sheet as well and this provides a brief history of the aircraft, notes on the colour scheme and paint matches for RAF middle stone and dark earth to Xtracolor and Floquil paints.  Azure blue is not mentioned (I don't know what the Floquil match is but the Xtracolor match is X26). 

The decal sheet looks like it has been printed by Microscale.  The register is perfect and there is minimal film surrounding each design.  The recommended kit is the Hasegawa one.  I might be wrong, but I didn't think that Hasegawa produced a Ju 88 in 1/48 scale.  My bet would be the excellent Pro-Modeller Ju 88 kit. 

This is a great sheet from Cutting Edge that will certainly make a change from the splinter scheme RLM 70/71/65 normally seen on Ju 88s.  Hopefully, Cutting Edge will sell plenty of them and they will continue to cover these odd-ball schemes. 

Recommended.

Thanks to Cutting Edge Modelworks for the review samples..

Review Copyright © 2003 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 03 June, 2003
Last updated 14 August, 2003

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