TC`s build thread.

[tc2324]

Ok, penultimate set of build photos before the finished product and back story. As you can see, I`ve redesigned the tail section so the jet exhaust does not burn the tail off. Added the two 37mm to the nose and primed the model ready for it`s paint job.

[sotoolslinger]

Wow :oNeato

[ChernayaAkula]

Putting the engine nacelles on top of the wings is a stroke of genius!  Way cool!

[Acree]

Putting the engine nacelles on top of the wings is a stroke of genius!  Way cool!

I agree, but the mechanics who have to change the engines every 30 hours might not! 

Chuck

[tc2324]

Putting the engine nacelles on top of the wings is a stroke of genius!  Way cool!

I agree, but the mechanics who have to change the engines every 30 hours might not! 

Chuck

Good job that it only flew 11 hours of test flights in my backstory then.......

Thanks for the comments guys.

Anyone else think it looks like a dodgy german copy of a Westland Whirlwind...??

[NARSES2]

Anyone else think it looks like a dodgy german copy of a Westland Whirlwind...??

Yup, exactly what I thought a Ju87/Whirlwind cross breed 

[Sisko]

This is awesome I love it!!!!!!

[tc2324]

Finished product and backstory...., Enjoy.

Junkers Ju 87`S` `Bodenkampfflug Dusenfugzeug`

By May 1943 General der Schlachtflieger (General of Close-Support Aviation) Ernst Kupfer had announced that further development of the Junkers Ju 87 would "hardly bring any further tactical value". Due to the age of the design and it`s now apparent vulnerability to more modern fighter types and air defences the `Stuka` production line began to decline to around 200 units a month.
In a bid to win new favour with the Luftwaffe and Erhard Milch,  Hermann Pohlmann of the Junkers company looked into various ideas of extending the Junkers Ju 87 production life. He first looked at why the Ju 87 had started to suffer heavy losses and after listening to various story`s from aircrew returning from the Eastern Front, speed seemed to be the main contributing factor.
Coupled with the fact that `new` jet engines had started to become available to potential designers and the Ju 87 `G` had started to prove an effective `tank buster` on the Eastern Front, Pohlmann contacted the Junkers Jet Engineering division and requested two Junkers Jumo 004 B-1 turbojets to be delivered to his `workshop`.
On 3rd December 1943 he revealed the Junkers Ju 87 `S` as his latest creation to Milch and other high ranking officials as an alternative to more advanced and complex ground attack redesigns. His argument was simple. Other than some basic modifications, most of the production line already existed for 90% of the new aircraft. Where the `Propeller` Ju 87 failed, the `jet` Ju 87 excelled. Speed was the key. The idea was to `speed cruise` to the target area at an average 450 mph, once on target, reduce the throttle to carry out the attack, then when the attack was over, open the throttles again and use speed to escape.

The design, the airframe and jet combination was never built for continued high speed manouvering, but as a means of getting the aircraft to the target in quick time and avoid enemy fighters.
The two 37mm canon were taken from the wings and now placed where the propeller engine use to be housed. This made the guns more stable and also the test pilots felt it was easier to `point and shoot` at targets. Each gun could now hold around 90 rounds each and the front intakes were now used to cool the weapons instead of the engine. The crew gunner was removed as rear defence was now deemed irrelevent. One interesting design of note were the engines which were placed on top of the wings. Two reasons for this were that is was noted that Foerign Object Damage was easier to get ingested in to jet engines placed under wings and as the aircraft was designed as a Ground Attack aircraft having the engines on top of the wings provided them with some form of protection. (Forty years later Fairchild Republic would copy and use a similar philosophy when designing their legendary A-10 Warthog).
Impressed, (although some reports indicate that it was more out of sympathy for a loyal German aircraft designer), Milch ordered 15 test flights to see how effective this aircraft could be. Unfortunatly, on February 26th 1944 during it`s twelth test flight during a firing test of it`s main weapons,  the Ju 87 `S` lost a wing in a shallow dive and crashed with the loss of it`s test pilot. Afterwards it was concluded that the stesses on the wing by the engine and firing of the canons caused what we now know as micro fractures in the main wing spar. Despite many pilots reporting the aircraft to handle well at speed, in a dive, acruate firing aim and a good payload, it had got to that time of the war where Germany could not spare any more Jumo Jet engines and a second Ju 87 `S` was never complted.

Below are the only images to remain of this little known chapter of the Junkers Company history.















(Colour pics added....)

[BlackOps]

Most excellent! 

[Cobra]

Awesome Job Sure you Didn't work for the Discovery Channel?? this looks like Something You'd see @ NASM!!!!!!!!!!! Great Work,TC!!!!!!! :cheers:Dan

[tc2324]

After the madness that was the Stuka Jet, and thanks for the nice comments guys, I have now got round to something I have wanted to do for sometime and is a little more `middle of the road`.

Lets imagine that back in 2000 74 `Tiger` Sqn transferred from Hawks to Tonka F.3,s and became a fighter unit again. Then in 2007 they became equipped with Tiffies until the RAF bought those Su-27`s at sometime in my made up future.  Confussed? You will be after this episode of...Soap..., errr, I mean `What if` 74....  (Does anyone remember Soap?? Otherwise that gag would have gone right over your head:o )

Anyways, the kits in question.....:cool:

[tc2324]

Just a quick update on tonights tinkering. Both the kits surprised me. The Tonka kit seems to comprise of around 10 bits and very easy to put together and then you come to the Tiffie and it seems to have 10,000 bits to it...!!

I can also see areas in both kits this soon into the build that will need filing and filling but not sure if it`s me or dodgy moulds..??





Also thought I`d use this post to introduce my 7 month old sons first `plastic kit`..., Quite frankly I told him it was a `what if` too far......!

[tc2324]

Anyway, the usual update, filling and filing then filling again because I forgot a bit...! Then smoothed them off ready for priming.

Quite a few gaps and misalignments to `fix`. Would be happy to admit they were my fault, but I don`t think they are??

When I masked off the Tiffie, it had that `I`ve just emerged from the Warton factory` look about it..:LOL:

[Tophe]

Belated congratulations for your T-tail jet Ju 87S.
(I love also your son's egg-Harrier)

[Ian the Hunter-Gatherer]

Watching the T-Jets closely...... 

Ian
PM inbound regarding the egg-harrier