New Tool Airfix 1/48 Stuka B1 vs Tamiya (Italeri) Stuka B-2: Which is better?

While I can't speak to the quality of either kit, I have seen the Airfix kit in 1/72 and it is a gem.  The enabler/Airfix fanboy in me would say get the Airfix and build them both.  The B1 had a larger engine and a significantly different canopy than the B2.  It can provide you with a Spanish Civil War or early WW2 bird.  The B2 can also be built as an R2, giving you a greater range of builds.  If you're building a Stuka just to have one in your collection, build the one you have.  The enabler in me says buy the Airfix and build it as well.  It's a variant that isn't common in kit form, and you can never have too many kits in the stash.

One thing I would really want to see on the Airfix kit is how they handled the open canopy sections in 1/48. I think the one-piece center canopy in the 1/72 kit makes it impossible ridiculously hard to paint the framework of the canopy piece that is stationary in the middle, but molded with the sliding portion over it.

I've built the 1/48 Tamiya/Italeri one, and I can say that the only real snag I hit with the kit was fit of the cowling. I was hoping to be able to make it removable, but it took a fair amount of clamping, gluing and filling to get it looking right. Could easily have been operator error, though.

I think the inclusion of PE harness, wing walk panels and a few other bits in the Tamiya/Italeri kit will give you better detail than Airfix, which will most likely give you a decal at best, and the panel lines are likely to be crisper in the Tamiya kit. Unlike most Tamiya kits, the Stuka I built came with nice Cartograf-printed decals. Of course the Airfix kit will have those as well.

If it were me, I would hang onto the Tamiya/Italeri kit. I have been happy with the new-tool Airfix offerings, but if I gauge the Airfix Hurricane and P-40B I have built against the quality of the Tamiya/Italeri Stuka I built, I would expect them to be relatively equal, and the included PE set would sway me toward building the Tamiya as long as I already had it. And if the center section is molded in one piece as it is in the 1/72 kit, I would probably pass based on that alone.

-BD-

As noted the plastic used by Tamiya came entirely from Italeri. If it was a Tamiya production, there would be no question of replacing it - in the past few years Tamiya has reminded modelers that they are the premier model company on the planet. (Some of their 1/32 scale WWII fighters get rave reviews - I can testify that their 1/48 IL2 and the A6M3 and A6M5 are absolutely top notch.) But it isn't.

A gent on Flory had built both kits - one was used by Airfix as an example of the kit in a big British modeling convention. He advised me "Airfix all the way" and commented that it was much the easier build. The canopy has all the usual options and looks pretty spiffy in pics. (There are some ejector pin marks but can be removed or hidden.) Like the Italeri Stuka it comes with a complete engine. My Italeri/Tamiya is on eBay now.

Thanks for the advice.

Eric

The December issue of Airfix Model World has a build of their new kit. Looks sweet, but to address BD's concern, the cockpit center is a single piece and the reviewer calls the masking "tricky". Other than that he gives it high marks. I'm looking forward to picking one up when it becomes available from one of my favorite online stores.

Mike

I would say a side-by-side comparison build is in order!

Sprue Brothers has it for 29$ and carries the Eduard canopy mask too.

 I just got a e-mail yesterday from airfix letting me know there 1/48 ju-87B-1 kit #A07114 is available. I just got finished reading the mega stuka build Bish is undertaken and was having stuka feaver. So I thought it would be nice having a new molding of the original terror weapon.

It was $35 and $4 for shipping. Compared to what spru brothers charges me for shiping I came outs few bucks ahead.

The only other ju-87-B in the stash is the older airfix 1/48 kit #A05100 I don't hear much about that I think its a pretty old kit and has no siren.

On the airfix site when they was showing test shots of the new one it had sirens but there new kit shot doesn't show any. One of the experts here and I can't remember who told me they quit using sirens by 1940 I think.

I need to quit buying books on 190s and start  buying on stukas.lol

There's also a 58 minute documentary called stuka on amazon video.

There's a very good video about Stukas on YouTube. Search - "German War Files - Dive Bombers and Combat Aircraft." It shows how the Stuka worked in a dive - not a job I'd envy.

I think the siren was used for a while in Russia. By 1943 the FW190F - a model specifically made for ground attack - was displacing the Stuka. At the same time dive bombing was being replaced by what we called "glide bombing" and strafing with canon. All nations were doing it: Britain had the Typhoon and Tempest, we were using P-47s mostly as ground attack and in the USN by 1944 the Hellcat was as dangerous attack plane as the Helldiver and a lot safer.

I bought an Airfix Stuka yesterday from Sprue - shipping is high, but the kit was cheap and they also carried an Eduard canopy mask for it. I don't use masks as often as I used to, but for a Stuka (or Airfix's excellent new tool 1/72 B-17G) they're a time saver.

Eric

lawdog114

I don't know about other scales, but I think the Airfix kit is the first B-1 in 1/48. Nice for Invasion of Poland and Battle of Britain folks....such as I. I just got mine the other day and its beautiful on the sprues. That's good info about the canopy Sounds good in theory I suppose. I didn't notice if it has the trumpets or not. It should for this version. I'll probably be building it soon.

 

The 72nd kit has the same type of canopy. At least it has a second closed one, but for open i think an AM one will be in order.

As for the siren, that depends. The one in Spanish Civil war markings certainly should not carry it. As for the other option, i would check referances.

I don't have either kit, but was curious so looked for some reviews. 

Apparently the Italeri kit has a wrongly shaped forward end of the fuselage,  along with a fat spinner and the two together is a mis match.

http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/ju-87b-2-stuka

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Only negative I have found for Airfix B-1 Stuka is the riveting.  Some are of the opinion it is overdone, and does not follow actual patterns, and/or is incomplete.  Also some "annoying placement of ejector pin marks", including a sink mark on the rudder.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235015753-airfix-148-junkers-ju87b-1-stuka-the-new-one/

regards,

Jack

Hey there lawdog I'm not sure what yr my first airfix stuka was made but its 1/48 B model its options are a B-2 France 1940 a R-2 italian 1941 and a B-2 tropical Libya 1941. Its  blue hard shiny plastic lots of rivets. It seems rivets are something builders eather like or dislike. This kit is still available from around $16 to low $20s.

I found out since this topic started that with the sirens on they made the plane slower and harder to control.

With the amount of terror they coused I would think the *** would of kept them around. My friend was here the other day he got to hear one hooked up to a air source. He says its deafening. But cool!

blackdog62

Hey there lawdog I'm not sure what yr my first airfix stuka was made but its 1/48 B model its options are a B-2 France 1940 a R-2 italian 1941 and a B-2 tropical Libya 1941. Its  blue hard shiny plastic lots of rivets. It seems rivets are something builders eather like or dislike. This kit is still available from around $16 to low $20s.

I found out since this topic started that with the sirens on they made the plane slower and harder to control.

With the amount of terror they coused I would think the *** would of kept them around. My friend was here the other day he got to hear one hooked up to a air source. He says its deafening. But cool!

 

That sounds like the kit that was first produced in 1981.

A lot of pilots found the sirens a distraction, and that along with them slowing the plane down by 10kph is why you often see them faired over.

When I was interviewing combat veterans for my Vietnam and South Pacific books I would often try to get them talk about impressions of combat - almost everyone did. (What does a bullet sound like? like someone breaking a stick over your ear. That kind of thing.) Several of them emphasized noise (incredibly loud) and if anywhere near bombs or artillery the heat and "shock wave" of explosion. As one guy said, you can't put that kind of thing on screen. (One guy praised Saving Private Ryan for getting the sound of small arms pretty well.)

Anyway, early in the war the Germans were attacking civilians and soldiers who had never heard a shot fired in anger. A shrieking dive bomber - dropping a bomb natch - would have an impact on that audiance. By 1942 in the East, both armies had a veteran core that would (hopefully) steady the flow of replacements or new formations. And civilians had already been put to flight. So if you live in a world where artillery fire and bombs are heard often, what's an extra siren more or less?

Read about the 1940 campaign in depth - it was a proper mess on both sides, and the German NCOs and junior officers superiority made chaos an advantage. Good place for theatrics. And in the BoB Stukas never had much opportunity to frighten anyone except some sailors and their own aircrew.

Eric

Thanks Bish I could tell it was older kit. Someone and I don't remember who posted this older kit a week or 2 ago and it looked really nice.

I have always liked the stuka 87 built a few as a kid. Last year I read stuka pilot by Hans rudel and the book memoir's of a stuka pilot by helmut mahlke.  which I found quite good. One of of his story's about being in a thunder storm blackout on the eastern front is one of the times I had a white knuckles read.

Being your build is going to be so long would you mind if I move all my stuka questions over there so I don't feel like I'm high jacking this thred I would like to take you up on your build offer soon as I Finnish my new desk setup. Waiting on PC screen. Then I can jump in with pics and builds.

Thanks Eric that makes seance. I know in the early days they help to clog the streets with fleeting civilians. 

blackdog62

Thanks Bush I could tell it was older kit. Someone and I don't remember who posted this older kit a week or 2 ago and it looked really nice.

I have always liked the stuka 87 built a few as a kid. Last year I read stuka pilot by Hans rudel and the book memoir's of a stuka pilot by helmut mahlke.  which I found quite good. One of of his story's about being in a thunder storm blackout on the eastern front is one of the times I had a white knuckles read.

Being your build is going to be so long would you mind if I move all my stuka questions over there so I don't feel like I'm high jacking this thred I would like to take you up on your build offer soon as I Finnish my new desk setup. Waiting on PC screen. Then I can jump in with pics and builds.

 

As i am sure you can tell, i am rather a fan. I have not readthat second book, i'll have to look it up.

And yep, you sure can.

Will have to look that up, cheers for the info.

My new airfix 87 came in today so I jumped on utube while I was checking it out. And I watched episodes 48 to 53 of that interview. I like those personal interviews. Like rudel he used his lower speeds and tight turning to evade fighters.