Here are piccies of one of the weirdest factual aircaft models I have in my collection, the Huma Junkers Ju-287 V1 in 1/72 scale. The real deal was built to test the forward swept wing configuration’s suitability for a heavy jet bomber. The idea was that at low airspeeds, a FSW stalls last at the tips, retaining aileron control to the last moment. It was also believed that this configuration had lower drag at high speeds. Anyway, the model was a mixed bag; it had some fine detail parts for the cockpit, but had Matchbox class trenches for panel lines.
Assembly was pretty straightforward, except I had to replace the main gear with steel wire to prop up this beast. I ran the wires through the wheels for strength, but the model is still a little wobbly. I stole some Walther RATO pods off of two DML Ar-234B kits that some buddies kindly donated to me, as the kit units were pretty bad. As far as I can tell, the Ju-287 only used three RATO pods, so the #2 engine doesn’t have one fitted.
The Ju-287 V1 was a real lash-up of donor parts, the fuselage coming from a He-177 bomber, the tailplane from a Ju-388 (I think), and a pair of nose wheels off of downed US B-24 Liberators! I think only the fuselage center section and wings were newly designed. The aircaft actually flew a couple of times, with externally mounted tripod cameras used to film airflow patterns over the FSW wings. I installed the camera in front of the fin, but decided against replicating the tufts, as they made the Ju-287 look like it had a case of the measles or something. The rudder appeared to have had a spot repair, so I replicated it using dissimilar paint.
Aeromaster enamels were used to paint the model. The topsides are RLM-71 with RLM-82 patches, and underside is RLM-65. I went a little too dark with the wash, especially on the the top. I should have used a greyish brown instead of black. Huma’s decals are kind of like frosted Scotch Tape, so I only used the fuselage codes. Testors liquid cement was used as decal softener on the Huma decals! The crosses and swastikas came from Microscale sheets. The checkerboard band on the lower fuselage came from a Japanese aftermarket sheet - sorry, I forgot which one it was.
I hope Revell Germany kits the Ju-287 V2 or V3 one of these days. Both featured a new fuselage with proper retractable landing gear and six engines. The V2 had paired engines on the wing, while the V3 had all six engines in triple clusters on the wing. I believe the Russians captured the V2 and V3, and flight tested them in one form or another after the war.
Nice build. I been thinking about getting this kit for a while, rather than the highly pricey resin one from Planet Models. I had read a review on the Huma kit, and i seem to recall they said the same thing about the undercarrage.
You have done a really great job on this one, great job. Though i am curious as to the title of the thread, why stupid.
I always love the off the beaten path subjects and its always great to have some narration to go with it. Great looking build with nice details,thanks for taking the time to share the pics!
Thanks guys for the compliments. I got some pretty weird stares when I asked my local hobby shop to get me this model. They reminded me of who the manufacturer was and what it cost, but I already did a little poking around so I knew what I was headed for. The kit isn’t Tamiya or Hasegawa, but assembly was actually pretty easy and the parts count was low. It was certainly much better than Huma’s first generation of kits; the Focke-Wulf Triebflugel was really blobby.
I have sort of a reputation as the Luftwaffe 1946 guy, and got a lot of guff for it. Not that I cared one whit that the stuff I built had no historical significance or won any wars. The ones that reached harware stage are partcularly fascinating to me, especially when they are as wacky as the Ju-287. The thread title “Stupid Weapons of the Luftwaffe” is actually something I adopted as my personal tongue in cheek label for my 1946 model collection.
As far as the real Ju-287 is concerned, the V1 verified the low speed handling characteristics of the FSW configuration, but flutter was encountered at higher speeds. Hindsight is 20/20, and today we can see that a FSW heavy bomber was probably not a really good idea, even if digital flight controls and damping were available. I believe the V1 met its demise at the hands of Allied bombers while on the ground.
TomZ2 - Huh huh huh. Oh yeah. I forgot about that one! And the Germans built around 20 of those things. Too bad MPM hasn’t given us something better to play with than the Airfix kit. There were three versions of this wacky plane, IIRC: Ha-141, BV-141A, BV-141B. Each one differed enough to be visually distinct, the Ha-141 having a different less glazed cockpit pod, and the BV-141B having a BMW 801 engine and offset tailplane.
Bsyamato - I guess you are correct, the Ju-287 is a Luftwaffe 44-45, as it was built and flown. Even the follow on V2 and V3 reached hardware stage. And you are also correct in noting the fuselage is from a He-177 bomber. The V1 was a real Frankenstein monster made from other airplanes’ parts. (Okay, hurrying back to the OYW GB now…)
Actually loving the 177, i’ll try to made of it my best build but actally is in stand-by mode [:(]
I’ll follow for now the OYW gb just collecting more courage to start the gouf.
TomZ2 the bv-141 looks too like a frankenstein plane [:D] cockpit seems from fw-189 and wings… i see on another plane but not remember. Like it [Y] Similar to the bv p-194 , revell printed a good kit of it.
Wow, great job on a strange looking bird. Not only are the forward swept wings weird looking but I love the four engines with two under the cockpit. Looks like the engineers just decided what the heck let’s bolt 'em on here, good a place as any. And those whacky fixed landing gear with spats like a Ju-87.
Course to be honest she doesn’t look really any more bizarre than a Fisher P-75 Eagle.
And again really nice work on the model. Love to see people make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Panel lines look good to me, I tend to make a mess out of mine.
Real, i don’t suppose you have any pics of that triebflugel kit do you. I happen to have it in the stash, and it does look like it will be alot of work.
I am a big fan olf Luft 46 ai9rcrfat myself, so you won’t get any harsh words from me for building them.
Now that is weird - it’s like a stealth plane lol! Nope, still can’t see them. Are they hosted on Photobucket or another sharing site?? Some “social networks” are blocked on the office server, the could be getting hung up in there somewhere.
Here ya go. This was my first Huma kit as well as the first of many Luft '46 projects of mine. All of the panel lines had to be filled in and rescribed, as you know the ones molded on are inconsistent. I added some basic cockpit detail like foil seat belts and a gunsight. I recut the poorly defined windscreen separation line with a razor saw after polishing the thick canopy. The outrigger landing gear struts were replaced with wire, both to save time in cleaning up as well as adding strength to the spindly units. The main wings were also pinned in place. The kit decals were frosty looking, so I substituted items from several Microscale sheets.
Man, we really need a new plastic kit of this wacky plane! Zoukei-Mura-San, you listening?
Incidentally, this model was one of two that made it into the reader’s gallery of FSM many moons ago. A friend who is a freelance photographer offered to shoot some photos for me, so I took him up on the offer. This was back in the days before digital photography was commonplace, as I only had a Kodak Instamatic film camera at the time. The other kit? It was my second Huma model, the Lippisch DM-1, converted to a P.13. The decals and heat formed canopy have turned nice shades of yellow, so I might strip the model, repaint it, and make a new canopy. I normally never do this, but the model was my first major conversion project, so it holds sentimental value to me.
WOW, nice job. I haven’t looked at mine that closely, so hadn’t noticed the panel lines. I will check it out. I was thinking of adding a PE Me 262 cockpit to mine, and decals from the spares box. Nice idea for the landing struts, might have to copy that.
This is the only Huma kit i have at /he moment, failing somone else bringing out a Ju 287, i p[lan on getting that as well. I have been trying to get their DFS 230, but that seems to have vanished at the moment.
Thanks for posting those pics, and its not hard to see how it made it into FSM. A very nice job on a rarely seen kit.
There we go - I linked in on a different netowork & can now see what all the buzz is about! haha – yep, she’s a little trenchy, but it looks great. I always love these Luftwaffe “special projects” nice job on the RATO bottles & camera. I like the mis-matched panels too, really adds to the “put a bunch of parts together” feel of this one. [Y]
