Background

The Junkers Ju 352 was a mid-war development by the Junkers firm to replace the venerable Ju 52 in the transport and cargo role.

The Ju 352 was initially designed as a metal aircraft. However, with raw materials in short supply, Junkers addressed the problem with a wooden design resulting in the production version of the Ju 352. The aircraft featured larger cargo capacity and a hydraulically operated rear-loading ramp called a Trapoklappe enabling easier loading and the carriage of small vehicles. The rear-loading ramp lifted the aircraft to the horizontal position as the ramp was lowered.

This design moved away from the traditional corrugated skin employed on earlier Junkers designed transport aircraft. This aircraft is smooth skinned and is powered by three powerful engines driving three bladed propellers. Defensive armament was in the form of a single MG 151 20-mm cannon mounted in a powered turret behind the main cabin. A total of 2 prototypes, plus 10 JU 352A-0 and 33 JU352A-1 were completed before the end of the war.

Mach 2 has recently released their 1/72 scale Junkers Ju 352A.

The Mach 2 kit is moulded in a brittle green plastic with crisp panel lines. The parts are not without moulding flash and need fairly significant clean up before assembly can begin. The cabin windows in particular need to be scoured of flash and squared up.

The main undercarriage legs require a good clean up and sharpening of the detail would improve them dramatically. The main gear legs and wheels suggest that the Junkers company has adopted commonality of components, as they seem to be identical to the JU 88/188 series.

The cockpit is sparsely outfitted and leaves plenty of scope for extra detail to be added if the modeller desires. The cargo cabin has no detail at all and this would need to be addressed if you chose to open the crew door or loading ramp.

The engines and nacelles will suffice for the average modeller, but can easily be detailed to enhance the look. The peculiar exhaust stacks for the nose-mounted engine has been provided and captures the look well. The main undercarriage bays have reasonable floor detail provided.

The wings are long! And almost look out of proportion to the fuselage. I suggest that, because of their length, some bracing may be needed between the two wings in the fuselage to reinforce the strength of the fuselage halves.

The instructions are very simplified and construction needs to be planned, as you may end up gluing the wings together before installing the undercarriage floor. The transparencies are typical Mach 2 and require a fair amount of polishing to make them smooth. This is not well depicted in the instructions. Colours are for an aircraft in typical RLM 70/71/65, and not having much reference on the JU 352 other than a black and white nose ¾ photo, I cannot comment on the colours or markings provided. The decals look quite sharp and thin, but you need to use the box art for positioning of the markings. Interestingly, the box art incorrectly depicts a Ju 352 with Ju 252 double bogie main undercarriage.

As I have no line drawings for a Ju 352 I cannot comment on the accuracy of the Ju 88 style of undercarriage supplied with the kit. However, everything looks correct by the photo that I have except for the main glazing at the cabin. This should have a blown/bulged panel at the side to allow some rearward vision.

Overall this is quite a nice kit, but should only be attempted by modellers with a good level of experience.

I am looking forward to assembling the kit and recommend it to all Luftwaffe fans.

Recommended.

 

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