KIT:

 Planet Models 1/72 Junkers EF.128

KIT #

 54

PRICE:

 $39.95

DECALS:

 One version, Red 13

REVIEW BY:

Scott Van Aken

NOTES:

 

 

HISTORY

 

One of several designs by the Junkers factory, the EF.128 was a design requested in the Fall of 1944. By December of that year, the design EF.128 was accepted for production, with construction jigs being manufactured starting in March of 1945. Needless to say, the war in Europe ended before any prototypes flew.

The design was basically a metal fuselage with wooden wing structure. It was designed around the HeS 011 turbojet and was expected to achieve a maximum speed of nearly 1,000 kph. Armament was to be two 30mm Mk 108 cannon located in the fuselage. A small and compact design, the aircraft would have been quite an adversary.

THE KIT

 

Typical of Planet Models kits, this resin model comes very well packaged with the parts segregated in a clear bag to prevent loss or damage. Decals are by Propagteam and are of excellent quality. Missing are swastikas.

There are 25 resin and one vacuform part. Again, there is only one canopy, so one cannot afford any errors when cutting it. Landing gear legs are also resin which may cause some problems a few years after building the kit as the resin deforms under the weight of the kit. When that happens, you can do as I have done and replace the gear with plastic or metal.

The resin is finely engraved and appears to be free of any surface air bubbles. There is a small amount of flash on some of the parts, but nothing to cause concern. The wings are molded side by side on a single block. The same arrangement is done for the tail fins. Just looking through the packing, it appears these items are a bit warped toward the wing. Probably from packing. Running very hot (but not boiling) water over them for a few minutes should enable you to carefully bend them back straight with no problems.

The instructions are both sides of a single sheet. One side has a brief history in English and Czech along with a three-view and camouflage scheme. The other side has an exploded diagram showing parts locations. Completely adequate for this type of kit.

Having just finished the booklet on the EF.128, I am rather keen to build this particular kit and try out one of those intriguing camouflage schemes.

Many thanks to Dan Johnson of Luft '46 and to Planet Models for a chance to preview this kit. Look for a build up review in the very near future. I'd also like to thank Dan for getting me interested in Luft '46. Thanks for letting the genie out of the bottle, Dan!!