Stuka (oz6725)

About this Plan

Junkers JU87D-5 Stuka. Radio control scale model German WWWII dive bomber.

Quote: "A .60 powered semi-scale version of one of the most famous aircraft of World War II. For Stand-Off scale events and general sport flying.
Stuka by Pat Byrne.

I've always been a scale nut and when I got to the point where I could expect to successfully put an RC plane into the air and bring it back 75% of the time, I had to go scale. If I'm a scale nut, I'm an even bigger WWII type nut, and bigger yet, German WWII. In the first place WWII German aircraft just ooze character, even their designations sound colorful; FW190, ME210, AR131, HE111, and on and on, a myriad of weird and wonderful aircraft, the result I suppose of a vigorous and imaginative aircraft industry going full tilt in a major war. On top of this the color schemes are varied and colorful, and when you add the insignia, squadron badges, armament and ordnance the result, to me, is a scale fans delight.

One big problem though, is that unless you're Dave Platt, you won't win many AMA Scale meets. The weird and wonderful means a lot of detailing that will be necessary to make the model competitive, and real good source data on exact dimensions are a little hard to come by, For the ordinary scale builder, though, the '20 foot', or California scale, rules give you a chance with detailing and nit-picking carried to a reasonable level. Thus, you can still enjoy the sight that used to chill a WWII dog face; a Luftwaffe fighter or bomber boring in for a strafing run.

So that's the background for this model, one of the most weird and wonderful WWII German ships, the JU87 Stuka, reasonably to scale with reasonable detailing. The model picked was the JU87D-5, a late 1943, hopped-up version of the most famous early WW II JU87B. One reason for selecting the D-5 was the slightly more streamlined look of the ship, due mainly to the Jumo 211 engine installation which resulted in displacing the large chin radiator of the JU87B with separate twin radiators under the wing and installation of a smaller oil cooler under the engine. The main reason for selecting the D-5, though, was the bigger wing span 49 ft 4 in - versus 45 ft 4 in of the earlier variety, which helps with the biggest single scale goal of any good scale RC design, low wing loading.

The scale is 1-1/4in to the foot, the result is a nice size ship that performs beautifully without straining an ordinary .60 engine. So if scale is your game and you want something a little different, grab a copy of profile No 211, buy a Monogram 1/48 scale plastic model of the JU87G (a JU87D with a 37mm anti-tank cannon) and follow me.

Fuselage construction. The fuselage starts like any other balsa RC fuselage with two 1/4 in sheet sides, ply firewall and formers. To provide some additional strength through the narrow section between wing and cockpit 3/4 x 1/8 spruce reinforcement is notched into the formers, but no other doublers are used. Instead, after the fuselage is completed, the tank compartment and stress points back to the rear of the wing are lined with glass cloth and resin. The cowl ahead of the cockpit is formed by 1/4 in sheet set at a 30 degree angle, capped by a sloping 3/8 slab. At this point mount your engine on a Tatone mount, sidewinder like mine or inverted, (never upright, it will ruin that beautiful long cowl). Then build the tank hatch/oil cooler of 1/4 in sheet and spot glue to triangular stock ahead of the wing cutout..."

Update 13/08/2016: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy, thanks to davidterrell80, Pilgrim.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and pics, thanks to hlsat. Also, previous scan version.

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