Ju 88H-1
The Ju 88H-1 was brought about by a requirement for an ultra long range reconnaissance aircraft in late 1942. It was produced by the Junkers Works at Merseburg from a combination of Ju 88D-1 and Ju88G-1 components. The wings from the G-1 complete with the BMW 801D engines and undercarriage members were married to the fuselage and tail surfaces of the D-1. The offset gondola beneath the forward fuselage was removed and additional fuselage sections were inserted forward and aft of the wings adding nearly 11 feet to the fuselage length. The additional sections enabled the fuselage to house three 286 gallon fuel tanks and one 230 gallon fuel tank. This raised the total maximum fuel load to 1,423.5 gallons and this could be augmented by two 198 gallon drop tanks slung beneath the wing roots giving the H-1 a maximum range of 3200 miles. The H-1 was intended solely for reconnaissance and ten were built. They were equipped with FuG 200 radar in the nose and a trio of remotely controlled Rb cameras in the aft fuselage. The crew consisted of three members and defensive armament consisted of one WT81Z twin machine guns firing forward from from a bulged housing offset to port beneath the forward fuselage, one fixed or flexible MG81 firing forward and a similar weapon firing aft from the rear of the cockpit glazing. The H-1 saw service under the Fliegerfuhrer Atlantik.

The Kit

OK, there is no kit for the H-1 version but it can be built using a conversion kit from Paragon Designs and various parts from other Ju 88 kits. The Paragon conversion recommends either a G-1 or G-10 kit from Dragon as their conversion kit is intended to model the H-2 version which was a long range heavy destroyer. One needs the night fighter G series fuselage as it does not have the ventral gondola that the A and most other series sported. When I went looking for these I was only able to find a G-6 which has the right fuselage but the wrong engines. One could use the A-4, since the D version was based on the A and fill the hole for the gondola but that didn't appeal to me. The other issue is that the H-1 used a nose glazing similar to the A versions. Are you confused yet? So, the base kit will be the G-6 night fighter version combined with the Paragon Designs conversion, the correct engines will come from left overs from one of my Do 217 conversions and the front glazing will be courtesy of the CMK Ju 88 interior set that I bought to use on the Ju 88A-4. The kit supplied glazing for that kit is alright for me so the CMK supplied vacuform will be used here.

I'm not going to review this kit here as the quality and issues with the kit will be similar to the other two Dragon based kits reviewed here and here.

After Market Goodies

The primary pieces for this conversion come from Paragon Designs [4881] The parts are molded in a gray resin with fine detail and only a few noticeable air bubbles on one of the engine parts and no voids. It consists of the two fuselage sections that get spliced into the kit parts, a replacement tail fin and rudder as the G series use a larger fin and rudder than the D model that the H-1 used. There are also two engine mounts that improve the detail on the Dragon parts and two plugs to fill holes on the G series fuselage that are not used on the H series. See photo below.

Since the cockpit for the H-1  would have been nearly identical to the A series and not the G series I decided to go with a Verlinden [1485] interior set. This set is a real treasure trove of goodies with 50 parts molded in a light tan resin. For your money, which in this case is a reasonable $15 in round numbers, you get replacement floor, walls, multiple choice seats with harnesses molded in, radio rack with individual radios, bomb sight, rudder pedals, ammo cans, both MG15 and MG81Z replacement guns with either shell catcher bags or chutes, an instrument panel, sun shades and lots of other pieces to dress things up. The only thing missing is some PE. The instructions are on one 8 1/2 " x 11" sheet printed on both sides. See photo below.


Eduard [48246] Photoetch set.  The instructions are printed on two A4 sheets, one on both side the other on one side and are typical of their sheets. Some of the items from this set will be used on the A-4 build and any other useful bits will be used on this one. A photo of what is included is shown below.


Eduard [EUEX042] Canopy mask set. This one a given with all the little panes on this one !

Conclusions

In this case I'm not going to give and conclusions until I have actually built this one. If I pull it off then I'll give you my opinions on all of the various pieces

Links to kit build or reviews

None found for this conversion kit

References

"Junkers Ju 88 and Its Variants in World War II" by Helmut Erfurth

"Warplanes or the Third Reich" by William Green

Back to Ju 88 Series page

Last updated 4/28/08