Anigrand 1/144 Junkers Ju-390v1

Typical of Anigrand kits, this one comes in a multi-compartmentalized poly bag with the clear bits in their own small ziplock bag. I am pleased to notice that this particular kit is nearly totally free of molding glitches, though I did find a few small air voids on the trailing edges of a control surface or two. The image you see to the left was pinched from the Anigrand web site as they do a much nicer job of laying things out.

You'll notice that the Ju-390 wing is in upper and lower sections. The lower section goes nearly to the wing tip which helps to have a nice, sharp wing tip. The actual wing is pretty thick so having a razor sharp wing trailing edge is not a requirement with this plane. Since it has six engines, it has no fewer than 18 separate and rather small prop blades which will have to fit into six equally small spinners. Anigrand has realized that having a rather thick end of the prop to fit into larger holes in the spinner will make it easier for us to install these. Of course, the BMW engine had rather pronounced attachment areas so that is probably the reason for this. As it is a tail sitter, no need for weight in the nose.

Also included are four smaller aircraft, three of which actually flew or even left the drawing board (at least I don't think they did. Perhaps the Payern, but I'm not realy sure.) The Horton flying wing actually made it into the air and it flew superbly from what I've read of the Horton Brothers and their inventions. The others are interesting to say the least and a nice little addition to the series.

The clear bits are all thick and well done. Again, these have engraved frame work, making masking so much easier. The decals are well done and will allow one to do one of two schemes for the Ju-390. Besides the one on the box art, there is the initial roll-out scheme where the splinter scheme goes far down the side of the fuselage. While the upper colors are listed as RLM 71/83, I think that perhaps it should be RLM 72/73 if it was to be used in a maritime role. Decals are well done but one may want to find proper swastikas. Those split up ones rarely work as well as one would really want. However, due to their small size, one may not have any other option.  

This is another fine 1/144 kit set from our friends at Anigrand. I'm so pleased to see these in a size that will actuallly fit on my display shelf. If you have a penchant for this scale and experience with resin kits, then I highly recommend these to you.

October 2009

Thanks to www.nostalgicplastic.com for the preview kit. Get yours today from the link and pay no shipping in the US or Canada.