JK Resin

German WWII Luftwaffe
SC50 comb crates
with SC50 bombs

Released together with set 72040 and set 72041 (resp. SC250 and SC500 bombs), this set adds one more type of very common bomb in the Luftwaffe inventory, the SC50.

The modeler gets 5 closed crates and one hollow, open crate. What is not immediately apparent (to me at least) is that there are actually two types of crates: one type with rope handles and one with metal handles. The two SC50 bombs that comes with this set can be placed inside, if so desired. Three extra small crates are provided, which I assume hold the EL.A.Z 55 fuses. If so, then these boxes are slightly oversized (by about 5%), but I guess that won't detract anyone looking at a diorama that contains them.
The SC50 bombs are equally oversized by 3-5%, but I didn't find any info about shape or size of the box for the bombs.

Further parts are provided for the missing detail on the bottom of the crates (parts 4 - it took me a while to figure out their purpose), and two small, identical PE sets (labelled 72037 - which is strange as 72037 is a set of Zimmerit sheets). At first, I was not quite sure how to use the PE parts, but looking at the manual and the boxtop, I came to the conclusion that they are the straps and hooks that will attach the bomb to the aircraft. If this is correct, then only four of the twelve straps are needed for the two bombs; the others being for differently sized bombs in other sets, like 72040 and 72041.

The resin parts are cast in the (by now well-known) black resin which JK Resin manages to cast very thinly, while very delicately detailed and free of any blemishes.

To complete the set, three decal sheets are provided with tiny (though readable) stencils, their use being explained in the instruction leaflet. These decals really make the set stands out and I believe it will be very difficult for anyone to outdo the quality of this set.
Now, what about a set only including bombs and decals in sufficient quantity to fit out a few aircraft ?

Assembly

Bomb
A general remark about the bombs that come in the various JK Resin sets is that the fins are very close to scale, meaning that they are very thin, meaning that they are very, very fragile. As the tails of the bombs need to be removed from their casting blocks, there is a very high risk of damaging a few of them (which happened to me). The clean-up afterwards is also something to be very careful with, as you can easily end up with four slanting trailing edges of unequal length. In this case, I believe I sanded off a little too much, as the bombs ended up being smaller than the boxes that hold them. A small spacer was added inside the box to hide this mistake as well as possible.

The PE lifting straps went on easily, but the lifting eyes are easily lost. Fortunately the set carries some spares.

When painting the bombs, the modeler has some freedom, but the official colors can be found here. I painted mine in a locally mixed grey-green resembling RAL 7027, which according to the aforementioned source is the correct color.

Boxes
The boxes are also a delicate affair, especially the open one. If care is not taken, tiny protuberances representing the closing mechanism will easily get damaged, for instance when turning the boxes over to add the wooden slats to the bottom.
The lid for the open box was slightly warped in my example, but nothing a bath in hot water couldn't take care of.
I wanted to give my boxes a more pronounced wood grain texture, but in doing so damaged some detail as the resin, surprisingly, reacts to acetone and as handling these boxes will invariably risk damaging the tiny latches. As a consequence, the detail that the pictures of the painted boxes show is no longer quite representative.

Decals
I'll probably repeat myself when saying that the inclusion of very finely printed decals in this set is an extremely attractive feature.
The tiny decals settled well, but the stripes for the bomb fins needed some persuasion from a setting fluid, which made them adhere snugly. These stripes also have a which had a small printing issue as they are made of two layers (one white and one yellow), which are slightly offset with respect to one another.
The decal sheet only carries 4 yellow stripes, enough for only one bomb. If you fit the bombs in their crates, you can get away with only using one stripe per bomb. Fortunatley for me, set 72040 has extra stripes for SC50 bombs. Decals 21 and 26 are only included once, again enough for one bomb. This time, putting them in the box won't help. Again set 72040 came to the rescue.

Looking at the instruction sheet and boxtop, it seems that there is no real fixed location for the stenciling of the crates.

Review sample kindly provided by JK Resin.

JK Resin kits can be purchased from

Article Last Updated:
28 October 2018
02 November 2019
23 November 2019