redcap Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Hi Jason. The straight wing one and thanks for the tip/advice for when I build it. regards. Gary 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) Looking forward to your book Jason, I assume you'll give us a head's up when it's available? That is a fantastic build, overwhelming in fact. You said the best 1/72 kit is the Tamiya? Thanks, JD Thank you very much, JD! Underwhelming is the word usually associated with my modelling efforts. Regarding the book, don't worry, I shall make a big, splashy, even obnoxious announcement when it is finally out in print. However, just as a reminder, it is available for pre-order from some sources, so avoid the (post-)Holiday rush and order now! Best Regards, Jason P.S. The best kits for the different versions are the Academy kit for the single-seater, the Academy kit for the straight-winged two-seater (often incorrectly referred to as the "Il-2M"), and the Tamiya kit is definitely the best kit of the arrow in 1/72nd scale. All these represent metal-winged versions. If you wished to do wooden-winged versions, you'd have to find the rare Dakoplast mouldings, or their rebrandings, such as Modelist and (some) Eastern Express Il-2 kits. Edited January 1, 2015 by Learstang 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifer54 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Snipped for brevity: P.S. The best kits for the different versions are the Academy kit for the single-seater, the Academy kit for the straight-winged two-seater (often incorrectly referred to as the "Il-2M"), and the Tamiya kit is definitely the best kit of the arrow in 1/72nd scale. All these represent metal-winged versions. If you wished to do wooden-winged versions, you'd have to find the rare Dakoplast mouldings, or their rebrandings, such as Modelist and (some) Eastern Express Il-2 kits. Great modelling, Jason! I knew you were knowledgeable about GPW aircraft, and the Il-2 particularly, but I hadn't realised just how knowledgeable! What's your opinion of the Toko 1/72 Il-2M3? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Jason, The large one is STUNNING.. The small one is WICKED ,,,, AWESOME builds..... And I look forward to your new book. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Great modelling, Jason! I knew you were knowledgeable about GPW aircraft, and the Il-2 particularly, but I hadn't realised just how knowledgeable! What's your opinion of the Toko 1/72 Il-2M3? Thank you very much, MNG! My arrow ("Il-2M3") is the Toko kit. You can obtain respectable results from this kit, as the shapes are pretty good. The fuselage however is about 1mm too wide, and the underfuselage radiator isn't so great, but what you end up with looks like a Shturmovik, even just out of the box. However, the Tamiya kit is hands down better, with excellent surface detail, much better interior detail, and is more accurate out of the box. The Toko kit is cheaper, but the Tamiya kit isn't outrageous, so you're better off with the Tamiya kit. Best Regards, Jason 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Thank you very much, HOUSTON! The book should be out this month, hopefully. Best Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 A very inspiring model and it's made me realise I've never built an IL-2 and I think I'm going to get one with my Christmas money. I'm torn between choosing a single seater in this or a winter scheme or getting a 2 seater and doing this very colourful scheme. http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MXK32197 I wonder what the story is behind this aircraft... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 (edited) Thank you very much! Regarding the two-seater - Ah, Nelson Stepanyan's (HSU) Il-2. There is still debate over this scheme - see this thread: http://sovietwarplanes.com/board/index.php?topic=995.0 Given the rather uncertain status of this paint scheme, I'd go with something a little less colourful, but more certain. What scale were you looking at - 1/32nd scale? Best Regards, Jason Edited January 2, 2015 by Learstang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Thank you very much! Regarding the two-seater - Ah, Nelson Stepanyan's (HSU) Il-2. There is still debate over this scheme - see this thread: http://sovietwarplanes.com/board/index.php?topic=995.0 Given the rather uncertain status of this paint scheme, I'd go with something a little less colourful, but more certain. What scale were you looking at - 1/32nd scale? Best Regards, Jason Hi Jason, Although that scheme does look fascinating it does sound open to a lot of interpretation so will probably give it a miss. I'm considering the Hobby Boss 1:32 kit and would like to do either a winter scheme or a standard camo one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 I ordered one. I went for an IL-2M in the end and a large box was delivered this morning. It's a shame hobbyboss don't give much information about the colour schemes. Think I'll probably go for Yellow 31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 I ordered one. I went for an IL-2M in the end and a large box was delivered this morning. It's a shame hobbyboss don't give much information about the colour schemes. Think I'll probably go for Yellow 31 I'm glad you picked one up! However, don't trust their or almost any other manufacturer's' Il-2 colour schemes! To find some nice/correct ones, go to the sovietwarplanes site I mentioned above. The gentleman, Massimo Tessitori, who runs the site, also does the artwork, and his Il-2 schemes are well-researched. He is the artist for the colour profiles in my soon-to-be published book on the Il-2 (May, they tell me now). A little tip about Il-2 schemes - the brown/green schemes are totally bogus, and the bane of anyone who wants to do accurate Shturmovik schemes. They simply did not exist, despite their appearing on kit and decal instruction sheets and colour profiles, but they have a Dracula-like ability to withstand being destroyed - I've even seen them in recent Russian publications. And contrary to popular belief, Soviet schemes were actually quite simple (no RLM 01 through RLM 384, or some such, or ten different shades of Olive Drab): black and green over blue from mid-1941 through late 1943, then dark grey/tan/green over blue from late 1943 to the end of the war. This applied to bombers and Shturmoviks and pretty much everything that wasn't a fighter. For fighters, the Soviets had the black/green scheme for the same period, then switched to an "air-superiority" scheme of dark grey/medium bluish-grey over blue, used till the end of the war. Not quite the minefield you may have been led to believe. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Thanks for your advice on this. I know very little about Soviet aircraft and their colours. I do like the green and black scheme colours on the instruction sheet they are described as light green and dark green though. I thought I would be safe with the kit scheme as yellow 31 looks to be a fairly generic airframe. I've had a quick look at the Soviet Warplanes site and there are a couple of heavily faded winter schemes with just remnants of the white showing and this appeals to me. I'll do a bit more research before I make my mind up. A shame about the book delay. As I have no reference books on wartime soviet aircraft this book might be a good place to start! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Thanks for your advice on this. I know very little about Soviet aircraft and their colours. I do like the green and black scheme colours on the instruction sheet they are described as light green and dark green though. I thought I would be safe with the kit scheme as yellow 31 looks to be a fairly generic airframe. I've had a quick look at the Soviet Warplanes site and there are a couple of heavily faded winter schemes with just remnants of the white showing and this appeals to me. I'll do a bit more research before I make my mind up. A shame about the book delay. As I have no reference books on wartime soviet aircraft this book might be a good place to start! Yes indeed about the book. Such are the vagaries of publishing, I'm afraid. I'd mentioned the spurious brown/green scheme; this only applies to Soviet-painted aircraft. Some British Lend-Lease aircraft such as the Hurricane and possibly some of the P-400 Airacobras were painted in it, and the Soviets did not paint over them, just over the roundels so red stars could be painted on. Regarding the light green and dark green, that is also a spurious scheme; it should be a green colour something like Testors Interior Green and black. There were no Soviet green/dark green schemes, although you will still see these mentioned in various literature. One theory about how this got started is that the immediate prewar camouflage was green over blue, and with the new wartime camouflage scheme of black/green this was modified with black applied directly over the green. On some aircraft this black paint might have been fairly thinly applied, allowing some of the green to show through, leading to the appearance of a dark green paint. This is just conjecture, however, and dark green paint was not used in Soviet aircraft camouflage. Some photographs seem to show this, but with photographs it's often hard to tell exactly what the colours were. I agree that the partial winter schemes are interesting - I have three Il-2's painted in them. It was not uncommon to leave the nose still painted in the summer camouflage colours as the nose was often covered with a white tarpaulin when it was cold, and the winter scheme was mainly to camouflage the aircraft whilst still on the ground. Regards, Jason 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Just an update to this long-dormant topic. My book, 'Il-2 Shturmovik: Red Avenger' at long last has been published. Here's a link to it on my publishers website - http://fonthillmedia.com/epages/a72b332e-5c82-4e84-ad34-4c5316ee7a6b.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/a72b332e-5c82-4e84-ad34-4c5316ee7a6b/Products/978-1-62545-042-5 Best Regards, Jason 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 I'm already plotting , planning & finagling how to afford one Jason. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Thanks for the Link Jason, I think I'll be picking up a copy of your book at some point. It looks really good from the link. I've made a start on my IL-2 so it would be a good reference. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Thanks Jason,I've been looking forward to getting a copy so I'm glad to see it's finally available 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Thank you very much for your interest! FZ6, have you posted any photographs of your kit yet? Best Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancbuilder219 Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Very nice work! My second favourite soviet aircraft. Well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Thank you; maybe my book will make it your favourite Soviet aircraft! Best Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancbuilder219 Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Will consider it 😊 but the Polikarpov I-16 is my number one but your Sturmovik is making me think..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Well, since your favourite is the 'Ishak', I'll give you a pass on that one. The I-16 is an interesting and attractive little aeroplane. I was lucky enough to see one of the I-16's that was restored in New Zealand, at the Wings Over Houston (Texas) airshow quite a few years ago. It is a small aeroplane. They also had an I-153 there - now that was a very welcome surprise; I never thought I'd see one of those in person. It's quite a wee aeroplane also. Best Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Thank you very much for your interest! FZ6, have you posted any photographs of your kit yet? Best Regards, Jason Not yet but I plan to at some point. I have assembled the interior adding the Eduard interior set and I'm in the process of painting it. I also have the exterior set to use as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Unfortunately, when I built mine I had to scratchbuild some of the interior bits as it was just before Eduard had released their interior set. The Eduard exterior set is nice - the straps over the joins between the wing centre-section and the outer sections works quite nicely. I look forward to seeing pictures of your build. Regarding the interior, remember that it should be a very neutral grey, and not greenish-grey or bluish-grey as you will sometimes see. I use Model Master Neutral Gray for the interiors on my WWII Soviet aircraft (A-14 Steel Grey in Soviet nomenclature). Best Regards, Jason 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Thanks for pointing that out I was defiantly planning to use a grey at the blue end of the spectrum and the Eduard parts seem to have a slight blue green tinge to them. By the way what colour did you go for for the tank between the pilot and the gunner? I was thinking either green or black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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