TimTam27

Hi. From my understanding, the D4Y4 had a flat windscreen while the D4Y2 and D4Y3 had a "vee" type windscreen. If you get a flat windscreen in the kit then that will make building a D4Y3 difficult.

Hi, before everyone gets all misty-eyed about how accurate the old Tamiya 48 scale A6M2 is, take a good look at the area directly in front of the windscreen. The slope there is way too steep. Sure it matches some old drawings but they are wrong. Hasegawa's kit is much better there. The assertion that the fuselage on the Hasegawa kit is supposedly too short is a new one on me. I will have to measure the kit and see what I find.

Hi, just saw over on track-link.com a post from the owner, Paul Owen. Quote: "Tamiya are working on a Mustang A, some kind of early P-51 aeroplane. In case anyone is interested. I seem to only get aeroplane secrets these days, not armour news." Followed by: "It is a new kit, not the old Accurate Miniatures kit reboxed. It is in early stages right now. I do not know the scale." FWIW, on several other occasions Paul has accurately predicted up-coming Tamiya releases. Apparently he has contacts within the Tamiya organization. Based on absolutely nothing I'm guessing 1:32 scale. Cheers.

There is a possibility (that probably wouldn't please anyone here) that the big new announcement could be a Crusader in 1:35th scale. I'm talking about the tank not the plane. Though to be honest I think it more likely that it would be a Spitfire Mk.1 in 1:24th scale.

HobbyEasy.com have it listed for pre-order at GBP18.66.

Great job there Colin. Japanese aircraft are so often over-weathered but yours looks spot-on for a new-ish example. Used but not abused. You may be pleased to know that in fact, the way the seat is depicted by Hasegawa (and you) is completely correct. The aircraft was flown with a back rest cushion in place. Another point of interest is that the straps moulded on the seat cushion aren't seat belts, they are straps that attach the parachute to the pilot's harness. In fact the "cushion" is actually the parachute. It was IJAAF custom to leave the parachute in the seat pan and the pilot would attach it once he was seated in the aircraft.

Thanks Marko, Fascinating stuff. I think there would be enough information here for a model manufacturer to produce an accurate and well detailed kit in any scale. Regards

I hope the smiley face at the end means what I think it means.

Hello Jan, any news on the 1:72 Kawasaki Ki-102 Randy? Cheers, TimTam27

Hi Massimo, when Accurate Miniatures tooled up their 1:48 Sturmovik kits they seemed to be a bit confused about the variants and as a result the kit is bit of a dog's breakfast. From what I understand this particular mix of fuselage, wing and armament probably never existed. Luckily for people building the early type IL-2 the inner wing sections over the bomb bays are more or less correct for the early aircraft and require very little work. The hatches that should be missing are missing. It's not so good if you want a later type because the hatches need to be added. Cheers, Robert

Hi Massimo, thanks for you post. I'm actually a member and frequent visitor to your site under a different username. The page you linked to and posts on the forum (particularly Istvan's build of aircraft No.5-2) have informed the building of the early IL-2s. My build of the very early all-metal IL-2 (No.3-6) is almost at the painting stage and incorporates all of the changes you list above. The only thing stopping me from beginning the paint job is the knowledge that there may be a change needed to a wing fairing that I have missed. Your sovietwarplanes forum would have been the natural choice to post this question but for some reason I can no longer access it. I did post this question on the altervista version of the forum but haven't had any replies. I thought I would try my luck here because I know Learstang the IL-2 guru frequents this site. Well at least he used to. Cheers, Robert

Hi PFlint, I'm not really sure to what Learstang was referring. I assumed it was the wing to fuselage fairing.

Hi Spitfire. I was hoping Jason would see this as he was the person who brought the existence of the different fairings to my attention in the first place. I actually posted the same question at the back-up sovietwarplanes forum but there have only been four views (two of which were me) and no replies. Might have had more success at the main forum but I wasn't able to access it. I'll have to check and see if it's working again. Cheers, Robert

Hi. I'm currently working on a couple of 48 scale single-seat Il-2 models. One is a very early type with metal wings and fuselage and the other, a later version with wooden wings and a wooden fuselage. I've been told that there is a different type of wing fairing used depending on whether the wing is metal or wood but I've looked at lots of photos but have been unable see any difference. Can anyone tell me what I should be looking for? Thanks, TimTam27

This is great news. It's an important aircraft and it is about time there was an accurate, well-detailed 1:48 kit. Sadly all previous attempts have been lacking. Hopefully ICM can be the first to get it right. Cheers