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Aeropoxy model aviation (link & link) has just reissued in limited series two long discontinued 1/48th resin kits from its catalogue. https://aeropoxy.wordpress.com/where-to-buy/ - 1/48th - Ikarus IK-2 https://aeropoxy.wordpress.com/2021/07/22/ikarus-ik-2-1-48-scale-resin-kit/ Available here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/203561079496 - 1/48th - Rogožarski IK-3 https://aeropoxy.wordpress.com/2021/07/22/rogozarski-ik-3-1-48-scale-resin-kit/ Available here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/194288356949 V.P.

I've just finished this; the Azur Ikarus IK-2 "VVKJ": I enjoyed building this, it is quite a simple kit, not that many parts, a bit of photo-etch but no resin parts. It went together very well and I built it more-or-less OOB though I did replace the tail struts and one of the undercarriage support struts which were provided as etched metal with micro-strip, I just thought the plastic would be easier to work with. I did my first go at rigging seeing as there was not much required, the tailplane bracing wires on the topside and the 'x'-shaped bracing wires on the main undercarriage - these were done with lycra knitting-in thread and I consider it a success. Incidentally although that undercarriage may look hideously complex it was remarkably easy to put together and quite strong once it was assembled. I used the Humbrol colours recommended by 'Lift Here!' decals which were 65 for the underside and 84/98/116 for the three-colour topside camouflage. Either I was lucky, or Humbrol enamels are getting better, I hope it was the latter. I used a couple of coats of Klear to give a glossy-ish finish as the instructions and other sources advise that the finish on the IK-2 and IK-3 camouflage was glossy. I can't say for certain that this is correct, from the limited number of pictures I have seen I am not really qualified to judge so I went along with it. The kit provides decals for most of the (I believe) 12 IK-2's produced by Ikarus, 5 in pre-war Aluminium dope and 5 in camouflage, of these camouflaged aircraft one wears the earlier national markings and the remainder the smaller wartime markings. I chose V.E.Br.2112 by the simple expedient of ruining the tiny rudder number decals for 2105, 2109 & 2110 with my big stupid fingers. No.2112 was one of the aircraft that helped resist the German invasion in April 1941 and which, along with the surviving IK-2s, IK-3s and the remaining VVKJ Bf109s, were eventually destroyed by their crews at Veliki Radici aerodrome on 12 April 1941 to prevent them falling into the hands of the Germans. The decals are by Aviprint in the Czech Republic and applied beautifully and really deserved a more skilful application than I was able to offer, but they all went on beautifully. Cheers, Stew

Howdy, folks! Here are my finished IK-2 and IK-3, Yugoslav pre-WWII planes. These brothers were made late 30s, very different designs and still very similar. IK-3 took part in air defense of Belgrade in April 1941. and had 11 wins with 4 casualties over Reich's Bf109s... Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of them for that defense to have any chance of success, out 12 produced only 6 were operational and after a few days the two remaining were captured and scraped. Heartbreaking... IK-2 was mostly stationed in Bosnia at the time and surviving ones were given to Croat Air Force. As for models themselves, mostly build out of box, Azur Frrom did a decent job with them. IK-2 was given a bit of details in the cockpit and not much more than that (save the wires on the outside, mentioned in instructions). There are a few inaccuracies outside, most of which can be easily fixed. Canopy could have been done better (goes for IK-3 also), but it's not completely useless. I wasn't going for 100% accuracy, so it didn't bother me much... IK-3 saw a bit more work in cockpit, seat and belts were made from scratch, as were side details. There were some touch-ups on the outside of both, mostly opening exhausts and intakes, IK-3 legs also got a bit of pedicure... More on this can be found in WIP thread... Thanks for watching... Cheers!