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IL-2 Modelling Guide


Learstang

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I know I've already mentioned this fact in a few (or more) posts I've made on this forum (amongst others), but I'm currently finishing up an extensive guide to modelling the Il-2. This book features photographs from WWII (The Great Patriotic War, or GPW, to the Soviets/Russians), drawings especially commissioned for the book, and reviews of all the kits and accessories currently available for the Shturmovik (at least those I know about, of course). In addition, I have a detailed build on the Hobby Boss wheeled single-seater 1/32nd scale kit, and a fairly extensive review of the 1/48th scale Tamiya Il-2 kit. I also have some walk-around photographs of currently extant Shturmoviks, both restored and unrestored.

At present my plans are to release it initially as an ebook, available through Lulu.com. This is the cheapest and easiest route for me, as I've basically already paid for everything I need in order to publish the book. However, if there is sufficient interest in an actual, hold it in your hands book, I will explore that option also. Frankly, I like to have an actual book to look at; however, one of the advantages of the ebook form is that I can add new reviews to it when new Il-2 items are released. I'd be more than happy to have it available in both formats, but I need to know if I'm going to make any money off a full-blown book. The "real" book would cost more than the ebook, and I'm thinking $15USD (9.35 GBP or 11.61 Euros) would be reasonable for the book; the ebook would cost less, but I'm not sure how much less. Of course the more I can sell, the cheaper I can sell it at. Any comments and questions are welcome!

Best Regards,

Jason Moore

Edited by Learstang
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I think I could be convinced too - the help you give to anyone building an IL-2 has been really great, so all of that info in the one place would be a Godsend to anyone either serious about building the new Tamiya kit, or just with an interest in VVS. I would probably prefer the printed copy, but would be satisfied with the eBook version if the pictures & diagrams were of high enough (higher than print quality to give it an edge over the book?) quality :)

Good luck with the process, and thanks for sharing your knowledge :thumbsup:

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Thank you gentlemen; I'm very glad to hear there's some interest. I'm leaning towards doing both an ebook and a real book, if for no other reason than I'm egotistical enough to want to have a proper book with my name on it that I can impress the peasants with. Mike, I do think the drawings are of very good quality, and I also intend to provide a ratio so that anyone printing them out can print them out and resize them to whatever scale they prefer. That's the idea, anyway. I printed one out for my own usage, on American letter size paper (8.5" x 11"), and it comes out to right about 1/72nd scale. That will probably be the default size, as that's the scale I prefer, and anything bigger is not going to fit on one page in the book. As far as a publishing date, I had in my mind to wait and see about the Tamiya 1/72nd scale arrow and the Academy 1/72nd scale straight-winged two-seater, as I think those are going to be the best kits in 1/72nd scale for those two versions. I will want to have good reviews for those, and the Tamiya kit is scheduled for a (late?) February release, and the Academy kit is scheduled for a March release (both next year, of course), so that gives some sort of idea when I will publish, say by the middle of next year. That's the plan right now, and gives me time to get everything all nice and polished up to where it actually looks Iike I knew what I was doing.

Best Regards,

Jason

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Only $15 is a bargain for a print modelling book these days.

I think it's a reasonable price - I want to make some money off it, of course, but I also don't want to price myself out of range. This book obviously is going to have a somewhat limited appeal (it's not exactly the next Stephen King novel), so I want it reasonable in price to where anyone who has even a tangential interest will be tempted to buy it. On a related subject, once this book is done, I'm going to go back to a project I've been tinkering with for some time - a book on VVS camouflage, aimed at the modeller. That book would have a greater appeal, I should think.

Best Regards,

Jason

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I would like to have both (greedy git that I am) !

Cheers

Dennis

Only $15 is a bargain for a print modelling book these days.

What they said! I'd probably buy both just to get my hands on it quickly in any form, although e-books seem to sit forgotten on my hard drive most of the time, then go for the paper version when it's available.

John

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What they said! I'd probably buy both just to get my hands on it quickly in any form, although e-books seem to sit forgotten on my hard drive most of the time, then go for the paper version when it's available.

John

John, I'm all for people buying both versions (if you did this, the total would be discounted, say maybe $20 for both?). Hmmm, maybe I'll do an audiobook - I can just see people putting my CD (8-track?) in whilst driving to work, listening to my soothing voice telling them about the differences between the early production single-seaters and the later single-seaters. Actually, I might release something on CD, with 3D models of the different versions that you could rotate, zoom in on, etc., but I'm afraid that's a bit down the road. First, of course, I have to finish the b****y thing!

Best Regards,

Jason

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I think it's a reasonable price - I want to make some money off it, of course, but I also don't want to price myself out of range. This book obviously is going to have a somewhat limited appeal (it's not exactly the next Stephen King novel), so I want it reasonable in price to where anyone who has even a tangential interest will be tempted to buy it. On a related subject, once this book is done, I'm going to go back to a project I've been tinkering with for some time - a book on VVS camouflage, aimed at the modeller. That book would have a greater appeal, I should think.

Best Regards,

Jason

Put me down for the VVS camouflage book as well, the one I bought previously is in use as a door stop now.

Cheers

Dennis

Edited by spitfire
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Put me down for the VVS canouflage book as well, the one I bought previously is in use as a door stop now.

Cheers

Dennis

Dennis, you mean the EP one? Yes, my book will be much shorter (therefore much lighter, and much less suitable as a door stop), but more accurate. I'll keep you in mind for the VVS camouflage book, whenever I get back to that one. I definitely think there is a need for an up-to-date book on VVS camouflage in English.

Best Regards,

Jason

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dennis, you mean the EP one? Yes, my book will be much shorter (therefore much lighter, and much less suitable as a door stop), but more accurate. I'll keep you in mind for the VVS camouflage book, whenever I get back to that one. I definitely think there is a need for an up-to-date book on VVS camouflage in English.

Best Regards,

Jason

There is a definate need, when I knew I would be retiring I bought as many reference books, kits and paints as possible (thats my excuse anyway), the EP book was one of those purchases that meant I had a "one stop" guide to all things VVS fighter camouflage and markings, so it needs replacing, especially now that people like Silver Wings seem to be serious about producing VVS subjects.

Cheers

Den

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There is a definate need, when I knew I would be retiring I bought as many reference books, kits and paints as possible (thats my excuse anyway), the EP book was one of those purchases that meant I had a "one stop" guide to all things VVS fighter camouflage and markings, so it needs replacing, especially now that people like Silver Wings seem to be serious about producing VVS subjects.

Cheers

Den

Den, I kind of wish I'd started the VVS camouflage book first, as there's going to be more interest in it. However, I've already put so much into my Il-2 book that I need to finish that first. I definitely think there's a need for such a book on Soviet camouflage. The EP book is based on flawed research, and although the Jiri and Hornat book has some good material in it, it also contains some flawed research. My book will of course be immaculate! :D

Best Regards,

Jason

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I would be very keen on a hard copy book, maybe its because I haven't got a "reader" but out of print books I've downloaded strike me as being far less convenient compared to a book I can just pluck off the book shelf & dive into. I'm impressed by your knowledge of things VVs in general & Il-2s in pearticular so yes, a book for me for sure, even if it works out a bit more expensive.

Steve.

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I would be very keen on a hard copy book, maybe its because I haven't got a "reader" but out of print books I've downloaded strike me as being far less convenient compared to a book I can just pluck off the book shelf & dive into. I'm impressed by your knowledge of things VVs in general & Il-2s in pearticular so yes, a book for me for sure, even if it works out a bit more expensive.

Steve.

Thank you, Steve! I think I'm like you; I have a lot of old books on my hard disk (such as the old "Profile" series), but even those I prefer to print out before I use them.

Best Regards,

Jason

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  • 8 years later...
On 12/9/2012 at 12:28 AM, Learstang said:

I know I've already mentioned this fact in a few (or more) posts I've made on this forum (amongst others), but I'm currently finishing up an extensive guide to modelling the Il-2. This book features photographs from WWII (The Great Patriotic War, or GPW, to the Soviets/Russians), drawings especially commissioned for the book, and reviews of all the kits and accessories currently available for the Shturmovik (at least those I know about, of course). In addition, I have a detailed build on the Hobby Boss wheeled single-seater 1/32nd scale kit, and a fairly extensive review of the 1/48th scale Tamiya Il-2 kit. I also have some walk-around photographs of currently extant Shturmoviks, both restored and unrestored.

At present my plans are to release it initially as an ebook, available through Lulu.com. This is the cheapest and easiest route for me, as I've basically already paid for everything I need in order to publish the book. However, if there is sufficient interest in an actual, hold it in your hands book, I will explore that option also. Frankly, I like to have an actual book to look at; however, one of the advantages of the ebook form is that I can add new reviews to it when new Il-2 items are released. I'd be more than happy to have it available in both formats, but I need to know if I'm going to make any money off a full-blown book. The "real" book would cost more than the ebook, and I'm thinking $15USD (9.35 GBP or 11.61 Euros) would be reasonable for the book; the ebook would cost less, but I'm not sure how much less. Of course the more I can sell, the cheaper I can sell it at. Any comments and questions are welcome!

Best Regards,

Jason Moore

 

What happened to this book, did it ever come out?

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In a manner it did; it evolved into my 'Il-2 Shturmovik: Red Avenger' book, which was published in 2015 (and is still available). The resultant book was a history book, although it did have a section where I reviewed the Il-2 models available at the time. I may, in the future, still come out with a full-blown modelling guide to the Il-2, but if that ever comes about, it will be years from now. Thank you for your interest!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

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12 minutes ago, Learstang said:

In a manner it did; it evolved into my 'Il-2 Shturmovik: Red Avenger' book, which was published in 2015 (and is still available). The resultant book was a history book, although it did have a section where I reviewed the Il-2 models available at the time. I may, in the future, still come out with a full-blown modelling guide to the Il-2, but if that ever comes about, it will be years from now. Thank you for your interest!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

 

Okay great thanks Jason. I've got your Red Avenger book and just noticed that it said an image was from your Il-2 Modelling Guide, so I thought I had missed something. I would love to see an Il-2, or any VVS modelling guides in the future.

 

 

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I if I had the time (or would make the time) I really want to write a book about VVS colours in the Great Patriotic War. I believe this would prove a great help to modellers. There are no really good, up-to-date and comprehensive books about this in English, that I am aware of.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

Edited by Learstang
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I also bought the Red Avenger book & very much enjoyed it. A book that distills the collective wisdom that has been revealed in threads both here on BM & Massimo Tessitori's forum & saved me having to search out those various threads would be welcomed by many I believe.

Steve.

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Steve, I'm very glad you enjoyed the book! I did draw quite a bit upon Massimo's wisdom regarding the Il-2 - he did the colour profiles for my book, as well as providing a chart detailing the differences between the different variants at different factories. However, since that time (the book was published in 2015), he's added quite a bit of information to the Il-2 section of his site. If I ever do a new edition of my Il-2 book, I will draw once again upon Massimo's work (with his kind permission, of course!), and incorporate any new information about the Il-2.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

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