Jump to content

Red Bird (1/72 Academy IL-2 single-seater)


Recommended Posts

It just occurred to me that the atrocious fit of the kit could be deliberate.

After all, when things were getting a bit desperate in 1942 or thereabouts I suspect that most Il-2s rolling out of the various zavods were perhaps a little roughly finished...

Maybe... :whistle:

 

In any case it looks like you are beating it into submission rather nicely.

 

I must say though, watching your travails here makes me think that the Tamiya 'arrow' might be a better choice for a hack like me when I add a cement bird to my collection... :unsure:

  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Learstang said:

Despite your travails, PC, it looks like you're going to have an excellent model there!

 

Regards,

 

Jason

2 hours ago, Gazontipede said:

In any case it looks like you are beating it into submission rather nicely.

 

It's a bit rough up close at the underside wingroots, I fear, and the little landing gear nacelles have been sanded to the point of being slightly misshapen.

 

In Jason's book, a number of early Il-2s have unpainted prop fronts, and black-painted backs. Absent a photo reference I've opted to replicate this on my build.

 

43908526992_5ef2536873_b.jpg20180809_215404 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

More filler has been applied to those irritating little divots that always appear after I prime:

 

43051714785_37f1137f9c_h.jpg20180809_215559 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

43051714815_0a3cc03a1e_h.jpg20180809_215607 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The postal service says my paint should arrive tomorrow, but I also have to clean the house so that it looks nice when Mrs P and our children return early Saturday morning; I hope I have time to at least get the upper and lower colours on.

 

 

  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

PC, regarding the propeller blades, the backs were painted about 2/3rds (or 3/4ths, as always, consult photographs where available) of the way down black, with the rest being left in the natural metal colour. For an early Il-2 single-seater with the metal rear fuselage, this type of painting, rather than the wartime all-black propellers, is probably correct. Gazontipede, the Tamiya kit is a bit easier to build, but if you want an early straight-winged version, the Academy kits are still the best, at least for the metal-winged versions (the old Dakoplast kits are good for the wooden-winged versions, but if anything, they're even more quirky to build than the Academy kits).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Edited by Learstang
Additional comment added.
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Learstang said:

PC, regarding the propeller blades, the backs were painted about 2/3rds of the way down black, with the rest being left in the natural metal colour.

fffffffffffffffff

 

 

Was it a hard or a soft demarcation?

  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Procopius said:

fffffffffffffffff

 

 

Was it a hard or a soft demarcation?

 

Hard. Just looking at some of my photographs, the demarcation line appears to have been down rather far, so it was close to the spinner. If you want to leave it as is, I don't think anyone's going to call you out on it, PC.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Learstang said:

 

Hard. Just looking at some of my photographs, the demarcation line appears to have been down rather far, so it was close to the spinner. If you want to leave it as is, I don't think anyone's going to call you out on it, PC.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Well, aside from all of these people, who now know...too much. It shouldn't be too tough to mask a hard demarcation. Is there a page in the book that shows it well, or a photo online?

  • Like 1
  • Haha 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes; the photograph on page 31 of an Il-2 prototype, and the colour image number 35 (a profile of an early Il-2). These show the position of the line between the black paint and the bare metal.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Learstang said:

but if you want an early straight-winged version, the Academy kits are still the best, at least for the metal-winged versions (the old Dakoplast kits are good for the wooden-winged versions, but if anything, they're even more quirky to build than the Academy kits).

Well that's a comfort, I have 3 such, plus one of these & a Tamiya one. I just wonder whose book was responsible for that. :P  Remind me how much I don't want his Lavochkin book least I suddenly get Lavochkinitis too. :D

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
  • Like 1
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I forgot the Smer single seater. ;)

Steve

 

The Smer single-seater is actually quite a nice kit, also. My two favourite models of the Il-2 are the wheeled version and the ski-equipped version. It is the only kit of the single-seater I'm aware of that has the wooden rear fuselage combined with the metal-covered outer wings. This was the most common variant of the single-seater. Regarding talking you out of purchasing my superbly illustrated and brilliantly written book on the Lavochkins, Steve, buy it! I do understand about the 'Lavochkinitis'; I was never that interested in the Yakovlev fighters (sorry, John Thompson!) until I started writing my book on Soviet fighters of the Second World War (still ongoing - the writing of the book that is, not the Second World War). Now I have about fifteen Yak kits!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

Edited by Learstang
Slight change. Really just a trifle. Hardly worth mentioning.
  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Learstang said:

Regarding talking you out of purchasing my superbly illustrated and brilliant written book on the Lavochkins, Steve, buy it! 

Never fear, its on my Christmas list, I thoroughly enjoyed the Il-2 book & already have several La fighters. :)

Steve.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, GrzeM said:

Man, the Soviets loved tractors so much, even their airplanes looked like tractors.

 

8 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

It looks good in the primer. The filling above the wing roots seems to have worked a treat.

 

 

Let it never be said that I'm not willing to sand the hell out of something.

 

Speaking of, I sanded down the filled problem areas. Let's hope this does it!

 

43967440481_caf0fff7d2_h.jpg20180810_141107 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

On the underside, there's a pronounced step immediately before the radiator that I just couldn't do much with.

 

42158750490_b6f91826cd_h.jpg20180810_141114 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Up top, the gear nacelles have gotten sanded to within an inch of their lives. 

 

42158750290_9e923bbbf7_h.jpg20180810_141124 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

My paint should be at my door this evening. I hope to get base coats down then.

 

 

 

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's interesting, PC; I have that step in front of the radiator on my built but unpainted two-seater, but not on my completely finished single-seater. I wonder if I figured out a way to sand it down on the single-seater - If I did, I've unfortunately forgotten how I did. Perhaps that was just an earlier moulding with fresher moulds and better-fitting parts (I built that single-seater some years ago).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paint's here! 

 

42160030200_ab8bce8fcf_h.jpg20180810_160239 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I'm using AKAN's newish "Acrylic Enamels", which have better adhesion than their normal acrylic range (which frankly wouldn't be difficult), and which are apparently the most accurate, formulated using Russian paint chips from the genuine article, the last word, &c. &c. Whatever the truth of that, it's somewhat irregularly thinned; I sprayed the A-14 Steel/Grey interior colour right out of the bottle with no difficulty, but the A-18 Blue was a little thicker, which I didn't realize until I sprayed it. A nice gloss coat ought to sort it out, but it was still a bit of a surprise.

 

Thus forewarned, I thinned the A-19 Green with their proprietary thinner and sprayed the spinner.

 

29030668397_afb1e6539b_h.jpg20180810_160245 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I had a bunch left over, so I sprayed the parts of the uppersurfaces that didn't require masking:

 

43063333985_92bd94e8f5_h.jpg20180810_160234 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

This is supposedly the faded version of the colour, so I can't even begin to imagine how vibrant it must look when brand new. Still visible on the model, if not in the photo, is the thin seam line starting aft the nose intake and ending just forward of the windscreen. Rrrgh.   

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

More green on!

 

30101757298_62c7f49060_h.jpg20180810_185047 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I messed up the demarcation along the rear fuselage; it should be much more curved, and more of the aircraft should be green:

 

30101757268_b187895142_h.jpg20180810_185056 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Easily fixed.

 

Up front, I'm pretty happy with things, just need to mask off the exhaust stacks and repaint them.

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Procopius said:

This is supposedly the faded version of the colour, so I can't even begin to imagine how vibrant it must look when brand new.

Sorta like John Deere tractor green I'd shouldn't wonder. :whistle::D

Looking good Edward.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The aircraft is coming along nicely, maybe it gave you a rough time because you didn´t thoroughly clean the remaining sprue gates (I always get lazy on that part).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The model and the colours look very nice, PC! This build, and the news about that single-seater being recovered have gotten me re-interested in my multiple Il-2 builds (5 or so, but I have finished 9 completely, so that's a pretty good unfinished to finished ratio for me).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...