Kitchen Modeller Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Hello all - I started this kit a few nights ago but have only got round to posting tonight - I’m going back to 1/72 land after a brief jaunt into 1/48 - which I thoroughly enjoyed but I have a large stash of aircraft in the smaller variety so I reckon I’ll try to get as many of those finished before buying any more kits - that’s the plan in any case 😇. Here’s the kit - the new tooled Il-2 from tamiya - I bought this from a supplier in japan as I couldn’t find it anywhere else - took about 2 months to arrive but I was v happy when it did. I love Soviet warbirds - so utilitarian - brutish and gnarly. I want to build a load of them but this is the first on the hit list. Not much in the way of aftermarket- some resin wheels and a canopy mask. Starting this off - begining with the fuselage. This went together nicely as you would expect from a tamiya new tool... With that complete I got into the pit... which I’ve just about finished... sorry I neglected to take pictures. Forgot I was Wip ing 😌 I added some eduard seatbelts - after gluing into place they got a coat of tamiya panel line wash - brown. The instrument panel was quite nice - the decal went on nicely - I painted on some details and then put on another wash after a gloss coat. The fuel tank was painted black and then I dry brushed on aluminum- followed by a panel line wash. The rear section has some nice detail but is still pretty sparse. After the initial coat of tamiya xf22, I dry brushed a lighter colour - base coat with added white. Then picked out some details with a few more colours. There was a pretty big seam line on the floor of the back section- so I added some wire to cover this up... So a quick dry fit to make sure everything was on track... Fit is very good. I’m enjoying this immensely so far - hopefully things continue in this vain. More to follow shortly - thanks for looking in ! 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 Continued on with this... and started work on the wings. After being removed from the sprue tree and cleaned up, they were subjected to some riveting - I decided to just rivet the upper wings as in most of the reference images I looked at, the rivets are not very visible on the rest of the air frame. The rest of the model has enough detail already and the fuselage was a wooden construct so no visible rivets there... I used my Rosie the Riveter tool again which is now my favourite having tried the other options out there. The rivet lines will help during the painting stage... The wheel bays were then installed... I then constructed the main air intake which was installed on the underside of the fuselage part - the upper wings are then clued onto that... The construction order of this kit is quite different to what I'm used to but everything fits very well so I'm not complaining... I then had some finishing touches to the cockpit to do before it gets installed... This is the rear gun mounting - painted black with dry brushed aluminum. The gunners 'seat' was then painted and installed... This just looks like a glorified belt for the gunner to sit on. They knew how to speed up the production line in the factory! Apparently Stalin himself wrote a letter of warning to the factory managers requiring that the IL-2 be pushed into production more quickly. The factories obliged. With that, the cockpit was installed and glued into place. Again this went in with no fuss. Before wrapping up for the night, I did a quick dry fit of the wings and fuselage... Nothing glued yet - but it's building up nicely. I love the shape of the wings - they are so wide given the size of the airplane. This would have given it a lot of stability and supported the very heavy air frame - given how much armor was protecting the pilot and engine. It would have been a very smooth ride - and made it a very effective weapons platform. Thanks for looking in 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 Lovely😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy with a Beer Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 Perfect timing, I just added one of these to the stash the other week, so I can watch this for ideas to steal. I'm midway through my own Soviet building phase. So far completed an LaGG-3 (a second currently being built), Yak-3, La-7 with a an I-16 and this Il-2 kit waiting to be started. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 7, 2019 Author Share Posted June 7, 2019 Haha 😆 awesome. A man after my own heart. Do you have RFIs for those you’ve built as I want to build all of those..! Can you recommend kits as there seems to be a huge difference in quality out there - especially with the yak 3 and la 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy with a Beer Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 (edited) The Yak-3 and La-7 are cheap Hobby Boss kits. Cost me about $10 each and took about 10 minutes to assemble! They are very basic kits aimed at beginners with almost no cockpit details and pretty basic landing gear. I didn't really go into detail on those, they were more for me to experiment with my airbrush (I'm fairly new to airbrushing) and some different weathering techniques to what I usually do. I figured ruining a $10 kit is better than ruining a $30+ one. For a cheap kit they fit together well and serve as a good canvas for painting. I believe there is also MiG-3 in the same series of kits. I'm sure after market parts could make these much better, but it's probably better to buy something more detailed to begin with. The two LaGG-3s are the Roden kit which is close to the worst fitting kit I've ever worked with and not worth hassle. Even aftermarket stuff wont save this kit. The first one I built is terrible. The second I bought to challenge myself to see if I could actually make it look decent. Let's just say my skills with files, sand paper and putty are being tested to the max (some parts are so poorly fitting that I even took to them with a sprue cutter!). It is currently halfway through painting the camo, but still awaiting assembly of the under carriage, under-wing stores, etc. The I-16 is the ICM kit. No idea on the accuracy of any of these kits. I don't really concern myself such things too much, just so as long as it looks like what it is meant to be. The Tamiya Il-2 is the one I'm looking forward to the most on the Russian side of my builds. Edited June 7, 2019 by Guy with a Beer Moved mouse, then hit wrong button and posted unfinished post. (short version: I'm an idiot) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 7, 2019 Author Share Posted June 7, 2019 Jeepers - they all sound horrific! You should reward yourself with the il-2 next - it’s a lovely kit (thus far) yep I’ll probably go for the eduard La-7 - even though it’s quite old and a reboxing. But still better than the alternatives out there. Hopefully we’ll see the LaGG 2 in RFI soon...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil5208 Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 6 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: This is the rear gun mounting - painted black with dry brushed aluminum. The gunners 'seat' was then painted and installed... This just looks like a glorified belt for the gunner to sit on. They knew how to speed up the production line in the factory! Apparently Stalin himself wrote a letter of warning to the factory managers requiring that the IL-2 be pushed into production more quickly. The factories obliged. When first design the IL2 was a single seat design, the rear gunner position was a mod done in the field hence the basic nature of the gunner seat. This was then taken up by the factory which copy the work done but added a slightly longer canopy. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 7, 2019 Author Share Posted June 7, 2019 52 minutes ago, neil5208 said: When first design the IL2 was a single seat design, the rear gunner position was a mod done in the field hence the basic nature of the gunner seat. This was then taken up by the factory which copy the work done but added a slightly longer canopy. Thanks for that Neil - that all makes sense.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazontipede Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 I've also got one of these that just arrived from Japan. So I'll be following your build closely in the vain hope that I'll be able to emulate it. For the moment it has been relegated to the stash though, as SWMBO found the 1/9 T-800 endoskeleton that she bought me when we first started going out over two decades ago and that is now on the priority build list. Or else! For future reference I'm pondering what mix of Tamiya paints to use to get the AMT-1 which the kit oddly depicts as an earthy brown. The other colours seem straightforward enough. I was thinking of starting with their XF-57 Buff as a base and fiddling with various light greys to darken it to the authentic shade depicted on Massimo's amazing site. What do you think? Anyway if you are after other VVS recommendations, the Revell I-153 rebox of the ICM kit produces a very cute little beast for an absolutely minimal cost. P.S. Will you be building Johnny's Hurricane at some point to go with all these VVS birds? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 17 hours ago, Gazontipede said: For future reference I'm pondering what mix of Tamiya paints to use to get the AMT-1 which the kit oddly depicts as an earthy brown. Yep, I'm probably not going with Tamiya's depiction - I'm planning on going with something more akin to the AMT-1 listed under 'Camouflage paints for Soviet shturmoviks, bombers and transport planes, September 1943 - 1945' on this page. That's a brilliant site - thanks so much for giving me the heads up there. So maybe a cross between tamiya nato brown and buff - can't say for sure until I start mixing paints. 17 hours ago, Gazontipede said: Anyway if you are after other VVS recommendations, the Revell I-153 rebox of the ICM kit produces a very cute little beast for an absolutely minimal cost. That's on the list! 17 hours ago, Gazontipede said: P.S. Will you be building Johnny's Hurricane at some point to go with all these VVS birds? I was kinda shocked to hear you ask this - I was like 'how could he possibly know about that..?' Then I saw what I'm using for my profile pic Answer is yes of course - already have the Arma Hobby Hurricane ear-marked for this - just need to organise some falcon squadron decals... I have made some more progress on the Il-2 so will post some more pics soon... Cheers John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazontipede Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Kitchen Modeller said: Yep, I'm probably not going with Tamiya's depiction - I'm planning on going with something more akin to the AMT-1 listed under 'Camouflage paints for Soviet shturmoviks, bombers and transport planes, September 1943 - 1945' on this page. That's a brilliant site - thanks so much for giving me the heads up there. So maybe a cross between tamiya nato brown and buff - can't say for sure until I start mixing paints. Massimo's site is excellent, I believe he's a member here too. There's a build of the 1/48 version here which also gives some suggestions for Tamiya paint mixes. To my eye his AMT-1 mix might have a bit too much of a red tint in it maybe. (With caveats for different monitors and individual perception of course.) Lovely build though. I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts when you get your own mixing experiments underway. 3 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: I was kinda shocked to hear you ask this - I was like 'how could he possibly know about that..?' Then I saw what I'm using for my profile pic Answer is yes of course - already have the Arma Hobby Hurricane ear-marked for this - just need to organise some falcon squadron decals... Heh, yeah I saw your avatar and thought, now that looks familiar. I grew up in the 70's with a subscription to Battle Picture Weekly... So Joe Colquhoun's super rendition of Johnny, the gang and the air war in the East will always be my favourite. Indeed, there was much experimenting with Texta markers, Airfix Hurricanes and Yak-9Ds back in those days... Sometimes the resultant splodges actually looked slightly like the Falcons emblem! When you get some Falcons decals sorted out and you are ready, please do a WiP thread on Johnny's Hurri! That'll be so awesome! In the interim, I'm looking forward to seeing your Ilyusha take shape! Cheers, Richard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 17 hours ago, Gazontipede said: I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts when you get your own mixing experiments underway. Stay tuned - though I should warn you that I might be taking a wee break before I get to the painting stage - I've moving house next weekend followed by a 3 week overseas trip - but I will detail all paint choices here - I'll be using Tamiya acrylics as always. Thanks for that link to Bill Michaels build - it is a lovely build and that info about the plane is great. Not sure if I'll use that same tone he used for AMT-1 - I agree that it seems a little too 'red-ish' but we'll see when I get there. 17 hours ago, Gazontipede said: I grew up in the 70's with a subscription to Battle Picture Weekly... So Joe Colquhoun's super rendition of Johnny, the gang and the air war in the East will always be my favourite. Same:) Was a huge fan of Battle weekly and Johnny Red was my favourite - though I loved Charlies War too - Joe Colquhoun was an amazing artist who worked on both stories... Not sure if you're aware of the more recent Johnny Red stories written by Garth Ennis - he posted about this here on Britmodeller (apparently he's a model fan) If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. It's a more grown up story but very much in the vain of the old strip - but with Garth Ennis's own twist to it. It's great stuff - and the art is beautifully done. All the old characters are there - including some of the villains. I'll be basing my Johnny Red Hurricane on the art in this book - which of course I'll WIP here My avatar pic is from one of the covers of this more recent iteration of Johnny Anyways - on with the build... The wings finally got clued together - again the fit is very good however there was some hairline seams on the leading edge - apologies for the fuzzy photo but hopefully you can see the problem: This was taken after some sanding - this removed some of the seam lines but some would be still visible after paint which obviously won't do. So I broke out my go to in these situations: This stuff is great for dealing with little tiny seams that are too small for Perfect Plastic putty or tamiya putty etc - I apply it with a tooth pick on the seam, let it dry for about 20 minutes and then sand it down... After application - and then after sanding: Hopefully that's done the job - I'll know more after the primer goes on. After this, the I attached the wings to the fuselage - these pretty much snapped into place: The fit is pretty good but still needed a little sanding. There was a bigger seam line on the port side - not that big so more alclad mircofiller was applied... And sanded back - starting with a low grade and moving to higher grades to get a smooth finish... I then re-scribed the panel lines to bring them back... I still have a few bits to attach before primer - I'm still debating if I'll put the canopy in place at this point - the cockpit will be tricky to mask off otherwise - Thinking I might place the front section and mask off the gunners area - if anyone else has build this kit I'd like to hear what you did here... Until the next time - thanks for checking in... Cheers John 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 I've done a similar thing on my Airfix 1/72 Hurricane. I applied small drops of Mr Surfacer 1000, using a sewing needle with most of the eye cut off. After drying, I used a longish strip of 600 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. I then went over it with some fine sanding sticks. Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 3 hours ago, dogsbody said: using a sewing needle with most of the eye cut off. That's a cunning wee tool Chris - I might have to steal that idea. Nice job on the Hurricane lead edge there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 16 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: That's a cunning wee tool Chris - I might have to steal that idea. Nice job on the Hurricane lead edge there. Steal away! I got the idea from some old modelling magazine decades ago. I've had this for about 30 years now. Works great with superglues, too. That was the original use. The whole tool: Chris 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 That cockpit is gorgeous! 1/72nd, you say? I wouldn't have guessed if you didn't say so. I'm interested to see how this one turns out. I really didn't know much about the Il-2 until I saw one about 3 years ago at Flying Heritage Collection. Then I decided it was a pretty neat aircraft and it on the list for kits to get... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 Hello all - I've been progressing this in the last few days... I decided to attach the canopy at this point - something I usually leave till last. I've had issues with canopies getting damaged during painting when I've attached them at this point in the build - but the way the layout of this model leaves me no choice I think - masking it off would be messy. So I whacked on the eduard masks which was a nice short job and installed the canopy... The fit was very good - no gaps or fitting issues - good old Tamiya. With most of my prep work complete, I was able to put down a layer of primer... I use Mr Surfacer 1500 black - mixed 50/50 with mr leveling thinner - this is great stuff - goes on very nicely and is very difficult to muck up. However, this first coat revealed quite a few issues with the model - Visible seam lines all over the fuselage . You can see the seam behind the cockpit in the photo above. There was also visible seams in front of the cockpit, on the underside and a few other little issues with glue stains. I was so obsessed with getting the leading edges sorted I neglected the basics... So back to filling and and sanding I go. The leading edges were perfect at least So more Alclad microfiller was applied to the problem areas and allowed to dry: And sanded back with the usual method of differing higher degrees of grit... After sanding, I did a little re-scribing and finally cleaned everything off ready for the second coat of primer... After the second coat - maddeningly there are still some ghost seams visible which I've only noticed just now - posting these photos! The camera picks up things that my eye obviously doesn't - It's still much better than it was - I should have taken better care when I was closing the fuselage I guess. I'll decide later if I want to try and correct these (I probably will!) That's it for now - I'll be taking a break from this for a few weeks - I've moving house this weekend followed shortly thereafter with a trip to my homeland (Ireland) so I'll resume construction in July. Thanks for checking in...! John 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugle07 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 She's looking ace mate! All the best for the move and enjoy the holiday/trip home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share Posted June 12, 2019 4 hours ago, Bugle07 said: She's looking ace mate! All the best for the move and enjoy the holiday/trip home. Thanks Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 A Sturmovik? Exxcellent choice and good progress too! I don't want to spoil the fun, but I always thought that many parts of the Il2 were made of wood...including rear fuselage and outer wings 😶 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 Looks great John, the cockpit especially is spot on and you know I'm a sucker for some good rivetting! Good luck with the real life stuff and safe travels 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted June 13, 2019 Author Share Posted June 13, 2019 12 hours ago, Christer A said: I don't want to spoil the fun, but I always thought that many parts of the Il2 were made of wood...including rear fuselage and outer wings 😶 Lol - don't worry Christer - you're not going to spoil my fun. You are correct of course - however my understanding is that the later versions were able to use more aluminum in the construction due to shipments from the US - so the il-2 entire wing was able to be fabricated in the lighter material. The lower fuselage was always wood of course - which is why I didn't rivet the fuselage. I could have riveted the entire airframe as the blueprints suggested but didn't after looking at reference photos - but that's a big wing so I wanted some guides which will really help when it comes to painting and weathering. 31 minutes ago, SaminCam said: Looks great John, the cockpit especially is spot on and you know I'm a sucker for some good rivetting! Good luck with the real life stuff and safe travels Thanks Sam 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 A very agricultural, but somehow strangely attractive aircraft and you're doing her proud! Enjoy your trip and we'll see you back here soon. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazontipede Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 (edited) She sure looks sinister in black! Looks like the erkskis got a bit carried away with the tractor paint! I hope the move goes well and you have a great vacation! Richard Edited June 15, 2019 by Gazontipede Attempting comprehensible sentence structure... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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