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1/48 - Ilyushin IL-2 Shturmovik family by Zvezda - single and two-seater versions released


Homebee

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6 hours ago, Tbolt said:

What was even more annoying is that Tamiya also didn't do the bomb bays in their kit. Could you imagine the outcry if Tamiya did a 1/48th scale B-17 with only a closed bomb bay? 

Oh you mean like Monogram did all those years ago. Full bomb bay, bomb load but no bomb bay doors that opened ? Never did quite understand that one myself. 

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From my fairly cursory examination of the above sprues, this looks to be a nicely and accurately moulded Il-2 single-seater. I notice it has multiple parts, including parts for the two-seater, such as two different tail wheels (the two-seaters had bigger tail wheels than the single-seaters), multiple clear parts for different versions of the single-seater which differed in the amount of armour carried, and half a sprue for the engine. Regarding the clear parts, the windscreen looks like it has the armoured glass panels on the sides at the correct 90 degrees to each other, something many kits get wrong on the Il-2. It also has the entirely glass armour rear plate for the pilot (used on early single-seaters), and the glass and steel armour plate behind the pilot, used on most Il-2s. The rear fuselage is smooth, which is correct for the wooden rear fuselage versions of the Il-2, which includes almost all Il-2s, both single and two-seater versions. This kit even has the upper cowling panel with and without the vents - a nice touch! It includes both versions of the landing gear breaker struts - the square-section versions used on the earliest types, and the rounded-section welded steel-tube versions used on most Il-2 variants. The bomb bays can be displayed opened. The ejection chutes appear to be properly done, and the ailerons appear to be the metal-covered variants, which is correct for a metal-winged single-seater, which this kit represents. My main question is regarding the armament for the early Il-2s, which featured 20-mm cannons rather than the longer 23-mm cannons; the kit appears to have the 20-mms, but they are mounted in the 23-mm-type fairings, which was sometimes, although not always done. And on the early Il-2s, the cannons were mounted inboard of the machine guns, so it's hard to tell from these parts how easy it will be to represent this. Once I get a look at the instruction sheet, I will probably have a better idea regarding the early armament. I can't tell if the spinner is done correctly, and the separate wingtips are a bit of an odd choice, since the Il-2 never featured clipped wingtips, but overall this looks to be a very nice and accurate kit indeed of the Il-2. I shall no doubt pick one up! (And wait impatiently for one in 1/72nd scale - My Precious!!!!!)

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Edited by Learstang
Additional comments added.
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And the two seater is indeed in the pipe line. Let's have a close look at the sprues and cockpit plug design. 

The fuselage, cockpit & wing parts are obviously designed to offer the two seater variants.

Sources: 

http://www.master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=114283

http://master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=114283&sid=4fdb3e91a3824c22c150a2b14fd8d68d#p1486704

 

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T.jpg

 

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V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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Since the outer parts of  wings are all on separate frame I would not be surprised if the late "strielka" (arrow - sloped leading edge) wing variant finally will be released as well. Hope to see also 1/72 Il-2 whole family made by one company.

Regards

J-W

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12 minutes ago, JWM said:

Since the outer parts of  wings are all on separate frame I would not be surprised if the late "strielka" (arrow - sloped leading edge) wing variant finally will be released as well. Hope to see also 1/72 Il-2 whole family made by one company.

Regards

J-W

The construction of the wings definitely seems to point to the arrow being released at some point, J-W. I too would also love to see the entire family in 1/72nd scale, in both wooden and metal-winged varieties. Perhaps it will be Zvezda who finally do this. As I'm sure you remember, Toko did all three main variants in 1/72nd scale, but only as metal-winged versions, and although their kits weren't bad, Zvezda can certainly do much better.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

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Source: https://www.facebook.com/Zvezda.ModelKits/posts/2764860420283411

Quote

Today we want to show you short review of our new Il-2 kit in 1/48 scale!

It`s full new kit of single version of this aircraft, build in 1941-1942 year. We made a lot of alternative parts, like VYa-23 or ShVAK cannons, different canopys, gears and other details, which will allow you to make any prototype you like!

We also made high-detailed engine, cockpit, bomb bay and armament.

Now we show you test-parts in different plastic color and minor defects. Everything will be all right in the series.

And almost forgot! Kit will have 4 decal variants!

121472212-2764857153617071-6056878014049

 

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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  • Homebee changed the title to 1/48 - Ilyushin IL-2 Shturmovik family by Zvezda - released

By the looks of it, another beauty from Zvedza hot on the heels of their sublime 1:72 C-130h Hercules.....I must admit that the single-seat Il-2 is not one of my favourite aircraft although that box art will definitely help this kit to sell. I also thought it would be difficult to follow on the heels of the Accurate Miniatures and Tamiya two-place variants but now I'm not so sure. I think Zvedza are going to be on another winner with this one.

 

Keep 'em coming, I say ! 

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53 minutes ago, foxbot said:

 

Those look nice! Now someone just needs to come up with a conversion kit for the field-modified two seater version.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

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Gentlemen,

I'm also happy to see Zvezda has not decided just to re-pack the good old (rather old than good) AM kit. On the other hand, kindly let me cool down the overall optimism a bit. The new Il-2 kit has a couple of restrictive limitations when it comes to choosing the option to build.

 

Firstly, the wing center section is not suitable for any of single seaters. It has openings for direct small bombs loading. This feature appeared since December 1942 on two-seat Il-2s. So pick your filler and sand papers :) 

 

Second thing, outer wing sections. Directly OOB you get full metal late wings mounted only by Factory No.18 (we're talking about single seater's wings, two seater's wings are a different topic). Hence, forget to use ShVAK cannons (shorter barrel). Consequently, we would need to follow the Factory No.18 pattern in the rest of the aircraft construction. Forget early type canopies, gun sight in the cockpit and bullet-proof glass behind pilot's seat. Don't forget to add the primitive gun sight in front of the wind shield.

Unless Zvezda releases a dedicated early production Il-2 with metal wings of very early type and metal rear fuselage, early canopies and PBP-1 gun sight will not be used at all. Sure, devoted Il-2 enthusiast can do a little sanding and re-scribing magic, a piece of surgery to modify the cannons vs machine guns position, re-position rocket rails, add second landing light and lower the fuel tank behind the pilot :D 

 

I see no major problem to convert new Zvezda's Il-2 into a Shturmovik with wooden wings. Fill and sand the panel lines, don't use mass balance weights, use ShVAKs instead of VYa-23s and you're good to go. Since June 1942 (if I remember correctly), reinforcing metal tapes were applied on upper and/or lower wings surface (depending on period and factory).

 

And last but not least, when choosing which decal option to build, always check your references and do not rely solely on instruction sheet (I mean in general, not just towards Zvezda). Single seat Il-2s were built by Factories Nos. 18, 381, 1 and 30, so not each single seater would match the Factory No. 18 pattern offered by this obviously nice kit.

 

Anyway, if you want to build an accurate Il-2 from Zvezda's kit, it's the right time to add the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik book by MMP to your resources, if you still don't own one ;)

 

Enjoy your hobby!

Viktor

Edited by airacutter
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Definitely worth to build. Big portion of those who will buy and build this one will simply follow the instructions and don't bother themselves with hunting for every detail. Is there outside any 100% perfect kit? I would dare to doubt that. So, what I've done in my previous post was just to draw anyone's who's interested attention to some points, where one would need to pay more attention if trying to get as accurate replica as possible. Take what you want and leave the rest ;)

With almost no extra effort (just that wing center section) you'll get a nice Factory No.18 built Il-2. With a little more effort you can get "all-wooden" Il-2 built in Factories 1 and 30. And a little bit of effort more to get even the Il-2I fighter prototype (no wing mounted machine guns, larger tail wheel and a piece of re-scribing on the fuselage).

Dunno how you guys, I'll get myself at least 2 kits and looking fwd to see the two-seaters 😎

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If this Viktor ('airacutter') is Viktor Povinsky, he knows his Shturmoviks, so his suggestions can be followed with high confidence. His book by MMP is an excellent guide to all the differences between the different versions built at the different factories. He is correct that there is no perfect Il-2 model out there (even the Tamiya kits have their inaccuracies), but I believe this new Zvezda kit is a very good one.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

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Jason, thanks for your kind words. Let's hope that with Il-2, Zvezda will sooner or later go the same way as with Peshka, and after 1/48th also the 1/72nd scale will be announced. Still there's a huge gap on the market in this scale...

Meanwhile, in 1/48th scale, we would get obviously also the early production machine I've mentioned previously. What would be the reason to have 2 landing lights and early type canopies otherwise?

 

BR

Viktor

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I agree, Viktor. It's obvious that some of the parts for the very early version are there - the PBP-1 gun sight, the two landing lights, and the unarmoured canopies, as you say, and also the glass armour behind the pilot. I am a little confused (and I think Zvezda may be also) about the armament - it has the ShVAK cannons, but it also has the VYa-23 housings. I know this was done with some Il-2s because of a lack of 23-mm cannons, so the 20-mm ShVAKs were fitted in the VYa-23 fairings, but what about the truly early armament with the ShVAKs inboard of the machine guns, with no fairings for the cannons? I need to buy this kit, to see about these issues. Oh well, I plan on buying it anyway. I already have at least one example of nearly every Il-2 kit ever made, so no need to stop now.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

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As you've well pointed out, the very early metal wings had cannons with no fairings in inner position. I would expect new sprues with fuselage halves, corresponding outer wings, set of mass balance weights and cannon&machine gun barrels. So hopefully no issue.

 

BR

Viktor

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On 9/22/2020 at 12:55 AM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Oh you mean like Monogram did all those years ago. Full bomb bay, bomb load but no bomb bay doors that opened ? Never did quite understand that one myself. 

The reason was, the original B17 was considered a risk and the part count was kept low with no bb. It was a success and the viable boxing had a bomb bay added. So the original B17 did not have a bb interior

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2 hours ago, BushBrit66 said:

The reason was, the original B17 was considered a risk and the part count was kept low with no bb. It was a success and the viable boxing had a bomb bay added. So the original B17 did not have a bb interior

That I didnt know ? Thank you

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On 11/8/2020 at 8:34 PM, Learstang said:

I agree, Viktor. It's obvious that some of the parts for the very early version are there - the PBP-1 gun sight, the two landing lights, and the unarmoured canopies, as you say, and also the glass armour behind the pilot. I am a little confused (and I think Zvezda may be also) about the armament - it has the ShVAK cannons, but it also has the VYa-23 housings. I know this was done with some Il-2s because of a lack of 23-mm cannons, so the 20-mm ShVAKs were fitted in the VYa-23 fairings, but what about the truly early armament with the ShVAKs inboard of the machine guns, with no fairings for the cannons? I need to buy this kit, to see about these issues. Oh well, I plan on buying it anyway. I already have at least one example of nearly every Il-2 kit ever made, so no need to stop now.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

I also have an, example of each kit, along with your excellent book. I assume a bit of scribing and drilling will sort the early confic. I have bought the new kit in order to build this version specifically. 

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