Jump to content

1/72 Tamiya IL-2 Sturmovik


ckw

Recommended Posts

Here is the Tamiya 1/72 IL-2 Sturmovik. As might be expected from Tamiya, a beautifully engineered kit which goes together well. However there is no margin for error given the tight tolerances of the kit, so careful prep of the parts is essential before applying glue! This is pretty much OOB except

a) I decided to open the cockpit canopy with careful cutting, sanding and polishing - always a slightly nerve wracking exercise ... the thinned down canopy is very fragile. Given the detail Tamiya provide inside the cockpit, why on earth don't the offer an open cockpit option?

b) gun barrels replaced with brass tube. A necessity since the supplied parts broke off during the build and disappeared. Unfortunately, these need to be added quite early in the construction so potential breakage is something to be aware of. The same applies to the rudder balance, but in this case you can ignore the instructions and add at the end of the build.

 

Colours - as I'm sure you know VVS schemes are a matter of much debate. I wanted the 4 colour scheme so eventually settled on AMT-7 blue undersides with AMT-12 dark grey, AMT-4 Olive green and A.II dark brown topsides. Possibly I should have used black for the grey and A.II Green instead of olive green which would have provided a bit more contrast, but, as someone else said in the context of Soviet colors, prove mine are wrong 😀 I used the excellent Colourcoats paints.

 

 

Decals - often a let down with Tamiya kits, this one was no exception. Rather thick and unyielding.  Liberal applications of Ultimate extra strong decal setting solution was required. Also, looked at closely, the decals are obvious screen prints rather than solid paint. But at normal viewing distance they look ok.

 

spacer.pngspacer.pngspacer.pngspacer.png

 

Cheers

 

Colin

  • Like 59
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, ckw said:

A.II dark brown topsides. Possibly I should have used black for the grey and A.II Green instead of olive green which would have provided a bit more contrast

the 3 colour upper colours were AMT-1 'coffee with milk' brown, AMT-4 green, AMT-12 dark grey.   

10 hours ago, ckw said:

, but, as someone else said in the context of Soviet colors, prove mine are wrong 😀 I used the excellent Colourcoats paints.

Who?

This would have been a reasonable comment years ago, but now, well A.II Brown does not exist.  No record of it from Soviet technical literature.  

the older range of  colourcoats VVS paints were based on the work of Erik Pilawskii, much of which has subsequently been shown to be fantasy by Russian sources,(wood aerolak, tractor green, AII brown are some that don't exist)  as in there is no record of these colours,and other known colours are wrong.  The current Colourcoats range no longer has these colours. This goes round and round, creating the impression VVS colours are "a minefield"  which they are not.  

see here for a list of VVS colours

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/colors/color-table.html

 

the vast bulk of VVS types were factory painted,  in specified colours and patterns.  As more and more information, especially photos, becomes available,  it's even possible to assign minor quirks in the camouflage pattern on Il-2's to specific Soviet factories, as photos of known production lines exist, eg Zavod 1 in Kuybyshev

see here for the details http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/il-2/il2-camo/il-2m3/il2m3-camo.htm

if you scroll down you will find photo of 07, and that it conforms the the features from a Zavod 18 built plane. 

Not dissimilar to the way that the 3 factories building Bf 109s have distinctive factory variations

http://theprofilepaintshop.blogspot.com/2013/10/chosing-correct-wingpattern-for-bf109g-6.html

and what once seemed random, now has features too look for.  

 

 

10 hours ago, ckw said:

Decals - often a let down with Tamiya kits, this one was no exception. Rather thick and unyielding.

 

  

On 29/08/2016 at 23:26, Gary C said:

The best way to get all Japanese decals ( Fujimi, Hasegawa, Tamiya etc)to work as they're supposed to is use hot water and the correct setting solutions. You'll need a bottle each of Gunze Mr Setter and Mr Softer. Micro sol and others won't work as they're formulated differently. Do not use Gunze on Microscale or Cartograf decals as it will chew right through them.

Dip the decal in hot water, it doesn't need to be boiling but it does need to be fairly hot. The temperature of a drinkable tea will do. The glue is heat activated and is what makes up most of the thickness. If you dip it in cold water you'll spend the rest of the day waiting and cursing.

Lay down some Mr Setter, this is in the blue bottle. It acts as an additional glue. Slide the decal onto it and into postion and leave it alone. The decal should wrinkle a little.

Give it 10 mins or so and go over the decal with a brush with a little Mr Softer (green bottle) on it. Use sparingly as it is extremely hot. Too much and it will damage the paint, especially the weaker acrylics. The decal will now wrinkle a lot. Do not touch it as it is almost liquified at this point.

Once it is dry it will have smoothed out and will lay down beautifully over just about any raised or recessed detail you care to think of. Used properly it is probably the best conforming decal process in the industry. Used incorrectly and you'll be just another guy complaining about crap Japanese decals.

 

Just mention this as thick tamiya decals come up every so often.

 

Excellent build and paint finish on the model

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all for kind replies

 

9 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

This goes round and round, creating the impression VVS colours are "a minefield"  which they are not. 

The problem is that all the allegedly incorrect information is still out there, or adapted by others. It is very hard to determine which is definitive and correct - and as Massimo says "I can't guarantee that it's fully right and exhaustive" and of AMT-1

 "it started with a greyish dominant, then specificaton changed and became more brown" not to dismiss a very useful resource, but (esp. in combination with all the other info out there) does not really provide us with a gospel truth. On top of which, we want our models to look "right", right being largely determined by available artwork ... or just the kit box-top. And quite likely the artwork is based on erroneous info. Anyway I managed to get 2 or the 4 colours right 😀

 

9 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

The current Colourcoats range no longer has these colours.

Well on the current Sovereign Hobbies web site, A.II brown is still available, and there is no AMT-1 (maybe its coming)

 

But I do appreciate you taking the time to point out the paint issues ... I was aware of Massimo's site; what I didn't know was where it sat in the pantheon of VVS expertise

 

Regarding the decals - yes, they can be made to conform (in my case warm water and the Ultimate extra strong worked), but there is still the problem of the printing - under a magnifying glass they look like cheap magazine printing

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 19/02/2020 at 10:04, ckw said:

Well on the current Sovereign Hobbies web site, A.II brown is still available,

by chance, looking for something else

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235019933-revised-ww2-russian-and-japanese-colours/

 

  

On 16/04/2017 at 18:23, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

The AII Light Brown is infact a Polawskii hangover now you mention it ...

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For what it's worth, I wrote a book on the Il-2 ('Il-2 Shturmovik: Red Avenger' (Fonthill Media)), and I agree with what Troy has written regarding Soviet colours. AII Brown, is by all accounts (except perhaps still Mr. Pilawskii), an apocryphal colour. VVS colours are no longer a minefield, as is often still repeated, but are well attested, and relatively simple (especially compared to say, RLM colours, such as RLM 83). Still and all, an excellent job on that model and I hope mine turns out as well when I get around to finishing it (it still needs painting)!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

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...