Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 What is currently considered the top 1/72 Il-2 kit? Is it Academy for a single-seater and Tamiya for the twin version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandros Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 I can't tell about Academy offering, but the Tamiya kit is definitely magnificent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbolt Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 4 hours ago, Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy said: What is currently considered the top 1/72 Il-2 kit? Is it Academy for a single-seater and Tamiya for the twin version? Depends what version you are after - for the two seater Tamiya only do the Arrow. The Academy kit has the straight wing. If you are not bothered with the version just go with the better Tamiya kit. As for the single seater, the Academy is a metal fuselage version and all the decals that come with the kit seem to be for the wooden fuselage version. I'm just building it at the moment and I've modified it to a wooden fuselage. There are a few accuracy issues, one of them being the nose above the air intake is noticeable too flat and the other being the very bulbous spinner ( the Academy kit is the Accurate Miniatures molding and so suffers the same issues as their 1/48th scale kits). 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiampieroSilvestri Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 Zvezda makes the Ilyushin Il-2m two-seater in 1/72 scale. Saluti Giampiero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishplanebeer Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 Hobby Boss also do the Ilyushin IL-2M3 version and is great value but I can't comment on its accuracy. Regards Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 8 hours ago, Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy said: What is currently considered the top 1/72 Il-2 kit? Is it Academy for a single-seater and Tamiya for the twin version? This is a @Learstang questions... as he wrote a book on them. As @Tbolt mentions, it may depend on what you want from an IL-2 kit, just an IL-2, or you wish to build a specific IL-2, of which there are may variations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy Posted April 28, 2022 Author Share Posted April 28, 2022 (edited) Thanks for all the replies! So, if I was leaning toward a single-seater, is the best still the Academy even with the issues pointed out by Tbolt, or is there an alternative I should consider? I don't have a specific bird in mind yet, as this would be my very first foray into Sturmoviks, despite my long love of Soviet aircraft. Edited April 28, 2022 by Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 5 minutes ago, Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy said: So, if I was leaning toward a single-seater, is the best still the Academy even with the issues pointed out by Tbolt, or is there an alternative I should consider? Again, depends on what you want from a single seater... see https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/il-2/il-2.htm this is from @Learstang "The Smer kit is a nice kit, and the only single-seater that has both the metal wings represented, and the wooden rear fuselage, as other kits of the single-seater are either 'wooden-winged' (the nice Dakoplast kit and its re-boxings), or have the metal rear fuselage (the rather nice Academy kit, for example), that was used only early in the war. However, let's look at the Toko/Zvezda offerings. Giorgio, I believe you have a good understanding of these kits. Massimo's page on the Il-2 is very good (he did the illustrations for my Il-2 book), and gives a very good overview of the different versions of the Il-2. Regarding the kit itself, in terms of general shape, it's pretty good. The wings and fuselage measure out just about right. The fuselage looks a bit fat to me, viewed from above, so you might reduce it by about 1mm on the centreline for a slimmer appearance. The under fuselage radiator is the worst aspect of the kit (it is too shallow), but short of rebuilding it, I just kept it as is for the several Toko/Zvezda kits I built. On the other hand, the spinner and propeller blades are better than the Academy and Smer kits, and about on par with the excellent Tamiya kit of the 'arrow'. The clear parts are rather thick, but are quite clear, and easy to paint. When built up, the Toko/Zvezda kits certainly look like Shturmoviks (I can see one from where I'm typing this). I have the Part set, and it is very extensive, as well as the NeOmega set, although I've not used either. Without some sort of work, the cockpit is rather bare on these kits, so you might give the Part set a go, if you don't mind using photo-etched. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Best Regards, Jason" from this thread HTH 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 Academy does make a single seater and a two-seater. As for total accuracy, I have no commemt. https://www.super-hobby.com/catalog/Aircrafts.html?search_producer=100021&search_attr_1=1%3A72&search_keywords=Il-2&search_buy_mode=full_offer&search_back_url=%2Fcatalog%2FAircrafts.html%3Fsearch_producer%3D100021%26search_attr_1%3D1%3A72%26search_keywords%3DIl-2 Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 If you wish to do a metal-wing, wooden-fuselage single-seater (which most single-seaters were) OOB, I'd go with the Smer kit(s). If you wish to do a metal-wing, metal-fuselage single-seater, I'd go with the Academy kit, but remember that these were early GPW only (1941), and you'd need to find some appropriate decals or cobble them together yourself. Also, you'd need to do some work on the wings - putting in a landing light on the starboard wing and redoing the fixed wing armament (look at Massimo's site for more information on this). Alternately, you could just sand the panel lines off the rear fuselage, which is what I did with the Academy single-seater I built, and you'll have a nice 1942-type metal-wing, wooden-fuselage single-seater. I hope this helps some. Short of buying my book, which I won't talk you out of, Massimo's site is the place to go for details on the Il-2, both single-seaters and two-seaters. Best Regards, Jason 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy Posted April 29, 2022 Author Share Posted April 29, 2022 Wow, perfect, thank you! Incidentally, what would be the best US based source for your book? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbolt Posted April 29, 2022 Share Posted April 29, 2022 12 minutes ago, Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy said: Wow, perfect, thank you! Incidentally, what would be the best US based source for your book? Maybe Amazon? The Kindle version is a bargain. https://www.amazon.com/2-Shturmovik-Red-Avenger-ebook/dp/B016IPTRAO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3IXM3L7SSQ4ID&keywords=il-2&qid=1651235731&s=books&sprefix=il-2%2Caps%2C193&sr=1-1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted April 29, 2022 Share Posted April 29, 2022 9 hours ago, Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy said: Incidentally, what would be the best US based source for your book? @Learstang is in Texas, I don't know if he sells direct? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Thompson Posted April 29, 2022 Share Posted April 29, 2022 This may be useful, although it predates the Academy, HobbyBoss, and Tamiya kits: http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Modeling/Ilyushin/Il-2/Comparison/index.php John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted April 29, 2022 Share Posted April 29, 2022 10 hours ago, Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy said: Wow, perfect, thank you! Incidentally, what would be the best US based source for your book? You're welcome! Amazon is a good source for all of my books, including the one on the Il-2. Best Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TISO Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 On 28/04/2022 at 14:37, GiampieroSilvestri said: Zvezda makes the Ilyushin Il-2m two-seater in 1/72 scale. Saluti Giampiero If you intend on making improvised 2 seater there is a KP kit which is complete SMER single seater + extra fusellage and small and clear parts with 3 attractive decal options. Problem is it should have wooden wings as most photos of modified Il-2's show wooden winged planes (including all 3 decal options) but has metal wings. Can be corrected by puttying the panel lines or making this kit as single seater and using extra parts for modification of Dakoplast kit which has wooden wings 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 (edited) As TISO mentions above KP have recently redone the Smer kit as both a single-seater modified into a two-seater (a 'field-mod'), and a production two-seater. As the base kit (Smer) is quite a nice one, these are also nice kits if you wish to build a metal-winged, wooden-fuselage two-seater. The plastic is new, and you can buy AM decals for metal-winged versions (again refer to Massimo's site for proper metal-winged straight-winged two-seater subjects). I have two (or three) of the kits. I've not built them, but as the Smer kits went together without too much fuss (I've built two of them), I don't suspect these 'new' kits will give you much trouble. Although most of the straight-winged two-seaters had wooden-covered wings, around 40% or so of them (those built by Z.18) had metal wings, so that leaves quite a few examples to do, if you can find the proper decals. Best Regards, Jason Edited May 1, 2022 by Learstang Additional comments added. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TISO Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 (edited) SMER (and by extension KP) IMHO is one of those underrated kits. It builds nicely, is relatively accurate and is cheap. AFAIK it is also the only Il-2 kit with option for ski undecarrige. Original packing was in 2 versions: plain and Hi-tech with small PE fret. Edited May 2, 2022 by TISO 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expositor Posted May 5, 2022 Share Posted May 5, 2022 What about the Zvezda kits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornet133 Posted May 5, 2022 Share Posted May 5, 2022 The 1/72 Zvezda kits are reboxings of the old Toko kits. See the Hobbyvista comparison above for info on that kit. The Zvezda reboxing is not mentioned along with other more recent kits as that comparison is quite old. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy Posted May 8, 2022 Author Share Posted May 8, 2022 I want to thank everyone again for all the great guidance; I'm very grateful! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expositor Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 Sorry for late post, but it took a bit to dig out my Smer Il-2 to confirm my hazy memory that it was somewhat larger than my other kits. The tail is in fact larger than the others. With all the touting, I wasn't expecting that much of a difference. Am I the only one, or am I all wet...again? Now, where'd I put that 72 scale rule...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leyreynolds Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 Mushroom Model Publications also have an excellent reference book on the Il-2 with drawings of the various models and detail photo's. It's available from all specialist bookshops and MMP direct. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 That MMP book was done by Viktor Povinsky, who is also a member of this site. That is a very good book and can be recommended as Viktor is a conscientious researcher and goes into great detail on the differences between different Il-2 versions. I have the book myself. Best Regards, Jason 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now