Il-2 of Hobbyboss in 1/72

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
look at this
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.508113882555960.122036.167541726613179&type=1
Regards
Massimo

[learstang]

I knew Hobby Boss were coming out with one.  Too bad to see they're still making the same mistakes - two-colour scheme, metal fuselage, and an arrow with 37mm cannons.  Still, it's nice to see a new Shturmovik in 1/72nd scale.  I have my Academy straight-winged two-seater (which has your paint scheme!) on the way; I ordered it directly from Korea.  Now all we need is a new-mould single-seater with a wooden fuselage in 1/72nd scale, and all three of the variants with wooden wings, but now I'm getting greedy.  When I receive the Academy kit, I'll review it in a new topic.

Best Regards,

Jason

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Jason, I see that the kit has decals for n.100 that was a straight-winged one. By the way, the 37 mm pods were not an optional even on straight-winged ones, they should exclude the guns in the wing leading edges. To tell the truth, I am much more interested to straigh-winged versions.
About the metal fuselage: it won't be difficult to delete the panelling.
Regards
Massimo

[John Thompson]

I ordered the HB kit from Jadar in Poland a couple of days ago (it was the first European shop that claimed to have it in stock); I expect to have it by the end of March, probably sooner. This is the kind of kit I like - almost no assembly required! 

I just hope it's reasonably accurate, beyond the errors that have already been pointed out.

John

[learstang]

John, for your edification, and any others who are interested in the 1/72nd scale Hobby Boss arrow, the below is my review of this kit, taken from my book:

This kit of the arrow can be thought of as a downscaled version of their 1/32nd scale kit, made to be a simplified easy-to-build kit as part of their Easy Assembly line.  Like their 1/32nd scale arrow kit, it has the metal fuselage, which is incorrect for GPW arrows, and incorrect painting instructions.  Although the clear parts are very nice, as with Hobby Boss? 1/32nd scale kits the windscreens lack the armour glass join lines.  However, the surface detailing is very nice, and the moulding is very clean, with no flash.  The rockets are integral with the rails, and are well-done.  There are no bombs provided. The cockpit is simple, but adequate for this scale, and can be improved by the cockpit aftermarket sets that already exist for 1/72nd scale Shturmoviks (as examples, it does not have the port console for the pilot, and, although it includes the armour plates that surrounded the main fuel tank, there is no tank provided in the kit!).  Since this is an Easy Assembly kit, the wings, lower fuselage, and horizontal tailplanes come as an integral unit, with the upper fuselage and vertical tailplane likewise being an integral unit.  The real problem with this kit lay with the fixed armament; although an arrow, it features the 37mm cannons, which were very seldom, if ever fitted to the arrow, and were not fitted to either aircraft represented by the decals.  There is no provision for the proper 23mm cannons as there are no barrels and no wing fairings where the cannons exited the wing.  These will have to be sourced from another kit or scratchbuilt (the fairings can come from the Tamiya kit, which has both the rectangular and streamlined fairings), and the barrels can be made from plastic rod (or likewise taken from the Tamiya kit).  If you wish to represent the gun access panels and ejection chutes on the undersides of the wing, these will need to be scribed in (or drilled out in the case of the chutes).  The paint schemes in the instructions are incorrect, as HSU Ivan F. Pavlov?s aircraft (pictured on the box art) does not have the proper three-colour scheme, and ?White 100?, the other choice, was not even an arrow (it was a straight-winged two-seater).  Despite these shortcomings, this is a nicely-moulded kit, and the shortcomings relatively easily remedied.  Recommended.

Regards,

Jason

[John Thompson]

Thanks for the review, Jason, and for the sample of your book! It sounds like the Il-2 is going to be one of HB's better kits, on par with their 1/72 MiG-3. Maybe they're learning - I was worried they might repeat the fiasco that was their La-7.

John

[learstang]

Thanks for the review, Jason, and for the sample of your book! It sounds like the Il-2 is going to be one of HB's better kits, on par with their 1/72 MiG-3. Maybe they're learning - I was worried they might repeat the fiasco that was their La-7.

John

You're welcome, John!  I can't comment on their La-7, but the basic outline on their Il-2 appears accurate.  With the changes/additions I mention, it should build up into a nice-looking model.  I've already done some work on mine, and I have to say I like the way the undercarriage nacelles just snap into place.  It looks like they'll need just a little filling at the front.  With all the spare Il-2 parts I have, tarting up the cockpit is not going to be a problem (I even have a spare fuel tank!).  One thing I did was to cut out where the landing light goes, as this is moulded as part of the wing, but it was very easy to do.  I realise there are shortcuts taken whilst designing these Easy Assembly kits, so that doesn't bother me.  The hard part is deciding which scheme to do - I'm almost wishing now I'd left it with the metal fuselage so I could have done something exotic, like the Bulgarian Shturmovik currently on display in Plovdiv.  I could do it as Ivan F. Pavlov's machine, but the Tamiya kit will also have those markings, and I don't need two versions of the very same aircraft!  Oh well, it'll be a while before I get to that point.  Do post photographs of your kit in progress!

Regards,

Jason

[John Thompson]

Thanks again, Jason! I'm eager to receive this kit - I hope by the end of next week. The release of three new 1/72 Shturmoviks, plus all the discussion on Britmodeller regarding AMT-1, is making it quite interesting!

I haven't decided on which specific Il-2 it will be - probably one from the Authentic Decals sheet, after I figure out their terminology. I'm guessing what Authentic calls simply "Il-2 two-seater" means two-seater with straight wing and "Il-2 type 3" means Il-2 two-seater with two-spar/swept wing, but there's also a couple which are identified as "Il-2 arrow wing", so I don't understand what they intended by distinguishing these from the "Il-2 type 3" - I'll have to spend some time comparing the instruction sheet profiles with those on Massimo's Il-2 pages. Any ideas? 

John

[learstang]

John, I'll have to dig out my Authentic Decals sheet, but the Il-2 type 3 and the Il-2 arrow wing are probably the same.  It's possible that "type 3" might refer to the 37mm-armed examples though.  I know they have markings for one such aircraft, "Red 28", with a winter camouflage.  I think Massimo may have a profile of that on the site.  At any rate, I'll take a look at my sheet and let you know.

Regards,

Jason

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Jason, hi John, yes I have a drawing of 28, but it's a straight-wing. I have only one photo of an arrow with gunpods, and it's written that are 45 mm guns. A prototype only.
Regards
Massimo

[John Thompson]

Thank you, Jason and Massimo! For anyone interested, here are scans of the Authentic Decals instruction sheet:



Authentic's breakdown of types by profile number is as follows:
"Il-2 two-place" - profiles 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18 (8 total)
"Il-2 type 3" - profiles 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 16, 17, 19 (8 total)
"Il-2 wing with arrow" - profiles 6, 9 (2 total)
"Il-2 with NS-37" - profile 14 (this being "Red 28" as per Massimo's post)

John

[KL]

...I'm guessing what Authentic calls simply "Il-2 two-seater" means two-seater with straight wing and "Il-2 type 3" means Il-2 two-seater with two-spar/swept wing, but there's also a couple which are identified as "Il-2 arrow wing", so I don't understand what they intended by distinguishing these from the "Il-2 type 3" - I'll have to spend some time comparing the instruction sheet profiles with those on Massimo's Il-2 pages. Any ideas? 

Inconsistant translation:  in Russian descriptions there are only 2 subtypes (Il-2 two-seater and Il-2 swept back wings).  In English translation "swept back wings" are sometimes translated as "Arrow", sometimes translator used designation "type 3" (whatever that means???).

KL

[learstang]

You're correct, Konstantin.  Looking at the instruction sheet John scanned, I can see that "krilya so strielkoiy" - "arrow wing", is sometimes translated "wing with arrow" (arrow wing), or "type 3", which corresponds to the Western "Il-2m3", which designation was never used by the Soviets.  "Dvukhmiestniy" is translated as "two-place" and refers to the straight-winged two-seater.  Interestingly, they have "dislocation", where they mean "location".  Ahh, the joys of translation.  Still, no "my hovercraft is full of eels" on this sheet (warning - obscure Monty Python reference).

Regards,

Jason

[John Thompson]

Thanks KL and Jason; so, if the creators of this decal sheet have correctly identified the variant type of each individual aircraft (and I'm not sure they have), "Il-2 two-place" means the first two-seat version of the Il-2, with straight wings (sometimes wrongly but conveniently called "Il-2m") and all the rest, both "Il-2 type 3" and "Il-2 wing with arrow" are the later version with increased wing sweepback (wrongly but conveniently called "Il-2m3").

I'm working my way through the 19 options on the sheet and comparing them to Massimo's Il-2 pages; I've found a couple which don't agree:
Profile 4: "Il-2 two-place" - is actually an arrow
Profile 6: "Il-2 wing with arrow" - is actually a late straight-wing

There may also be a couple of "Il-2 two-place" profiles which are shown in post-1943 3-colour upper camouflage; Massimo's page shows these to be early straight-winged aircraft in green/black camouflage. I'm still checking these more carefully.

John

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi all, hi John,

There may also be a couple of "Il-2 two-place" profiles which are shown in post-1943 3-colour upper camouflage; Massimo's page shows these to be early straight-winged aircraft in green/black camouflage. I'm still checking these more carefully.

Emelyanenko and Aleksuhin, I suppose. The key is the thin white outline and the black amoeba around the star on the tail.

It's a pity that these drawings don't distinguish the small and tall masts or the shape of the fairing in front of the tail, they have represented the type of Zavod 1 on all profiles.

For what I know, there is one photo only of the plane with the lion and shows the tail only, so it's difficult to say about the wing and the absence of numbers on the fuselage. If anyone has more photos, I'm very interested to see them.

Regards
Massimo