Hi Guys.
Thanks for the extra input. Troy wasn't exaggerating, it is a very helpful site.
I'm very interested to know about the difficulties on the wings.
Regards
Massimo
Hi Massimo.
A modeller has a thread here where he notes that the AM wing has a mix of early and late features. He said that the outer wing is correct for the 23mm gun version but the inner part has the inspection covers of an earlier 20mm gun wing.
Another perhaps more contentious point is that a rather notorious modeller who often sees "fatal flaws" in kits claims the the wings do not have the correct dihedral. I haven't seen the evidence for this myself but I thought I would see what the experts here felt.
VelvetFrog66, I think Troy pretty much explained the problems with the AM kit. It's a good kit, but the spinner has to go - much too rounded as you can see (the Academy Il-2 kits in 1/72nd scale have the same problem, as they are basically scaled-down versions of the 1/48th scale AM kits). The metal wings are fine for the ski-equipped version, but the version they have on the box of the wheeled version ("Red 7"), had wooden wings. Both versions had the wooden fuselage. I believe Massimo has colour profiles for both versions on this site (which he did for my book). I have an excerpt from my Il-2 modelling guide (which will some day be published, if I ever finish it) that goes into more detail about the AM kits, if you'd like me to send it to you.
Best Regards,
Jason
Thanks Jason, I would love to have a look at the excerpt your IL-2 modelling guide. No doubt it would answer questions I haven't even thought to ask.
I'm surprised no one had mentioned the other correction to the AM single-eat Shturmovik.....
remove the external dust filter from the leading edge of the right wing root.
I do know of one photo that shows this filter on a single-seat machine that must be of the last or second to last series of single-seat machine--but these would have both the wooden rear fuselage and wooden outer wingtips.
have you made up your mind on what markings to do?
this would determine a number of smaller features for the kit. (as mentioned by all the posts in this thread )
Thanks DGM.
I haven't made a firm decision about the scheme other than I want a summer one as I'm not a huge fan of white camouflage. I have the Academy boxing of the ski-equipped version but I will be building it with the wheels rather than the skis.
Ultimately the actual aircraft I model will be largely down to the modifications that need to be done to the kit. I'll try and find the easiest way to get a correct fuselage/wing configuration and then search for some markings that suit. Finding decals "should" be easier than major reconstruction work.
As to the dust filter, I did come across mention of it but thought I wouldn't have to make any decision until I had settled on the version I would be building. I'll certainly make a note of it.
Gotta say, I didn't realize there were so many variations in the IL-2 series.
You could build a bunch of them and none would be the same.
Regards to you all,
Robert