AM-38 Engine

[John Thompson]

Detailed drawing of AM-38, posted by mal16 in the pinned Il-2 thread on Scalemodels.ru:



John

[learstang]

Brilliant - thank you, John!  Now where was this when I was detailing that b****y Hobby Boss engine?  Oh well, it will come in handy when I do my 1/48th scale and 1/72nd scale AM-38's.

Regards,

Jason

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi John, really a good drawing.
Hi Jason,
if you make the engine mounted into the plane, don't forget the oil and coolant tanks that were shaped over the reduction gear and covered it.
Regards
Massimo

[learstang]

Already done, Massimo.  I finished my Hobby Boss Shturmovik several months ago.  Scale Aviation Modeller International may run my article on the build, someday.  We'll see.  In the meantime, below is a photograph of the finished engine.  Hobby Boss provide you with the basics of the engine, and what they provide is accurate, but I had to do a lot of scratchbuilding such as the oil tank on top of the extensively redone intake duct, the coolant tank over the reduction gear box (made out of Milliput), the spark plug wires, etc.  The coolant tank is painted as per Orlov's description - "a poisonous green".

Regards,

Jason

[John Thompson]

Already done, Massimo.  I finished my Hobby Boss Shturmovik several months ago.  Scale Aviation Modeller International may run my article on the build, someday.  We'll see.  In the meantime, below is a photograph of the finished engine.  Hobby Boss provide you with the basics of the engine, and what they provide is accurate, but I had to do a lot of scratchbuilding such as the oil tank on top of the extensively redone intake duct, the coolant tank over the reduction gear box (made out of Milliput), the spark plug wires, etc.  The coolant tank is painted as per Orlov's description - "a poisonous green".

Regards,

Jason

Oooo - looking good! Detailed builds like that in 1/32 make good reference material for anyone attempting extra detail in the smaller scales.

John

[KL]

Hi Jason,
is engine brown or black?
I guess the plane is camouflaged in green-black scheme, my screen shows brown-green?

Cheers,
KL

[learstang]

Konstantin, you know I would never paint it brown and black (I'd paint it the ubiquitous brown and green)!  It is green and black.  Some of the brown on the port side is caused by the exhaust staining.  To be honest, the AMT-4 is too light - if I had it to do over again I would have made it darker; oh well, let's just say it's very faded.  The engine block is a gray colour (which is one of the colours Orlov mentions for the engine), and the cylinders are black.  The various hoses and accessories are also painted according to Orlov's colours - bright, glossy green for the coolant system, and dark, glossy brown for the oil system.  John, thank you for the compliment!  Detailing it almost did me in, but it was worth it - it really makes the model.

Regards,

Jason

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Jason, interesting work. Having contacts with any resin manufacturer, one could suggest a set including those pieces to complete this huge kit.
Regards
Massimo

[learstang]

Hi Jason, interesting work. Having contacts with any resin manufacturer, one could suggest a set including those pieces to complete this huge kit.
Regards
Massimo

Massimo, I thought about that, but I'm just not sure I could make accurate enough masters.  The pieces I scratchbuilt, such as the oil tanks and the coolant tank, look fine on my model, but considering how finicky (whiny) modellers are, I can just see some modeller using some inaccurate 40-year old drawings to trash my work if I had them done in resin.  Of course, the resin manufacturer could use my resources (pictures, accurate drawings, etc.) to make their own masters - but then I could see myself trashing their work becuase I didn't think it were accurate enough (No, no!  There are two openings on top of the coolant header tank!).

Regards,

Jason

[Pascal]

The coolant tank is painted as per Orlov's description - "a poisonous green".

A very beautiful work, Jason!

Here is the coolant tank from the Yak-3 preserved in Le Bourget museum :



Is this Orlov's "poisonous green"?

Cheers,

Pascal

[learstang]

Yes, it is, Pascal - toned down by age.  Below is a photograph of a recently salvaged AM-38 engine with traces of the coolant green colour (the engine is upside down).  I'm glad you liked my engine - if not a labour of love, it was certainly a labour!

Regards,

Jason

[KL]

Green was standard colour for engine coolant tanks and pypings.  Those were normaly painted with oil enamel A-7.  I dont recall seeing anywhere that the colour was called "poisonous".   Only "green" A-7....  There was also alkyd green A-7f.

Green Colour found on Le Bourget Yak-3 looks very convincing.  I would not say it's toned down - it's well preserved. The plane was kept in museum for over 60 years, tank was under engine cowling:  no moisture, no UV bleaching, etc.  Oil paintings in museums and galeries are kept in similar conditions.

The tank is dusty and dirty, nothing more.

Cheers,
KL