Hi All,
Decided to do something a little bigger this time. It is the Italeri kit of the Ilyushin Il-2M3 Stormovik in 1/48th scale. This kit was originally an Accurate Miniatures moulding but now released by Italeri. The single seat variant is also available but is currently a Revell boxing.
The kit is well moulded with virtually no flash at all, it has sharp well defined panel lines, and a good looking decal sheet. The canopy and clear parts are crystal clear.
I intend to use the Eduard 'Zoom' etch set on this build, which concentrates mainly on the cockpit and should enhance the detail the kit provides, especially the seat belts which are in decal form in the kit.
A few pictures of the sprues to whet your appetite.
Ready for Telford?
Of course, just need a Zak speed injection. Ha,ha,ha
Maybe make it in time for Telford 2025.......
I bet it will look more pristine than mine when you have finished it hohohohohohoho
The paint might stick a bit better....
Looking forward to this one Kevin.
Hi All,
Etch set arrived today, but I won't make a start on assembly until after Telford.
Hi All,
Today's poor weather has allowed me some time at the bench. So I've made some progress with this one.
I have got the cockpit assembly more or less done, though still to apply paint and some further etch.
The instrument panel has come out okay. and I hope the other panels to be fitted will also behave equally well.
With this kit there is a lot of dry fitting to get things lined up, such as wing spars, radiator intake and fuselage interior.
The colour of Stormovik's were apparently painted in a grey similar to RLM 02 Grau, however the etch parts are more a Blue/Grey so I'm going to experiment with a variation of the RLM 02 to get something near.
Some pictures follow:-
Nice detail.
Cockpit dials look good.
Some nice looking detail in this kit, no doubt your painting will do it justice.
Hi All,
returned to the Stormovik now the Me262's are finished (for now). Looking at the kit I realised that the cockpit sidewalls could do with a bit of piping/wiring along the fuselage sides, also the exhausts were solid, so I opened them up using a drill, scalpel and files. The wing joint though good is a little delicate, so I have added some strips of plasticard to the centre section and outer wing panels. When they are offered up the fit is more robust.
The pilot seat has been dressed up with some etch brass seatbelts.
Coming along nicely, looking forward seeing this finished too your usual high standard.
Bob c
Hi All,
A little more progress. Interior and most of the ancillary parts have been painted ready for assembly. Parts have had a coat of 'Kleer' and a wash of burnt umber oil paint to create shadows. Next will be final detail painting and a dry brush of a lighter shade to emphasize details.
Thanks for looking, further update soon.
Looking good Kevin.
All the sub assemblies look good Kevin.
Bob c
Another detailed model soon to be on show - well done
Quality work Kevin, I'm impressed.
Hi All,
All internals now painted, and last bits of etch added to the cockpit. All items have had a final coat of Matt varnish to protect them.
Hope to get the sub assemblies together and the fuselage buttoned up tomorrow. Once that's done the wings and tail will be added.
Some pictures so far.
Nice seat detail.
A fair amount of detail there Kevin. Nice.
Cockpit components assembled. Note the glazed panels in the bulkhead can now be seen.
On a trial fit into the fuselage noted that the elevator link rod just wouldn't fit pass the cover in the gunners compartment. So it was cut in two and the rear part glued in place with a spacer behind the rear bulkhead. Where it joined the front part of the link rod would be behind the cover.
Also the tail wheel to be fitted soon, it became apparent that the seam line under the wheel would not be accessible to smooth out/fill. So I cut a small piece of thin plasticard and glued it into place on one side, when joined together it hides this bit nicely.
Coming along nicely, I like the cockpit detail painting, well done.
Hi all,
Quick update. Fuselage now together and engine section attached. Everything went together smoothly but I still found a small gap underneath the front where it meets fuselage despite my best efforts.
So I have added some thin plasticard shims into the gap glued in place. Once dry and hard will trim off excess to reduce amount of filler.
Thanks for looking.
Wings on. Needs a few Berna clamps to get a tight fit.
That should sort it.
Lots of work to do!
Good progress Kevin. Looking good.
A serious bit of engineering there, have you been taking lessons from MSea? The radiator housing on my Tamiya Il-2 was very fragile and didn't stand up to heavy handling so I had to repair that. :(
Luckily, this Stormovik is as tough as the real one.
After the clamps have been removed, all that is needed is a smidgen of filler here and there.
Hi All,
Now primed and almost ready for colour. A couple of minor seams along wing underside to 'see to' beforehand.
Nice work Kevin.
Hi All,
Now have sprayed the panel lines in Tamiya Rubber Black in readiness for camouflage. Not tried this before to this extent so a bit of an experiment.
Cockpit glazings have also been masked and interior colour applied to them.
I hope it works, I am never sure of pre-shading, but it works for lots of modellers.
It looks like a fair amount of work Kevin.
Moving on. The white fin/rudder tip and the tactical band around the fuselage have been painted white, then masked in readiness for the Pale Blue. I didn't have a ready made Russian WWII Blue, so I mixed my own using Tamiya white and Medium Blue in ration of 7:1.
Then I gave the undersides a general light coat overall, the pre-shading showing through.
Some pictures follow:-
Now I have given the undersides a further two thin coats of my blue mix, making the shading gradually fade into the paintwork.
To emphasize differing panels, I then added a small amount of some white to the mix. This was then randomly sprayed into the centre of the panels or around the inner periphery of the panel lines to break up the monotone effect.
Thanks for looking.
Great stuff, very painstaking work.
Good work Kevin. Coming along nicely.
I find with pre-shading sometimes it works and on others the less said. Looks like you've nailed it though.
Thanks for your comments chaps, most encouraging.
Just a little more done.
Wing light and cover now in place. I have used a Little Cars 2mm round Lens for the bulb, and have added the cover part. The transparent section on this is curved, so I've had to use some bare metal foil to mask this out prior to upper camouflage. Also the blue underside will need touching in to match.
Cockpit more or less finished, today added the gunsight, and painted the cockpit sills, and masked and sprayed the cockpit sections to match. One of the final jobs in the cockpit will be add a small section of clear acetate for the sighting glass on the gunsight.
Thanks for looking
The detail is looking good.
A little more progress, Canopy parts attached and any slight gaps filled with some Kristal Kleer. I'll give them a quick spray of grey at the joins to identify any more before upper camouflage.
The rear gunners machine gun assembled and painted. The ammunition feed is etched brass and has come out quite well.
It still needs gun sights but I'll add them during the finishing touches.
Thanks for looking.
Nice detail on the gun.
Nice work Kevin.
Bob c
Definitely nice detail Kevin.
Thanks for the comments chaps,
Moving on:- I have now painted the brown upper surfaces with a mix of Tamiya Nato Brown and Desert Sand Yellow to match pictures I have. I have kept a small amount to this mix paint in case I need to touch up later as its not a stock colour. As you can see the areas where the other disruptive camouflage Green and Grey are to go are still visible and the depth of Brown is less. Where it is masked it is a little darker.
For masking I have used good old Tamiya tape and paper to cover the Blue, with some Blu-Tack worms along the fuselage sides where I want a slightly feathered edge.
On the uppers I have used mostly some Masking Putty by Mig which I have applied in worm shapes along the Brown Edges. I have the in filled the gaps to be obscured with plastic from a Black Bin Bag. Small sections cut out with a scalpel and then stuck into the worms, in some places some Tamiya tape is applied to seal any gaps or where it is difficult for it to conform.
Hopefully it will work out okay, I'll tell you after tomorrow when the Green is going to be applied.
Thanks for looking.
Very colourful and enterprising!
Think you should leave the worms on - it would then be very different hohohoho
Quote from: MSea on February 04, 2025, 10:28:37 AMThink you should leave the worms on - it would then be very different hohohoho
It might of be eaten at the club if I had done so...........by a certain hungry member.
Moving on:-
Masking removed, and generally all went very well. A small amount of bleed on the tail where I hadn't sealed the masking properly which will need touching in, with the spare brown mix I have left.
More of a problem was that somehow I masked off the wrong section on the starboard wing tip. The end should be brown and the next section in green (see lighter brown area). So I'll need to rub down and reprime the offending patch, paint it brown, then paint the green section in the correct place. Then the dark grey disruptive area can be painted. Ho hum, never mind.
Thanks for looking
Moving on,
The wingtip has been rubbed down and repainted in Brown. I also have tried to 'feather' the edges of the green and brown in varying degrees of success. But now have worked on a solution that will give me a better outcome. So, I'll give that a bash and let you know how I get on.
Can see the finishing line is getting closer now.
You're not the first one to paint the wrong area on multi-coloured camo (guess how I know?). Nice recovery though, well done.
Thanks Chris,
Yep, it was clearly indicated on the instructions but somehow I masked off the incorrect section and thought 'oh dear' or similar when I removed the masking.
Luckily it was easy to redo.
Quote from: cph64 on February 06, 2025, 09:31:59 AMYou're not the first one to paint the wrong area on multi-coloured camo (guess how I know?). Nice recovery though, well done.
Yes, I've been there too.
Resprayed the Green and the feathering. Happier with it now.
looking good.
Grey disruptive added, and all the masking removed.
A few small touch ups to do where paint has bled under masking but quite happy with result so far.
Looking good Kevin.
Coming along nicely, keep it up.
Now given a gloss coat of Kleer and decals applied. Next job will be to add some Oil Paint filters to the wings and fuselage, then followed by a wash of dark brown and grey by Flory Washes.
Some pictures so far:-
Lovely.
Looking good but don't forget the bottle of vodka ho ho
Quote from: MSea on February 15, 2025, 11:31:58 AMLooking good but don't forget the bottle of vodka ho ho
Just consuming the Vodka now.......
But will leave the empty bottle just for you.......hohoho
Smashing.
Thanks chaps,
Moving on. I have made a start on the Oil Dot weathering. I made a bit of a boob on one of the undercarriage fairings when I applied some dark blue oil dot. I applied too much and the effect was too heavy. No problem I thought, I'll just take a brush dampened with some Odourless thinners to remove and start again. So I dipped my brush into what I thought was that, only to find I had picked up an identical looking bottle of AK interactive Metal coat thinners ( like acetone). The result was to remove not only the oil paint where I touched the brush but also the paintwork itself!
This will need a little paintwork repair via the airbrush before weathering it to match.
Otherwise, once armed with a selection of oil paints of differing colours and the correct thinner to correct any over heaviness on my part, it all went to plan.
I have done the undersides and the tailplanes and port wing uppers. The starboard wing will be done once the damaged undercarriage fairing repainted. Then it will be the fuselage/fin and rudder.
Hope you like the effect so far.
Thanks for looking.
Nice to know we all make mistakes.
Nicely rectified.
Hi Zak,
Thanks for that. The air was a little blue I must admit. But hey ho, I have managed to repaint the fairing tonight.
Tomorrow I will give it a couple of coats of Kleer, ready for further Oil Dot weathering.
Thanks for looking.
I've never tried oil dot weathering, must look into it for when I want something a bit more subtle than muddy airfields.
Quote from: cph64 on February 17, 2025, 09:00:52 AMI've never tried oil dot weathering, must look into it for when I want something a bit more subtle than muddy airfields.
If you make it to the next Playday, I'll be more than happy to give you a demonstration.
Looking great Kevin.
Have now finished the upper port wing, and the wheel fairing that needed a repaint. The fuselage also got the dot treatment here and there, the streaking going mainly from top to bottom to represent rain stains, dirt.
I now need to leave it for a couple of days for the oil paint to dry, then another coat of Kleer overall to seal everything.
Thanks for looking.
I may try something similar with my trailer insides, wear and tear and oil drips from cars.
Looks good.
Nice work.
Bob c
Progress.....
Now have added some scratches to hatches and wear where the crew clambered on, using a small piece of sponge and some Vallejo Chainmail Silver. Sponge is dipped into the silver and dabbed along the walkways. For chips I used a sharply pointed silver pencil around some of the hatches/panel lines.
Then I sprayed the exhaust stains along the fuselage sides using a thin mix of black and tan paint sprayed through my airbrush.
Then I used some Flory washes to pick out the panel lines. For the underside I used gray, and the result was pretty good, the flaps, alerions and bomb doors picked out nicely. Then I did the upper surfaces in Dark dirt. The photo shows it on, before I rub it off with a damp cloth, leaving just the wash in panel lines similar to the undersides. The depth and sharpness of the panel lines dictates the effect to an extent. But the suggestion of panel lines is what I am aiming for rather than well defined.
Thanks for looking.
It looks a well used aircraft.
Progress,
This is how it looks after the wash has been removed from the upper surfaces.
Finish line in sight now.
Looking good Kevin.
Hi All,
Now declaring this project complete.
The undercarriage, weapons added, cockpit canopies fixed in place and gunsight added to cockpit.. The aerial wire is from infinity rigging thread. Gunsights from etch brass.
Guns and pitot tube is from various sizes of aluminum tubing.
Model is my representation of an Ilyushin Il-2M3 Stormovik, as flown by Capt. V.B. Emelyanenko, of 7th Guard's Ground Attack Air Regiment, the Northern Caucasian front, August 1943.
Emelyanenko's aircraft had his personal markings of a musical score painted on the port side of his aircraft. He had been a student at the Moscow Conservatoire of Music. He brought his Balalaika with him to the front and kept it with him until the very end of the war.
Thanks for looking,
Another great model to add to your collection.
Great model Kevin well done
Another great model Kev, well done.
Excellent Kevin.
Thanks for your kind comments chaps, much appreciated.