Hobby Boss 1/32 IL-2 Sturmovik: Complete

[LSP_K2]

Winter schemes can be quite a challenge, but also quite cool if pulled off well.

[EmperorKai]

Urs- rock on!  Hope to see it soon on the WIP forum

 

Kevin-  I agree.  I think I will try out the process on a couple of paint drones first before I commit to it on the Sturmovik.  I ordered up some AKI chipping fluid today, so I should be able to experiment a bit in a few days.

 

Some shots of the inner wing detail and landing flaps.  Total time spent on the landing flaps was about 30 hours.

 

A ton of scraping, leveling, dry fitting...  and it's all worth it.  This is some early dry fitting that was done before committing to glue.  A lot of tailoring was needed towards the wing root.

 

The Eduard instructions call for 1.2mm rod for the landing flap actuation rod, but this looked a little thick, so used 1.0mm instead.  If using Evergreen plastic rod, I recommend cutting the left and right lengths from the same rod as not all rods are necessarily the same exact diameter.  Here, a hole was drilled out for so the rod went someplace meaningful.

 

The rod should be placed before attaching the ailerons.  Once in place, the rod was clipped and then nested out of the way inside the aileron.

 

A close up with the structural detail and the wing seam reinforcement.

 

Here's the big picture on the bench.  I'll go into the aileron mass balances on the next post, but they are visible in this shot as well.

 

The landing flaps themselves are fairly intricate.  Being patient and going slow is the key.  Otherwise, this is one of the better Eduard sets I've used.  Used every part and no issues at all.

 

A close up of the outboard flap, sans the 4 small braces along the longitudinal beam.

 

Here the inboard flap with with braces.  There's nicely done rivet detail on the reverse side.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

Edited April 6, 2014 by EmperorKai

[LSP_Kevin]

Great PE work Kai! Impressive stuff.

 

Kev

[Mal_Belford]

I do agree with Kev....

 

Looks great....so keep em coming..

 

/Mal

[EmperorKai]

Thanks Kev!

 

The 2 biggest issues with this kit (the single seat IL-2) are the rear fuselage and the outboard wings.  In regards to the outboard wings, the single seat IL-2 either had wooden or metal wings and either way, the kit is off.  If doing a wooden winged aircraft, then the panel lines and rivets needs to be filled in on the outboard wing sections.  If doing a metal winged version, then the external aileron mass balances need to be added.  As mentioned before, I also believe that the metal winged aircraft also had metal ailerons as well, not fabric covered ones.

 

Conversely, it is my understanding that 2 seaters did not have the external mass balance.

 

 

Here is a single seat IL-2 on skis, with metal wings and the mass balances near the wing tips.  Jason Moore's review also has some photos of this and references the Accurate Miniatures 1/48 kit as a good pattern to work from.  There is also a couple of good shots of the mass balances on the VVS site (http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/il-2/il2-camo/il2-1942/il-2model1942.htm)

 

 I've stepped through my rendition of the mass balances below should anyone ever care to work from the same recipe.

 

For the protruding mass balance itself, I used lengths of 20 gauge copper wire and CA.  The wire is intentionally too long to make it easier to work with and will be cut to the proper length later.

 

Hardly scientific...  Started with a dab of the thicker CA and then rounded it out and enlarged it where necessary with the thin CA.  Kinda like blowing glass.

 

The bulbs were then lightly sanded to nice round tear drops.  Here they've been temporarily painted to get a better sense of their shape.

 

 

As for the fairings, these were built up using plastic strips.  First the .030 x .040 with a half round crown on top.  Then .010 x .040 on either side.  This should leave the half rounded crown with a distinct ridge on either side. 

 

The sides were slightly longer at the rear so they cupped the small extension that connects to the aileron.

 

The front end of the fairing should be angled in relation to the surface of the wing and the up to the leading edge.  A hole of sufficient size was then drilled to accommodate the mass balances.  I recommend capping the front end with a coat of CA, and once dry, starting with a pilot hole as there is very little room for error when drilling into the end of 4 strips.

 

List of materials...

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

Edited April 6, 2014 by EmperorKai

[Mal_Belford]

Im totally with you.....

 

Simple elegant solution that ads to the whole is the path to great building.......

 

This is in my taste, i love to use my on brainf on tetris in building, keep it simple, effective, well excecuted......

 

Youve scored each one on them.....Just lovit, just lovit....got this birdie of yours as a favorite, since im going for this bird later....good to see whats lies ahead and how you solved the fuzz.....

 

Looking forward for more of theese cool, simple, effective solutions from you.

 

/Mal

[EmperorKai]

Thanks Mal!  I'm a huge fan of your work, so it means alot.

 

 Time to deal with the rear fuselage...  I probably should have done this sooner, but it's easy enough to still deal with it.

 

Needless to say, there's lots of really nice rivets and panel lines.  Unfortunately, only the first ~200 airframes from one of the factories (Zavod 18) ever had metal rear fuselages.  Considering over 36,000 IL-2's were manufactured, that means relatively speaking VERY few had these.

 

Here is a nice image from Jason Moore's review that highlights the area where the rivets and panels lines need to be removed. The ski version is represented here, but it still applies (Drawings from Voiyna V Vozdukhe Magazine, with additions by Jason Moore).  I also came across a simply gorgeous piece of work in which someone did a naked IL-2.  Not sure who the artist is, but it also does a great job of illustrating the wooden areas (http://www.sturmovik.estranky.cz/img/original/766/1029.jpg, and http://www.sturmovik.estranky.cz/img/original/767/1707487571_05ed6b4971_o.jpg)

 

 

Traditionally, I've always either just sanded or used Squadron white putty for situations like this.  However, I wasn't too excited about plastering the whole back half of the fuselage with it.  I recently came across a rather entertaining YouTube video that extolled the virtues of Gunze Mr Dissolved Putty and decided to give it a try.  No doubt, Mr Surfacer would be a good choice as well, but I wanted to keep the handling down to a minimum to mitigate cracked seams and damage to the detail work.  One nice aspect of this putty is that it can be cleaned up with Mr Thinner, and in my book, the more forgiveness a process has, the more appealing it is to me.

 

Using a small brush, the dissolved putty was applied in a fairly precise fashion.  It dries in rather quick order, so I was able to re-apply as necessary as I moved section by section.  It was also possible to "paint" the putty right up to the perimeter detail without any risk of splashing over.

 

After letting it set for a couple of hours, it was carefully wet sanded with 600 grit sandpaper.  The dissolved putty is a little hot (not bad though), so if it will stain the plastic a bit, and should be allowed to completely cure.  It also smells like the Gunze thinner, which is a little strong.

 

While letting the fuselage set, I decided to tackle another little detail... the canopy.  In this photo of a 2 seat Sturmovik, there are a couple details that caught my eye, which include the prominent thickness of the armor on top of the sliding canopy, and the small grab handle on the side of the fuselage, both of which are found on the single seater as well.  

 

The kit supplied canopy is nicely done, however the armored plate on the canopy is under-represented with just a raised panel line and raised rivets.  I sanded the rivets off and cut a piece of lead foil to length.  UMM-USA carries a great selection of this material (http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=lead&x=0&y=0)

 

Done- This should stand out nicely later during the pin washing and finishing.   I'll cover the grab handle in a subsequent post.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

[DrDave]

You're doing a super job. I might break mine out. I fancied Nelson Stepanyans fancy scheme. Keep it up!

[EmperorKai]

Thanks DrDave- Stepanyan's aircraft is about as unique a scheme as it gets

 

Some additional detail work on fuselage...

 

Added the splitter to air intake custom made from leftover photo-etch sheet  

 

The engine cowling faceplate from the Eduard set.  Pretty cool piece, but with the propeller in place, only the inner faces of the intake ducts will be seen.

 

Front aspect with propeller in place.  Here is where thinning the intake duct walls pays off as they are now more prominent

 

Scribed in 2 missing panels on top of the engine cowling

 

Not sure what the proper name for this piece is, but I'll refer to it as the "nose plate".  One later single seat and all subsequent IL-2's, this plate was on the upper top portion of the engine cowl that extends over the propeller nose cone.   Here I've cut it from a leftover photo-etch brass fret and punched mounting bolts from the backside.  It was then worked into shape around an Xacto blade handle

 

The nose plate in place

 

Same view but with the propeller in place

 

Also applied the film from the Eduard set with the windshield aiming lines.  There isn't any guidance in the instructions on how to apply these- I used a drop of Future floor wax to fix these in place.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

Edited April 10, 2014 by EmperorKai

[scvrobeson]

Puttying the airframe looks like it's a lot of work, but it really does improve the look.  Since so many of the Il-2s were wooden, that would have made more sense for them to mold it that way.  The hairsprayed paint will have a cool effect for a winter plane.

 

 

If I remember correctly, there was a build of the big Il-2 in Model Airplane International, where they showed the hairspray weathering. Might be worth checking out

 

 

 

Matt 

[Urs]

Uhhhh, while playing IL-2 1946 I hated that aiming help.  

Nice build so far, especially around the ingine govers and oil cooler inlet.

[tucohoward]

Kai, I am really enjoying your build. Your attention to detail and execution are really impressive. Looking forward to more.

 

Jay

[Mal_Belford]

Geez Kai.......oh well then we share alot in building lol...how we see things Kai.

 

I love it, just lovit......yeah tetris in mind, seek solutions dont see problems.....thats the key....and you show it, elegant.

 

Im looking forward for more to come, please post em even i it is small ones, since an update is an update....

 

This thread is addictive to follow...

 

/Mal

Edited April 11, 2014 by Mal_Belford

[EmperorKai]

Thanks guys for all the encouragement!

 

Matt- The dissolved putty worked out really nice and was pretty painless.  I agree though that the typical IL-2 model should not have the metal fuselage, but unfortunately it seems like most do.  I suspect that most of the surviving airframes in museums have the metal fuselage... 

 

Have a couple of posts for today that will cover the landing gear and wheels...

 

Shots of the landing gear, which must be placed before the fairing can be attached.

 

 

Final finishing of the landing gear will take place later

 

For the most part, the fit of the kit is very good all around- except for the landing gear fairings which need careful trimming and TLC to fit.  Here, the seam on the upper wing leading edge, which should also be a preserved as a panel line.

 

Trimming the landing gear fairing in one place affects someplace else.  Here, the gap at the aft end of the fairing under the wing.  This is as good a place for a gap as any since it is on underside and will be mostly obscured by the deployed landing flaps. 

 

Next- wheels...

 

Kai

[EmperorKai]

Work on the wheels...

 

The main wheels in the kit are well done, but vinyl.  What little was left of the molding seam was sanded off and then each of the wheels was flattened to better represent the 6+ tons of a loaded Sturmovik.  The kit supplied tail wheel is correct for the 2 seat machines, but the single seaters had a smaller tail wheel. 

 

I wasn't able to locate any good detail shots of an appropriate tail wheel, but Jason Moore suggests that it should be about 75% of the size of the larger kit supplied wheel, which measures just under 17/32 of an inch diameter.  The replacement tail wheel was built up with .030 sheet plastic cut to 3/8 inch diameter disks, which is slightly  too big, but after trimming to the correct size, should be about right.

 

The initial stack of disks next to the oversized original

 

Without any detail guidance on the tail wheel, some artistic license was taken.  A suitable hub was found in the spare parts box in the form of a 1/35 Panzer IV road wheel hub.  The center was marked, drilled and then gouged by hand using a Dremel bit in a pin vise until the hubs sat at the correct width to fit the tail wheel yoke.  The wheels were then filed and sanded to shape and the hubs glued into place.

 

The completed tail wheel in comparison to the original tail wheel

 

Oblique view to compare the profiles.  Note that while the diameter of the replacement tail wheel is smaller, the width is identical to the original so that will fit the kit tail wheel yoke without any modification.

 

The original tail wheel in place...

 

.. and the replacement.  After taking this picture, the wheel was also slightly flattened as well.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

Edited April 11, 2014 by EmperorKai