Hans Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) Gentlemen, Here are some in-progress pics of my build of the Hobby Boss Il-2 single-seater, known to the Russians as the "Gorbatyi" or "hunchback". First impressions of the kit are favorable: it is made out of a hard, good quality plastic that can easily be sanded and sawn, surface detail is very refined and fit is exellent. As Jason (learstang) has pointed out in his review of the ski-equipped version here on LSP the areas that could need extra detail are the cockpit and undercarriage. For detailing the cockpit I used pics found on the net and photos from an old issue of the French modelling magazine "Replic" (No.75, november 1997). What I found out was that the equipment of the cockpit remained more or less the same and in the same place over the entire production run when comparing the illustrations of the Il-2 flght handbook of the single seater with photos of the twoseater in Prague that was build in december 1944. Very useful was a set of cockpit scale drawings from a Soviet modelling magazine, ca. 1975, found on ScaleModels.ru showing the size of the various parts and their placement. A lot of this equipment, including the steering column was made of brass, left unpainted. Hobby Boss has chosen to give the builder the option to show the wing bomb bays in the open position. As a consequence of this and in order to have a solid wing-to-fuselage joint as a compromise they had to make a step in the cockpit walls. I opted for smooth sidewalls as per original so out came the hacksaw. The protruding parts were sawn off following the wing contour on the outside of the fuselage and the remaning rim on the inside sanded off. This was not done in the front cockpit part of the left fuselage half where the side console sits against it. The removed parts were then thinned on the outside by 0.5mm as well as the adjoining wing parts and after this operation superglued to their former position, see the accompanying pics. after smoothing the walls the various pieces of equipment were added. Edited May 30, 2011 by Hans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) A strip of 1 mm was added to the sides of the cocpit floor to compensate for the wider lower fuselage. The angled piece on the right side of the pilots' back armour was removed so that the various lines wires and hoses could reach the back of the cockpit were the fuel tank sits. The walls and back of the pilots' seat were thinned and a slit added in the upper part of the back for the seat belt to go through. The emegency bomb release handle was cut loose from its place and moved backwards and inwards next to the pilots' seat as shown on photos and drawings. On its original place it would interfere with the use of other equipement such as the emergency wheel crank- the big piece withe the handle on the front right side of the cockpit wall. Edited January 23, 2011 by Hans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) The fuel booster pump situated on the front right of the cockpt floor was also lacking and had to be scratched. Edited January 23, 2011 by Hans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allok Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 This looks like fun. Definitely some nice scratch building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thank you for your kind remarks, Keith. An illustration from the flight manual showing the booster pump to give you an idea of whatit looks like compared to the scratched part: And the scale drawing from the Russian modeling magazine: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Also did some work on the underbelly of the beast. Modified the radiator bath by adding strips and sprue up front and on the backside and rounding off the sides as per photos of the aircraft in Prague. The radiator louvres were made from 0,25 mm sheet, for the hinges I used 0,15 mm steel gitar string. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamme Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) Hello Hans. Nice start on this Il-2. Will follow this one. Cheers, Jamme Edited January 23, 2011 by Jamme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark64 Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 very nice work on that boostr pump. reat piece of scratchbuilding. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thank you guys, more to follow soon. Hans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Did the shutters for the back of the radiator, also made a new cover plate for the air outlet to show it in the closd position. Still to add 3 hinges to the plate, then it is off to the paintshop to add some colour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) Built the engine and its cradle. I added pieces of steel guitar string in pre-drilled holes ro reinforce the joints between the firwall and the engine cradle arms as the construction was quite weak and wobbly. To detail the exhausts I made welding beads from sprue and added reinforcing strips cut from 0,1 mm plastic as shown on photos of the Prague Il-2. I also thinned the sidewalls to give them a more scalelike appearance. Lstly I added piping to the top of the fuselage fuel tank following photos I found on the Il-2 thread on Scalemodels.rus. Edited January 27, 2011 by Hans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metallicus Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 looking inspiring already!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Brilliant work, Hans! I would point out where you've gone wrong but I can't find anything! And you caught about the bomb release mechanism on the starboard side of the seat needing to be moved back. I didn't catch that one until too late. Great job on the booster pump and the instruments on the starboard side of the fuselage. Regarding the fuel tank, if that's facing forwards, the pipe on the front (which I might leave natural metal) should have a red line coming out attached to the "air tank" on the port side, which I believe is actually a carbon dioxide bottle, also red. The pipe on the back I believe should have a fuel line painted yellow that should disappear under the flooring going forwards (I hope this makes sense). The very top of the fuel tank cap should be painted yellow. Note that the various systems, lines, and tubing on the Shturmovik were colour-coded. Black was for the air system (as opposed to just oxygen?), blue was for the hydraulic and oxygen systems, brown was for the oil system, green was for the water (coolant) system, red was for the fire-fighting (carbon dioxide) system, and yellow was for the fuel system. All the paints were evidently glossy. You probably know all this as it looks like you've done quite a bit of research regarding the Shturmovik. I take it you aren't going to do the engine (wise move; although what HB provides for the engine is correct and looks good, there is a lot of tubing and piping that needs to be added and it's driving me crazy doing it)? If I can be of any more help just let me know as it looks like you may get yours done before mine and I would love to see a built-up model! Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Hans, one thing I have noticed looking at your cockpit - the roughly triangular device on the front of the port console was not present on early IL-2's, including the single-seaters. I made the same mistake of adding it, but it was easy enough to remove and sand and paint over. On the single-seater there should be two small knobs in front of the instruments as in the picture below. Otherwise, excellent work! Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Metallicus, Jason, thanks for your very positive remarks, they almost made me blush. I had already sorted out most of the piping and its colours. The cockpit of the original Il-2 must have been a very colourful working environment, though not a very ergonomic one. The model will be "buttoned up: flaps up, bombdoors closed and the engine hidden away. Only the canopy will be open. Next I am going to modify the armour behind the pilot into a flat one as well as making the seatpan wider and deeper and the back shorter as per scale drawing from that Russian modelling magazine. Regards, Hans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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