10. Il-2 Shturmovik
Soviet Union - 1939
The Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik was the premier ground attack aircraft of the Soviet Air Force during World War Two. Heavily armed and armored, the Il-2 flew at low altitudes and attacked ground targets with rockets, bombs, machine guns, and sometimes even cannon. The aircraft, nicknamed "Black Death" by the Germans, was so important to the Red Army that Stalin famously told the factory managers, “The Red Army needs the Il-2 as it needs air and bread. I urge you to produce more Ilyushins!” With over 36,000 built, the Il-2 is the most produced military aircraft of all time. Shown here is an aircraft used during the Battle of Berlin, April 1945.
Tamiya #61113, 1/48 Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik
Reviews of Tamiya's 1/48 Il-2 Shturmovik describe its excellent detail and trouble-free construction. I've been looking forward to building it for a long time. I added some Eduard aftermarket items including resin wheels, exhausts, photo etch seatbelts and canopy masks. I might have an aftermarket addiction problem.
First step was the interior. I used Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Gray for the Soviet A-14 interior gray color. After some dark washes however the color got even darker. I think from now on I'm going to use Tamiya XF-66 Light Gray for A-14 Gray.
Construction was flawless as promised. I slowed things down however by adding lines of rivets onto the wings and fuselage using a riveting wheel. Once that was complete I airbrushed a primer coat of Mr. Surfacer 1500 on to the model. For the underside AMT-7 color I made a custom mix of Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey, XF-8 Flat Blue, and XF-2 Flat White mixed in a 3/1/15 ratio. It looks a little bright at this point but weathering will tone it down.
The first of the three upper colors has been applied. For the AMT-1 Light Brown I made another custom mix of Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan and XF-54 Dark Sea Grey mixed in a 5/1 ratio. The excellent website "Sovietwarplanes pages" run by Mr. Massimo Tessitori was invaluable in trying to figure out good color matches. It's also a great resource for modeling any WW2 Soviet aircraft.
Here the last two colors have been sprayed on. I used Tamiya XF-67 NATO Green for AMT-4 Green and Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey for AMT-12 Gray. Some preliminary panel line shading has been started, using darker or lighter tones of the green and gray colors .
The decals have been applied. I had some trouble getting them to lie flat, and even lost a portion of the "12". That will be touched up with white paint later.
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
