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INTECH 1:72 ILYSHIN IL-2 'TANK KILLER' |
Reviewer:
Simon Skinner
(rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:
18 November 2002
Kit number T59 - Ilyushin Il-2 "Tank Killer"
Over 36,000 Il-2 were produced, most of which was during WW2 where it earned its reputation as arguably the most important tactical warplane of that era. Principally in use by two countries, Czechoslovakia and USSR, the Il-2 featured four main variants of the basic type. After the German invasion, the Il-2 proved itself a potent warplane, in particular as a tank buster and ground support aircraft, although it was vulnerable to fighters.
Three sprues contain the 80 odd grey parts in injection moulded plastic while another sprue holds the five reasonably clear pieces. There are three decal options in this kit and the quality of the mouldings is quite good with fairly crisp parts although a little bit of flash encumbers some. All the surface detail is quite well represented and is also engraved.
This comes in the form of a small four page booklet setting out the usual information of construction sequence, paint information and markings guide, pretty well in that order. The construction steps are pretty straight forward and won’t cause a lot of confusion, unlike the painting information where some letters are quoted but not covered under the list of colours. FS numbers are provided where possible and the final two pages deal exclusively with the colour and markings guide.
While the instructions tell you to start with the propeller sub assembly I could not break the habit of detailing the cockpit first. The kit provides seat, stick, instrument panel and floor, but if you want anything further, including detail, you need to add it in yourself. A little bit of stretched sprue for the sidewall and a bit of makeshift drybrushing on the instrument panel suffices as a passable closed cockpit detail. We then move onto the propeller sub assembly which is trapped between the fuselage halves.
Cutters are needed to detach the parts from the sprue as in some areas it is a little hard to really tell where the lug stops and the part begins, flash also needs cleaning on a few smaller parts and around the edges of the wings and so forth. The instructions do go through a series of sub assemblies which are then attached in one of the final stages altogether, but really the modeller can choose the order he attaches everything in. I prefer to attach sub assemblies straight away and work on the filler etc as I go along.
The wings fit together nicely and only a small amount of filler is needed at the roots. The tailplanes, which are butt joined, are a little more problematic and a jig of some sort is needed to allow them to dry in the correct place and at the right angle.
There are a fair few smaller parts in the kit which make up the seemingly high number of components, with the undercarriage containing several components, cannons added to the wing and underwing bombs all adding to the count. Other than that the kit is relatively quick and simple to this point.
The canopy comes in three parts enabling you to display an open cockpit, but given the level [lack] of detail inside, I opted for a closed cockpit. The transparencies are thick but reasonably clear and the gunsight is moulded onto the windscreen part. They fit quite well although I suspect the thick main canopy part may impede on getting a successful open cockpit displayed.
The undercarriage is pretty well straight forward to assemble and the gear doors come in several parts. The wing mounted cannons are small parts and care is needed not to break these once they are attached. Tank buster rockets can be attached to racks on the outer wing part while a pair of bombs can be affixed to inner wing pylons.
The kit provides for three examples to choose from, one of them being a captured Il-2 by the Luftwaffe in upper two-tone dark green scheme and standard light blue undersides. The second wears the same camouflage scheme as the first example and is from Leningrad in 1942. The third and final example wears a winter white upper scheme over hellblau undersides based at Moscow in 1942.
The decal sheet covers the basics quite well, with fuselage art, codes and roundels all printed in very good colour register. However, the backing sheet is white so makes it difficult to spot some of the white decals. They are also thin and a bit on the fragile side but went down on a gloss coated surface with decal setting solution quite well. Once sealed in with another varnish coat, the result was actually very good.
This was a relatively quick and easy build with overall fit of parts on at least a good level. Only a small amount of filler was needed in parts and I was pretty pleased with the overall result. It certainly captures the look of the Il-2 convincingly and to scale comes out a little over, but acceptable, as far as measurements are concerned. I’m pretty happy with it and would happily recommend a reasonably hassle free build to other modellers.
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