hobby Boss Il-2 Sturmovik

[Guest]

Vaughan looks like you've minimized the filling quite a bit ,keep up the great work!

[Guest]

don't fancy being sat so close to that massive fuel tank.

I hate gaps worst invention ever.

Nice going tho mate

Martin

[Vaughan]

I agree with you Martin, seems like a crazy place to put a fuel tank but this bird did have 1.5 tons of armour and a considerable amount around and over the cockpit. The gaps around the wing roots and the logistics of attaching the wings had put me off progressing with the build hence the fact I have built two planes since.

Vaughan

[Vaughan]

The Carpet monster Al Fresco!

Well it got far too hot this afternoon in my garden room so no modelling was possible. The next best thing was to go outside. I moved a smaller cutting board, glue, knife and all that I would need to my garden table in the shade on the decking.

All was cool until I started cutting parts off the sprue and dry fitting them. You know where this is going half of a gun stock shot into the air and landed in the gap between the decking and then I stood and watched disappear. Well there was no way round it the decking had to come up. I removed a 10' section and with a torch found it. Decking screwed back down and model back into the safety of my garden room. Lesson learned.

I have managed to start putting squadron filler around the wings and fuselage so some progress has been made. I might get a chance on Wednesday morning before the sun comes round to continue in the relative safety of the garden room.

Vaughan

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[mossiepilot]

Missed the begining of this build, coming along cracking so far.

Must remember there's another monster, the decking monster,LOL

Don't think I'll have to worry too much about losing parts outside, it's hardly stopped raining here for a month.

I'm enjoying watching this come together, and seeing how you overcome each of the problems.

Tony.

[Vaughan]

Hi All

Here's an update from over the last week. I've ben working on the wing armament and belt feeds. No real problems here just I had to cut out a section of the wings to accept the machine gun and allow the covers to be added. Yet to close the wing halves and then add to the wing mid section.

Vaughan

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[Guest]

fantastic job mate if my head wasnt sunburnt i`d take my hat off to you lol

mobear

[yak face]

Looking good now vaughan , cheers tony

[Vaughan]

Hi All here's a further update from over the last three days.

The wing halves are buttoned up and attached to the fuselage only a smear of filler was required, the tail planes are also attached. I removed the tabs on the control surfaces to enable a small amount of droop when they are fitted.

Next step was to fit the wheel well nacelles these came in two halves so had to be glued prior to fixing to the wings some work was required to remove the seams. Once fitted the leading edge needed a fair bit of filler this gave a semicircular join which is not how it appears on the real plane. Unfortunately there's no way of changing the shape so they will have to do.

I have also masked the canopy, I've used the thin strips of tape method and then filled in the centres, all looks good. The canopy was glued to the cockpit area with Clearfix and allowed to set. All seams and joins have been sprayed with grey undercoat to check the finish, all look ok.

Vaughan

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[Vaughan]

Hi All

The canopy,wheel bays,doors and air brakes have been sprayed with the interior colour grey/blue. The fuselage has been pre-shaded in readiness for the top coats of Russian Green and Pale Blue.

I've also made a start on the under-carriage.

Vaughan

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[Vaughan]

Hi All

Well I'm finally down to spraying this big Russian bird. The underside went down well and the pre-shading looks nice and subtle. Top side has gone on without a hitch the pre-shading has also worked well in breaking up the large areas of Russian green.

I'm having problems with the white metal under carriage the paint is not adhering and just rubs off. This would not be a problem if the under carriage was silver but it is the interior colour Grey/blue. So if anyone has some suggestion I would appreciate it.

Still lots to do Rocket rails, bomb bay doors and all the ordnance to put together, there's lots of it.

Vaughan

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[Vaughan]

A coat of Klear went down last night and I made a start on the decals this afternoon. They are quite basic consisting of two stars on the underside a star on each side of the fuselage and a star plus the number '8' on the rudder and thats the lot. All went down without a hitch.

Vaughan

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[Vaughan]

Hi All

The under carriage have been primed, painted and weathered and are now fitted. They proved a little fiddly working inside the wheel bay nacelles but I got there in the end. Tyres are also fitted. Trim tab actuators on the tail plane and rudder are now in situ. The rocket rails have been painted and added to the under wings. I still need to make a start on the ordanance.

Vaughan

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[saguy]

coming together very nicely indeed .....rgds lindsey

[Vaughan]

Thanks for that Lindsey. I've still got a little way to go yet lots of dangly bits, weathering and a flat coat and of course all that under wing armament.

Vaughan