Ilyushin IL 96 M in 1/144 scale

[yak face]

Heres something Ive been doing alongside the MiG , a kit i picked up fairly cheap on e-bay . Its the Eastern Express 1/144 Ilyushin IL 96 M soviet airliner. Its a fairly basic kit but makes a large model (18"x 18") as its quite a big aircraft. The parts count was low and it took a lot of cleaning up and fettling - the 14 wheels in particular were atrocious ,the mould halves were misaligned so once they were cleaned up they were all shapes!! Hopefully you cant tell too much! Painted with a Hycote aerosol straight out of the can (Ford polar grey) oh and the decals were a nightmare too , breaking up ,and very brittle - I had to custom mix the paint colours and virtually paint the whole curved nose section as it was all torn and crinkled. The other PITA was the total lack of any colour call outs or decal placement info , the only thing the kit provides is the box top art and a side profile on the lid!! anyways with a little help from google images i managed to do it (but still had loads of decal stencils left over , i havent got a clue where theyre supposed to go) Heres some pics ,and a couple with a 1/144 BF 109F for scale reference , comments criticisms welcome , cheers tony

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[Guest]

That's a very clean, well-painted aircraft Tony! You'd never know the problems you faced. Although Eastern Express made the only kit I ever binned.

So when do we see the bullet holes & winter camo scheme? :P

[yak face]

It very nearly got a what if? soviet air force scheme when the decals started breaking up patrick ! thanks for looking in mate , cheers tony

[Guest]

That is a very tidy build Tony nice paint job on it.

[papa 695]

Great work Tony you can't tell you had any problems at all.

Stunning work

[Guest]

You have done an excellent and clean work, Tony!

Looks very nice to me

[flyjoe180]

Wow, that is a tidy and well finished model Tony. Nice work, great to see a Russian airliner build. That 109 needs to eat more

[Gern]

Beautiful.

Gern

[Guest]

Cant believe I had this and gave it away!! what a plonker this is superb.

[eddiesolo]

A stunner Tony, a real gem of a build mate.

Si

[yak face]

thanks everyone for the great comments , the only problem ive got now is where to put it , ive no more room left in my cabinets !! cheers tony

[tr1ckey66]

That is beautiful Tony.

That stands up with the very best airliners I've seen

Superb

5* for sure

Cheers

P

[InFlames]

Great job, mate! These Easter Express kits can be a real PITA but you've won the battle with yours! That reminds me to finish my An-22

[Guest]

Lovely smooth paint finish Tony. Cheers Derek

[Guest]

Great job well done.