1:48 Ił-2 M3

The flying armor of the Eastern Front

The Ilyushin Il-2 was neither agile nor fast, because its design stood on a different idea: the front part of the fuselage was formed by a load-bearing armored tub into which the engine, the radiators and the pilot's seat were built. Splinters and small-caliber rounds thus had no way in. The version designated M3 added a second seat with a folding machine-gun mount behind the pilot, because single-seat machines were defenseless from the rear. More of them were produced than of any other combat aircraft of that war, and by repute the infantry nicknamed it the flying tank.

The gloss a decal forces on you

So that a decal does not whiten, it has to lie on a glossy finish. The model is therefore first varnished to a gloss, then the decals are applied and finally everything is matted down again. Those are two extra layers of varnish, which in a small scale can round off the sharp edges of panels and clog riveting. Spraying through a stencil leaves that whole cycle out: the marking is applied straight onto a matte shade and the surface stays the way you mixed it. On an aircraft with a rough field finish that tends to be exactly the point.

Contents and use

The die-cut pieces correspond to the division of the canopy on a particular kit, including parts for the inner side of the glazing. There is one stencil of the national marking in the envelope. The films are laid on a dried coat, pressed down around the circumference, and the paint is sprayed in thin layers so that it does not run under the edge. The package contains films only; neither plastic parts nor paints are in it. The leftover scraps of film come in handy for covering the wheels or the landing light before the final shade is taken on.