There is no doubt about it, this is an all-new Tamiya 1/48th Il-2!:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1334289885/Tamiya%27s+New+1-48th+Ilyushin+IL-2+Shturmovik

There are many many clues this is not the painful Accurate Miniatures kit (which I had grown to hate, like almost all AM kits -save their F3F and Vindicator- unfortunately):

Why this is not the AM kit:

1-Gear doors are well-detailed on the inside, thin on the edge and very accurate.

2-Prop spinner is not "swollen" but correctly flat-sided and cone-like. (No need for the Vector correction part here)

3-Propellers are not the ridiculous toothpicks of the AM kit, but correctly shaped items that could actually move some reasonable amounts of air...

Overhead the depth of the canopy looks a little shallow, but that could just be a false impression of the model left unpainted...:



From another angle, everything looks good:



A surprising release in my view, given Tamiya's love of boring scheme-restricted types, but AM's Il-2 I found very unpleasant to build, with a strong tendency to build with an anhedral (owing bizarre wing root and bottom wing design) and it had very crummy-looking gear doors, with downright scary prop/spinner parts.

This model really has a truly unTamiya-like thing going for it: A HUGE selection of varied and very colourful schemes, some of them almost bizarre: And for once Tamiya did not start with the least desirable variant, like AM and so many others do, but instead went right away for the one we really want: Kudos to Tamiya on this...

I have hated most Tamiya subject choices in 1/48th for the past 12 years: Dumb, unvaried, or colorless subjects: He-162, Do-335, J1N1... Or conversely, sloppy (P-47) or even terrible execution in accuracy (Fi-156)...

The Zero was not a dumb subject but certainly not very colorful compared to anything from the Japanese Army...

For the sheer variety of truly amazing schemes (better in this regard than almost any other type) this Il-2 is a fantastic choice, with more scheme potential than all Tamiya has been doing for the past twelve years combined (at least for the ones that bear a good resemblance to the original subject)...

A Pe-2 or Il-4 would have been even more impressive, but within this size range they could hardly have done better. Revell's PV-1 may seem like a more audacious release, but anything Russian is pretty much on par.

This kit will make a nice companion to the Modelsvit Yak-1b, though it is unlikely to even approach it in quality, as that is the probably the best aircraft kit I have ever seen. If it is 90% as good as the Modelsvit, that would be a great step forward for Tamiya, but I'll believe it when I see it...

A great surprise for Russian AF fans in any case.

Gaston

This is the "Il-2M" version, so not the later war swept wing Il-2M3. This is great news for those with the decal sheet of the Eduard "kit bash" boxing of a single seater straight wing kit with a two-seater fuselage: The decal sheet with that Eduard kit was truly epic, beautifully printed and with a full array of weird red star styles, and shows this mid-war variant probably had the greatest variety of schemes and colours, combining the black greens and the later war colour styles, on one airframe in one case!

G.

Any new aircraft from Tamiya are certainly welcome,I will definitly take a look at this one.

I hope they do a swept wing as well. I want both of them side-by-side.

Hi there

Yes, it looks like it will be nice (although I certainly hope weighted wheels are also included) - but then so is the AM kit with Sergey's Vector spinner and propeller added.

I have to admit I've never understood all the fuss about how hard the AM kit supposedly is to build. I built it when it was first released, and another a few years later and found them quite straightforward (although, with Tamiya's reputation for easy builds, theirs should be a real "shake 'n bake". ).

For me, the acid test will be the cost - the new one will struggle to beat the basically excellent "old" kit with a Vector prop for price.

All the best

Rowan

The AM kit is out of production isnt it ? So this is a good news for sure. Since most VVS modelers have few choices and are acustomed to poor quality models I dont think a badpropeller on thold AM kit would stop them. What I would LOVE to see is a new 1/48 scale U-2/Po-2, since the old Gavia kit is out of reach now.

Hi Naseby

Perhaps it's no coincidence that Academy have just announced the latest reincarnation of the AM kit...

All the best

Rowan

Italeri had the AM kit in its program for 2-3 years and I got one for 18 Euros, which I've build last year. The cost of the new Tamiya Sturmovik will be around 40-50 Euros here in Germany, I presume .....
The old AM kit really has some major fitting issues. Especially these famous wing/fuselage areas and also where the wheel wells are glued in the wings. At least this was so with my kit.
Anyway, really looking forward to this release to hit the shelfs of our LHS. Maybe even I buy another one .....

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Thanks a bunch for the info Gaston. I appreciate the heads up. Take care.

Jim

Well, according to Marcus Nichols of TMMI (issue 199) it is the swept wing variant ... if really so, it's not so great news

greets

Steffen

You must be the only person who thinks that, Gaston.

The German aircraft that you mentioned aboove from Tamiya were never in wide use, so they missed out on having colourful schemes, yet they are very interesting subjects, make no mistake about it. Although you could always build a Do335 as a bomber destroyer flying with a fighter Geschwader if you want to come up with a scheme that has more colour.

I applaud Tamiya for releasing this kit, but it's not my cup of tea, so it won't find a home with me.

What pray tell, is wrong with the He-162????

When it comes to 'this scheme' or 'that scheme' its all 'horses for courses' in the end. Personally I think the Tamiya kits make for splendid builds.

On a related note: I have 2 AM IL2s in my building que> I was quite satisfied with how the kits looked in the box and I didn't notice the spinner flaws until it was pointed out. (now I _can't_ not notice it). I may give the Tamiya kit a look when it hits the market.

Cheers,
Fred

I would agree on that, especially given the beautiful Eduard Profipack decal sheet I have for a straight wing... But it would appear, despite the slightly kinked trailing and leading edge, that the info Marcus Nichols got was wrong: I doubted for a while, but I knew the swept wing was anything but subtle, and there is no doubt the model depicted is not the later Il-2M3 (which was occasionally quite colourful in its own right):

This is an Il-2M:



This is an Il-2M3:


Il-2M, slight kink on the trailing and leading edge:



New Tamiya kit:



Usually I always prefer the most advanced variant of a given WWII type, especially if it is also produced in the largest numbers (I think it might be the case here for the swept wing Il-2M3, production-wise, not sure), but in this case I am glad it is the mid-war variant. The swept wings do look a lot racier I must say, but the schemes available on the earlier version have to be seen to be believed... I think for that reason alone, a release of a potentially trouble-free kit like this is probably worth a dozen releases of more obscure types or of more troublesome kits: This is like twenty or thirty top notch Special Hobby kits coming out at once, if not much more accuracy-wise... Other Tamiya releases of the past 13 years were not so valuable...

To be fair, I actually think the Tamiya He-162 was an OK release, and extremely well executed accuracy-wise -a major improvement in cross-section accuracy over the Dragon kit- and it was a much better release than the Tamiya Me-262, because the Me-262 really made no sense without the dropped leading edge slats, and it didn't have them.

The P-47 was not as good as the He-162 by far...: It is fundamentally wrong in shape because the the cowling has a taper that did not exist in real life, increasing in width from 28 mm at the front cowl panel line to 30.3 mm at the cowl's rear line, this carrying on to a more "swollen" fuselage that should have had perfectly straight sides (of 28.1 mm actual width throughout): This dimension should not change at all, and the whole Tamiya fuselage, and the way the Razorback clear parts sit on it, look wrong as a result (see Otaki kit which is correct in the clear area's join shape, unfortunately with a too heavy bottom frame, and much closer at 28.5 mm fuselage width, paralell throughout, as it should be). The Tamiya Bubbletop clear parts are for their part much too tall, for unrelated reasons:



Here is the correction of the cowling/fuselage issue Yoyuso did for his converted P-47N (from Tamiya):

http://www.geocities.jp/yoyuso/p47n/p47ne.html

Note his correction is done by broadening the front of the cowl to make it more correctly paralell, but this is dimensionally wrong, as I have the width dimensions I obtained from a (disassembled) P-47N in the US, and the front of the cowl is actually 28.1 mm(!):


So it is a narrowing of the rear of the cowling which is needed (I plan to use the quite correct Otaki fuselage with adapted Tamiya wings)

The Fi-156 has so many things wrong I can't go into it, and never even considered buying it.

The Swordfish is another Tamiya release of the past 13 years I found comletely unjustified, at least coming from a mainstream manufacturer like Tamiya: It could almost sport a "strictly for retirees" sticker, and in fact it did: That was the sticker bearing the price tag... I have yet to see one built in 13 years...

The Do-335 was yet another release better left to limited-run manufacturers.

This Il-2, like Revell's Ventura, shows what should be done: Attractive subjects with lots of marking options, and just one such release is worth more than dozens of that boring stuff that has been pelting us for over a decade now: No wonder it turns out kit sales have sharply declined during that time:

http://www.cybermodeler.com/special/reboxing.shtml

Quote: "Kit Swapping
As the hobby market really started its downturn nearly 10 years ago, and tooling and labor costs rose, the only other way to get new kits into your catalog was to buy bag shots (kits molded and delivered in their intermediate bags) from other manufacturers and put them into your own box."


Gaston

Where do we start with this? OK the P-47 that I own two of is one of the best looking kits that I own. Gee they even look like P-47s to me. I don't care for 2mm out in some dimensions either. I'd rather get on with building than grumble about something that doesn't spoil the overall look of the kit.

Tamiya were always going to do something different for their 100th 1/48th scale kit. I think it was great that they released the Storch

What's not to like about the Swordfish? Great kit of a very important aircraft. Once again we should applaud Tamiya for releasing it.

Gaston, I'm pretty sure that the return on investment have proven Tamiya right with what they have released.

Why not write to them with a wishlist of what you would like to be see come out?

Hi again

In an effort to drag the thread kicking and screaming back on topic , HLJ have the new Tamiya Il-2 available for pre-order with a nice 20% discount ahead of the expected June release:

http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM61113

About £26 plus P&P in the UK looks pretty good.

All the best

Rowan

Following HLJ description of the kit:

"Tamiya gets ground attack-happy with this stunning ALL-NEW release of the burly tank-busting IL-2 Sturmovik Russian attack aircraft! Again, this is a completely NEW TOOLING from Tamiya, not a reboxing of any other kit! The model represents the swept-wing version of the Sturmovik, and includes 23mm wing cannons with 2 options for fairings, 100kg and 250kg bombs, RS-132 rockets (choice of three types of rocket launchers), and stunning detail in the cockpit, landing gear, and exterior. Markings provided for three variations. Includes masking seals for painting the canopy."

Thanks Michael,Thats good news then !!

PS IMHO the Tamiya P-47's were great kits

They are indeed, as are their Storch and Swordfish, the latter of which I've seen several built and they are very impressive. I'll get around to mine one day, hopefully before I retire. ;-)

Even though I have a pair of the AM Il-2 kits, I'm sure one of the new Tamiya Sturmoviks will find its way into my stash.

And in parting, having read some of the nonsense posted above, I must give a big "Thank You" to Tamiya for their Do 335 kits! - big favorites of mine and one of the coolest aircraft to come out of WWII. :-)

Cheers,
Eric

Im afraid that You are wrong on this Gaston, since the picture of the kit shows the swept wing version.

I think the pictures show clearly this is the straight wing version: Look at the drawings and then the kit: The 20 mm cannons, on the kit, look almost perpendicular to the leading edge of the straight wing, which is a long, long, LONG way of being so on the swept wing...

It's just that the straight wing did have a slight trailing edge kink, and some leading edge sweep as well...

This reminds me of people on HS who are so stunned the AM kit was deemed worth replacing that they are argueing this might be a re-boxed AM kit, even going as far as to say that it might be the older kit updated with a few new Tamiya parts... This even a full day after Brett Green posted to say he guaranteed this was a completely new tool...

Just the gear doors tell the story...

Gaston

Hi Gaston

The position of the kit's pitot tube is consistent with the swept wing in the drawings you've reproduced.

All the best

Rowan

This is a great deal if you don't get stung by UK customs (like I have the last twice I've used HJL)
Hannants have announced the kit on their website as retailing at around £55 If that is the full retail I think I'll stick with my Italeri/AM kit and get the Vector correction set.

Hi Alan

Well, the HLJ pre-order price looked to good to me not to take a risk on, so I'll just have to wait and see if I get clobbered by the UK Customs...

But I see what you mean about the UK r.r.p. - it's just what I feared. £55 will put many people off. I've got the Italeri boxing of the AM kit sat in front of me - it cost £17.99 from the LHS and the Vector set costs £5.50 from Neomega.

All the best

Rowan

To be honest, I think there might be a problem with the wing, and also with another part I just realised. But I wont elaborate since I havent seen the real model yet and I wont make conclusons based on these few pictures. I will definitely buy it when it comes out.