IL-28 Beagle – Trumpeter 1/72

April 10, 2018 · in Aviation · · 14 · 4.9K

When I was ordered to build the IL-28 for a customer, I was expecting a more or less good model, but what I truly received was the old H-5. Basically, it's the Chinese copy of the frontline bomber.

Well, when you read trumpeter in the box, you can expect a more or less good model (specially when the box has the blue color), but this wasn't the case.

First clue are the instructions: fairly simple yes, but quite inaccurate on where exactly goes each piece (for example, the cockpit).

Anyway, I started building. As usual, the cockpit first. Trumpeter does not include any decals for it, instead it offers a reasonable detailed control panel, and nothing else. I added some small details in scratch to make it look a little bit better.
The front cockpit (for the bomber usually) has a really good seat and that's all it includes. However, it's not necessary to add any detail since it can't be seen from the outside.

And here comes the first sign of trouble: although in each half of the fuselage there are the supports for the cockpit, it doesn't fit. The solution I found was to glue the fuselage together without the cockpit, and add it later in the correct position.
The H-5 comes with a really nice detailed bomb bay, which offers the option for three types of bombs. My customer told me to add the biggest bomb possible. The complete bay must be added before you close the fuselage. It fits reasonably good.

After you add the rear turret (which I couldn't make it so it moves), you can move to the wings and engines.
The engines have good details, and are very simple in build, BUT the joints are extremely bad, and I mean BAD. A lot of putty and sanding was needed to correct this problem.
The same problem happens with almost every joint in this model (specially with the wing unions with the fuselage).

After all the model was corrected, it was time for painting. The customer wanted it in aluminium, so extra care was taken when cleaning and sanding the model.

First, a matt black coat and future (since my airbrush does not work with gloss paint, it's a good solution), and then Xtreme Metal from AK interactive. The result was really good, although you can notice the wing root joint (it seems I couldn't fix it properly).

Then, some weathering with tamiya panel line in brown, and black oils. The result was a fairly weathered aircraft.

In result, it's not a bad model, but it needs a lot of work if you want to make it properly. My customer was happy although he noticed the error of the wing joint, but he focused on the overall aspect of the model.

Reader reactions:
5  Awesome

6 additional images. Click to enlarge.


14 responses

  1. Usually, the metal finish enhances any error on the surface of the model but you did a good job with the correction of the fitting inaccuracies in that kit. As a result,
    your model convincingly transmits the "charm" of these shiny cold-war jets. However I miss a picture of the underside and of the bomb bay! 🙂

  2. I think it turned out "as well as can be expected". I would've tried to convince the customer that the quality control of the model reflects the quality of the 'real' aircraft and therefore, it's "accurate". LOL - 🙂
    Seriously, you did the best you could with what ya had to work with. And I've used that excuse many times. 🙁

    • Thank you for commenting Craig!
      I've actually used that excuse a lot of times back when I started making models for others. Nowadays I prefer to tell the truth, and normally the customer acts positively and orders another

  3. Model turned out nice and thanx for the heads-up regarding problems with this kit. Good Job!

  4. Looks great to me. I remember the old Airfix, and after, one from Bilek(?), which I've never seen built. A must have for a Cold War collection, IMHO. I seem to recall, now that I think about it, that Italeri might have boxed the Bilek?

  5. Turned out nice in the end! Thanks for the heads-up, as I have this same kit, but luckily for me it'll wear Nigerian livery, so the defects (of my seam-sanding) won't have the chance to stand out as much as it would have in NMF.

  6. Very nice 'Beagle' Claudio! I've often thought these were 1950s "Cool!" Well done.

  7. A real nice build, I think that bare metal finish is great!

  8. I always thought that an Il-28 was a very unique-looking early jet, and in good sense with this eclectic mix of old and new features. Well done!

  9. I've heard horror stories of this kit and I see yours ain't much different. Glad that you'd made it to the end!

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