History

The Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik has the distinction of being produced in the largest numbers of any combat aircraft anywhere in the world, and its developmental history is well known to most modelers and historians. Conceived in 1938 as an armored, close support and anti-tank aircraft, its designers wanted the plane to be a two-seater with a rearward firing machine gun for defense. Politicians changed the design, however, replacing the rear gunner with an additional fuel tank and more protective armor. Although the center section of the aircraft was essentially an armored shell, the wings, rear fuselage, and tail unit were made of wood.

History Brief

The Northrop P-61 was the US military's first operational aircraft designed specifically as a night fighter interceptor. Our subject, the P-61B, was the second major production variant derived from the type. The most noteworthy improvement to the already large and infamous twin engine beast was an upgraded radar necessitating an additional 8 inches of length to the forward fuselage. This was added just in front of the nose gear bay and behind the radome.

The Black Widow depicted in the kit, “Lady In The Dark”, is historic in that it claimed the last aerial kill of World War II.

The idea behind these pre-cut masks is to save you time and frustration when painting your model and also to protect the clear areas under the masks. I think the B-18 could be a “poster child” for using pre-cut masks on a model. As a typical pre-war bomber, it sports lots of clear areas with lots of framework. I counted 74 individual clear window panels on the model. In addition to the large number, the panels on the windscreen have rounded edges which present problems when using tape or foil, since very careful trimming is called for. Do not despair, fellow modelers, Eduard has come to the rescue. This particular set, matched specifically to the Special Hobby B-18, has all the masks necessary to cover all those 74 “panes,” as well as masks for the wheel hubs.