Text by: Aleksey Shtan aka Shaitan737
http://dishmodels.ru/wshowp.htm?p=416&id=8312 Colour of Interior (and other ..) Surfaces of IL-2, IL-4 and others
Whenever interior colours are discussed there are conflicts and at the end, when discussion quiets down, the sides usually remain with their original opinions...
Fragments of three Il-2 Shturmoviks are preserved at the "GPW Museum" in Kiev, Ukraine. Planes were shot down at different times in the Murmansk region and were brought to Kiev in 1985. Planes belong to different series, ranging from a single-seater of the first series to the "classical" 1943 Il-2. The most interesting aspect is their interior colour. Unfortunately, the paint on the inside of the armored fuselage ("bronekorpus") hasn''t been preserved, so we will talk about other parts of the airframe, in particular the landing gear wells. And that is the area where many modelers are making mistakes.
Interior of the single-seat Il-2 is unpainted, not even primed!!! Paint of the exterior surfaces is preserved in some places. But, no traces of paint inside! Virgin duralumin! Everything clean! Exterior was camouflaged in black and green. This is odd because first Il-2 series were not affected by the chaos of the evacuation and shortages of materials.
Next is the so-called IL-2M, straight duralumin wing, wooden tail, rear gunner''s cockpit as an "addition" (its parts also do not bear the slightest traces of paint), gunner''s canopy of the early-type, part that opens is straight without a windshield. The plane was carrying black and green camouflage and colors are preserved beautifully! Undersides are still shiny! Interior is primed with "zinc-chromate", bomb bay sides are covered with the fabric lined plywood painted in silver. Access covers, gun bay covers and flaps skinning - all made of plywood. All internal surfaces are primed with zinc-chromate of different shades, in places it looks like Russian "aotake". Serial number is preserved on the landing gear doors. No traces of other paints there.
Il-2M3 - Wooden wing consoles and rear fuselage, canopy rail fairings of the late type. All rivets of this aircraft are "flush", unlike the first two Il-2s. Exterior is painted in two layers of mid-green paint (overhauled?). Top layer is much lighter than the original paint. So, here is the fun part! Interior of the plane is again almost unpainted. Those parts which were visible after assembly, were sprayed (sometimes painted with brush) in dark green. All joints were brushed with orange paint. Il-2 fragments from the Finnish museum, from the same period and region, were painted the same way. Inside of the flaps and landing gear doors were painted blue, the colour of the lower surfaces. Landing gear wells and bomb bays are dark green. Silver plywood of bomb bays is again at its place!
