This kit I bought when it was first time released in 1987 (in flat box and with absolutely unusable decals). I decided to buld it OOB with as few modifications as possible (I added only seatbelts and gunsight). The building process was quite easy, but there were some difficulties – especially bottom wing to fuselage and front cowling ring to fuselage joints needed lot filing and sanding which damaged also raised lines of flaps, so I  should rescribe them. I also added new fittings on wing from thin foil. 

From the beginning I knew it would be aircraft of V.I. Popkov  as was used in time of battle of Kursk in 1943. Upper surfaces are airbrushed with Aeromaster Dark Ghost Grey (the gray color probably should be darker, but who knows..), then I handbrushed spots using Revell enamels (british WWII brown and green). Bottom surfaces are airbrushed with Agama light blue. It was my first attempt to use Agama alcohol based color and I was very satisfied with the result – the color runs very well through my old Aerograf airbrush and makes very thin film on model that perfectly covers any color under it.

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Decals were produced by Propagteam, they were very nice and thin, but very translucent. Stars, Gvardia flag and tiger’s head were ok, but when I applied white stripes and number 01, I could see camouflage spots through them. The best solution would be using a pair of decal sheets and apply decals in two layers, but I wanted to finish kit quicky, so I take fine brush and white enamel and repaint decals with another layer of color.

For setting decals I used Future. Panel lines were emphasized with Future lightly tinted black and brown. Final coat is aibrushed Humbrol satin. Exhaust and gunpowder stains were made with black pastel chalk. Anthenas were made from nylon thread painted black. Pictures were taken with Olympus C-2100UZ digital camera.