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1:72 Sikorsky Ilya Muromets, Maquette/scratchbuilt - the beast is back!


Brandy

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I finished cleaning up the wings and tail surfaces this morning. They're not perfect, but I think they're as good as I'm going to get them, and I'm happy with them, so they've been wrapped in kitchen towel and put away until I'm ready to paint everything. 

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 The major problem I had was how to make the complicated rudder pedals and their support frame, especially as I couldn't build them in situ, and I couldn't do them before I put the fuselage together as the floor section was separate from the front spar crossmember, and the pedals are attached to both!
 This problem was resolved for me as the Deperdussin frame had come loose and to refit it I had to get inside....the only solution was surgery....

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This made access easy, but I still had to figure out how to make the frames. I decided to use 0.010" brass rod and started by drilling two holes in the spar and 2 more in the front of the floor. A simple U shape piece was attached to the 2 spar holes, giving me the basic top and sides to the frame, and the front end pieces were attached to the floor and CA'd to the top frame.

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2 simple triangular pieces were then added in the centre of the frame, and the triangle at the ends completed with the addition of a single piece at each end. The pedals themselves were made separately. The frame and pedals have now been painted and when they're dry I'll trim the pedals to size and attach them. 

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Hopefully the nose will be back on by tomorrow evening and I can then continue the finishing of the fuselage ready for painting.

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

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The wings look pretty convincing to me.....But might it be worth laying some of your usual primer down on top of the primer-filler to avoid any change to the appearance of your final paintwork?  :hmmm:

 

Blown away by your metal details.....That's a skill I really would like to develop.  :coolio:

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I actually put the iPad down and gave you a round of applause after catching up with this Ian!:clap2:Magnificent precision and patience.

 

I'd missed out on bids for this kit on a couple of occasions in the past, and am  rather glad I did now that I can get to witness the quality of your work on it. The scale and variety of your improvements definitely make this a masterclass build in Murometrification.

 

There is something irrepressibly Jules Verne-ish about this beast of the air.

 

Keep going with the astonishing!

 

Tony

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Thanks Sarge! It will all get a coat of white before the final colour to ensure the finish is balanced.

P and Martian, many thanks, much appreciated!

Tony, I think that's a first! Many thanks! I must admit I'm having a blast with this one, I love this kind of work. Still not looking forward to the rigging though, or more accurately, drilling all the b..... holes!

Reconciler & k504nz, thanks! It will be an added bonus if any of my techniques get used by others. 

First job today was to complete the fitting of the rudder pedals and replace the nose. that all went without any problems...

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I then decided to take a look at the lower transparency and see what work it needed...the answer, of course, was a lot! This is what came with the kit....

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So, first off, out came the sanding sticks. It was thinned drastically in the inside, and the surface detail on the outside was removed - it was nice and crsp but there weren't enough frame pieces, so they'll be replaced. The micromesh was next and it was polished up inside and out, and finally it was trimmed to fit. This is how it looks now, I don't think I'll get a better fit than that!

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 It's nice to finally use a kit part, albeit highly modified!

The last task for today was to add some more detail up front. I stretched a piece of clear sprue for the bank indicator, added that and then added the central post on the nose.

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Tomorrow will see a start on the side parts of the front windows. The 2 main windows at the front will be left until the end as I want to position them open.

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

Edited by limeypilot
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well, I'm only a couple of years late to the party, but glad to see it's still going strong.

 

Great work on that rudder pedal assembly.   Once again I now found myself drawn to a build of an aircraft I have no interest in.  

 

 

Must be the skills on show or something

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You are doing great things with this Ian. The glazing looked like a huge lump of armoured glass before you set to. What an improvement. I still think building from scratch would have not been much more difficult........!

 

P

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37 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

I think that was a Fox's glacier mint they gave you for that front transparency by mistake Ian.

:lol:

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Looks great! Very nice solution for the ribbing. I have used strips of Solartrim in the past, but nothing like on that scale. The engines look really good too.

 

And looking at this project has finally stopped me whining about how much rigging there was on my Bleriot monoplane!

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On 1/7/2017 at 1:42 PM, pheonix said:

You are doing great things with this Ian. The glazing looked like a huge lump of armoured glass before you set to. What an improvement. I still think building from scratch would have not been much more difficult........!

 

P

You're probably right, but I thought I should at least make use of the few kit parts that are useable - there aren't many!

 

On 1/7/2017 at 2:25 PM, TheBaron said:

I think that was a Fox's glacier mint they gave you for that front transparency by mistake Ian. Nothing stands in your way it seems. :thumbsup2:

Tony

It definitely didn't taste like one.....

 

On 1/7/2017 at 6:05 PM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

That's possibly the most optimistic use of the term 'transparency' that I've ever seen.....When I first saw the part I thought you'd broken a toothbrush to make landing-lights or something similar!  :analintruder:

To be honest, I don't think I'd have started this if I weren't an optimist!

 

On 1/7/2017 at 8:28 PM, AdrianMF said:

Looks great! Very nice solution for the ribbing. I have used strips of Solartrim in the past, but nothing like on that scale. The engines look really good too.

 

And looking at this project has finally stopped me whining about how much rigging there was on my Bleriot monoplane!

I wouldn't recommend this method for normal rib tapes as they're too sharp. I'm trying to get the look of the small wooden batons that were used on many early aircraft to fasten the fabric to the ribs and although it's a huge amount of work I think it's worth it and I'll certainly use it again.

 

Since we're under a blizzard warning here on Cape Cod it's been a good day for modelling. I spent quite a while just doing final tidying up on the fuselage and making sure all the joins were taken care of.  I then added pins on the centre "cabane" sections and another pin at the rear of the upper wing to make sure it all stays together. After that I couldn't resist a first dry fit to see how it all looks and check the angles..... she's a big bird!

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 Then while reviewing pics I realised that there should be 2 small circular windows in the cabin roof. I had noticed them before but thought they weren't on the aircraft I'm modelling....unfortunately they are!

 So I measured out the centres, guesstimating the size and position from the pics, and marked them on a piece of masking tape, then stuck the tape on the cabin and drilled through the marked centres.....

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 The size of the windows was a combination of guesswork, looking at the proportions in the pics, and the fact that I had both 3mm drill bits and a 3mm punch to make the windows! I think they may be slightly too far apart but I'm happy with it, it's certainly not going to be changed now!

Ian

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The improvements in the shape of the thing are becoming quite apparent now. I quite fancy doing the ICM kit of the type although I thin I would keep it OOB. Well, as OOB as I am capable of doing!

 

Martian

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Have to confess I've long had a hankering for a Muromets too.....I just seem to like big Russian things.  B)

 

I think I'll be on safer ground settling for a Pe-8/TB-7 though.....Watching this one take shape is probably about as close to all that rigging as I really want to come!  ;)

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Some masterful work there Ian, I love all the detail that you are cramming in.

My only worry would be the amount of time required to attend therapy sessions after tackling this beast :lol:

 

Cheers

 

John

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20 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Strewth! I hadn't realised until now just what a huge wing span that aircraft had Ian. Those windows look fine from the other side of the Atlantic.:thumbsup2:

Tony

 

Thanks Tony, she is a big beast, no question!

16 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

The improvements in the shape of the thing are becoming quite apparent now. I quite fancy doing the ICM kit of the type although I thin I would keep it OOB. Well, as OOB as I am capable of doing!

 

Martian

The 2 kits are very similar, and both horribly inaccurate. If you just correct the fuselage shape and make a new tail she should look a lot better. Let me know if you decide to do it and I'll send you details of what is needed.

11 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Have to confess I've long had a hankering for a Muromets too.....I just seem to like big Russian things.  B)

 

I think I'll be on safer ground settling for a Pe-8/TB-7 though.....Watching this one take shape is probably about as close to all that rigging as I really want to come!  ;)

Good call!

2 hours ago, pheonix said:

Going great guns Ian. My you do move quickly on your models - and keep evrything to the highest standard into the bargain. Wait until you get to the rigging.....ha, ha!

 

P

I can wait...that will definitely slow me down!

59 minutes ago, Viking said:

Some masterful work there Ian, I love all the detail that you are cramming in.

My only worry would be the amount of time required to attend therapy sessions after tackling this beast :lol:

 

Cheers

 

John

I think the therapy should be administered to anyone who says they want to build one, BEFORE they start! Having said that, if I can pull this off, I shouldn't have any trouble with anything else I decide to build!

 

Ian

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I spent 5 hours today looking through pics, measuring, and marking out the strut locations. I started with the upper wings, aying them on the plans and marking them, then I transferred those measurements to the lower wings. The locations didn't match the walkway positions I'd already added which meant either I would have struts that weren't vertical, or they wing walkways wouldn't be in the right place relative to the struts! After a lot more comparing and thinking, I realised that the fuselage for the sharp-nosed Veh is narrower that that of the blunt-nosed version, which is what the plans are for. Since I had marked up the lower wing walkways from these same plans it meant that they were slightly off. I decided the easiest way out was to mark the lower wing strut positions in the right place by lining up the correct positions with the upper wing, and add 0.5mm strips of plastic card to the inner edge of each lower wing to push it out a little and straighten the struts.

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A lot of time and thought but well worth the effort, wonky struts just won't work!

Ian

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Although I've been quiet for the last week, I have been busy. There's just not much point in posting pics when all I've been doing is cleaning up the joints. This last week has seen a succession of prime, fill, and sand, repeat...more than a couple of times! I finally reached the point where I was happy and got some CDL colour on her over the last couple of days. I have deliberately left the colour a little uneven as I don't want a uniform "painted" look to the linen surfaces. 

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 There's a little touching up needed around the windows and door but not too much as the framework for the windows will cover most of it. The nose section forward of the side windows will be aluminium so that's not an issue either. The next step will be to get the wing walkways painted: wood for the walkways and aluminium under the engines. I'll do the nose and engine bearers at the same time and will start on that tomorrow.
Thanks for looking in!

Ian

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