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

[Col.]

Great work 

[hendie]

whoever thought this stood a chance of staying together in the air ?

[Brandy]

It had a lifting tail too, which apparently made it pretty tricky to land...pull the power back and the tail drops!

 Having said that, bear in mind it was based on a 1912 design which had a heated cabin and a toilet, and the outer vertical tail surfaces were aerofoil sections to give sideways "lift" from the operating engines should those on the other side fail, to help keep it straight!

It was flown by Sikorsky himself with 2 engines shut down, and flew in 1913 with 16 people on board!

It was actually very advanced despite its looks!

 

Ian

[JOCKNEY]

Amazing job Ian. 

 

I don't envy the rigging but am delighted to be learning so much on your build, keep up the good work, we are all right behind you. 

 

Cheers Pat

[pheonix]

Interesting update. It is becoming clear now just how big this model is - and very interesting threasd to follow too. Keep up the good work.

 

P

[Brandy]

On 1/17/2017 at 7:24 PM, JOCKNEY said:

Amazing job Ian. 

 

I don't envy the rigging but am delighted to be learning so much on your build, keep up the good work, we are all right behind you. 

 

Cheers Pat

Cheers Pat, I'm slowly putting together a "plan" for the rigging as I go. It's still going to be tricky, but would be impossible without one!

Thanks P, it is indeed a biggie! It will be going in my home-made coffee-table display case!

 

Not much to report for this week's work as it took 3 or 4 attempts to get the woodwork right and of course, after each failed attempt I had to repaint and wait for it to dry before going any further! However, it is now done, although apparently my masking skills could use a little improvement!

I'll leave that to harden properly before masking for the aluminium areas under the engines, the nose, and the tops of the engine bearers. So due to work schedules, it will be midweek before any further progress is made.

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

[pheonix]

I think your masking skills are just fine Ian. A little touching in is what most of us have to do any nobody notices afterwards......except us!

 

P

[Brandy]

Thanks P! Unfortunately I seem to have missed the masking tape completely in a couple of places.....I could understand if I'd sprayed them, but when they're brush painted I don't have much in the way of excuses - just careless!

 

I got the aluminium done over the last couple of days and I'm pleased with how it's turned out. I wasn't sure exactly where the demarcation line was between the  panels and the fabric, so I took a best guess based on the 2 or 3 pics in the datafile special that show what look like rivet lines. 

Unfortunately, after all the trouble I had getting the woodwork right, the masking removed a couple of edges on one wing so I've had to carefully touch those in. They still need a coat of clear orange which should help to hide them, and if they're still too visible, a little dirt may come in handy!

So here are the lower wings, engine bearers, and cockpit section with just a little touching up to do.....

 The mechanics access panels may also need a little tidying up with a scriber. I think I should have just scribed them instead of trying to cut them out and fit panels separately.

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

[pheonix]

Ah that's much better!

 

P

[Brandy]

Thanks P!

 It seems that most of the time I spend at the bench on this one is spent trying to figure what the best order of construction is. I'll decide to do a particular area next, then look again next time I sit down, and decide it would be better to do something else! The result this time is that the windows have been fitted. They were cut from 0.010" clear sheet using a scalpel and sharp scissors. The pairs of windows next to the pilot are one piece, scored with the scalpel, then bent to the correct angle to fit. Once I'd got them the right size and made sure they fitted ok, I added ordinary glue to the window opening with a toothpick and dropped them into place. Once the glue dried, I sealed any small gaps with Mr Dissolved Putty. I also decided I liked the look of it with the front windows open, so they'll be left off for now and installed near the end.

 The round roof windows have also been added since the pics. I now have to decide how to do the frames on the side windows. I'm leaning towards printing up decals and using those as I don't think I could cut .005" sheet accurately enough 4 times for it to look right, and I'm not sure I could get it stuck cleanly and firmly in place even if I could!  Oh, and don't worry about the ugly double scribing at the bottom of the engineers access panel - they were rescribed using the wing as a guide, so the bottom part won't show as it's hidden by the wing when fitted!

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

[Martian]

Looks great, I love the open windows!

 

Martian

[pheonix]

I think that scribing and fitting acetate for anything, but particularly small windows, is one of the hardest things I have had to do. Yours look super, especially the open ones. I agree to that trying to cut 0.005 sheet to make frames is probably a step too far - and unless someone looks with a magnifying glass I doubt whether they would notice....and if they do let them show you how to do it better!!

 

P

[clive_t]

I too am following this one with great interest.

[TheBaron]

This just gets better and better. Lovely work - especially the glasswork and woodwork!

 

There's a drawing in Norman Polmar's  Spyplanes of crew members clambering out onto the wing of one of these to put out a burning engine in flight - so much about this aircraft is mad!

 

Tony

[AdrianMF]

Putting out burning engines in flight? That's what got Sgt James Allen Ward a VC thirty years on, over hostile skies and a lot faster.

 

Fantastic build. Transfer sheet is the way to go for frames, and is possibly more in scale than sheet!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[greggles.w]

Well, a belated discovery for me, this compelling thread & this amazing machine!

 

Like Hendie said, it's not the sort of machine I would naturally gravitate to, but now I've caught up with your work to date, I am now hooked in. Following along if you don't mind ..

[Brandy]

On Mon Jan 30 2017 at 5:55 PM, Martian Hale said:

Looks great, I love the open windows!

 

Martian

Thanks Martian, I think they will add a little something extra.....like this thing needs "extra" anything.....

 

P, Tony, Adrian, many thanks! I did use decal sheet for the nose, but masked and painted the side windows. Pics to follow as I'm in t'pub enjoying a beer and typing this on my phone...(the damn predictive text changed that to "into public enjoying"....I do wonder about these techy people sometimes).

 

Greg and Clive, welcome aboard!

Modelling insanity is not required just to watch......

 

I have also started on the national markings as I want to paint those on before assembly. Have a fun evening folks!

[AdrianMF]

7 minutes ago, limeypilot said:

enjoying a beer

 

I think you've earned it...

[Brandy]

 As mentioned above, the side window frames have now been masked and painted, and the nose frames added with strips of painted decal paper. I think they're a little thick, but they're about as thin as I can get them so they'll have to do. Here are the promised pics!

 I have also now painted the national insignia as I wanted them done before adding the wings and making everything much more fragile!

The blue is Tamiya Sky Blue, I think it works quite well! I should have masked the red areas on the roundels when I srayed the blue though, as the red is now much darker than the fuselage, which was all masked off and had a white base coat instead of blue overspray as was the case on the wings. Lesson learned!
 There's a little touching up needed on the wing roundels, and some clean up of a little overspray (more careless spraying on my part), but I'm very happy with how the fuselage pennants have turned out. I used clear plastic masking sheet for the roundels and I won't use it again. It's very stiff and won't conform to the surface well, or stick down properly. Next time I'll just use basic masking tape.

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

[manuel]

Great job.

There is one in the stash waiting but I'm unsure I have your talent and patience.

Best regards

 

Manuel

[hendie]

nice job on the windows - it works really well. And as for the insignia... well, I can't see much of a difference in the color

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I'd agree with hendie, the difference isn't very noticeable and once the thing is assembled the fuselage will usually be in partial shade while the wings will be lit.....So I'd be willing to bet the difference will vanish completely in the final photos. 

[pheonix]

I agree with Sgt Squarehead and Hendie - a blind man would like to see the colour differences. I scribe and circles with dividers and then  hand paint my roundels - slower but in my opinion easier.

 

P

[Brandy]

Thanks gents! The red is quite a bit darker on the wings but, as mentioned, the light should take care of it! 

 

I have added a little texture to the fuselage with pastels, just enough to break up the single colour without being obvious, and give it a faint dirty look. I'm happy with it.

 That marks the end of the "easy" stuff.........

I decided to do the fuel tanks next. I will build them, attach them to the cabane strut side panels, then fit them as a unit to the fuselage. Then I'll rig them and the centre section before moving on to the next step. I started off by marking the positions then making a template to drill holes for mounting pins. I'll pin the tanks to the panels with .010" brass rod to give them a little more strength and ensure they are positioned correctly. 

Here they are on a dry fit. I think the rear may be a tad too low to allow for the cross bracing, so I'll check that tomorrow.

 If they need adjusting I'll do that then start on the detailing. Fillers have already been added, I need to add mounting straps and braces, vents, and some rudimentary fuel level guages (at least that's what I think they are!)

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

[TheBaron]

It must have been so relaxing to fly along with those great fuel tanks mere inches above your head!

 

This is shaping up beautifully Ian. I'd gone back over some of your earlier posts in this thread must to make sure I hadn't missed any of the detail. Those insignia look damn fine to me. I know what you mean about the inflexibility of plastic sheet for masking - I'd tried it once before on camouflaging a Swordfish and found it a battle to get it to conform to contours at all. The low-tack tape I was using earlier was a doddle by comparison.

 

Splendid stuff. 

 

Tony