Sikorskiy "Ilya Muromets" type B
Comments
Tony TonovGreat looking model, congrats!
I sincerely admire the people who dare working on airplanes of that era in 1:72 scale. Especially this fragile giant demands even more care with all the rigging and huge size.
Respect!
JohnAbsolutely amazing build Andrey, great work on a difficult kit.
Thought about building this kit a couple of times, couldn't muster the courage, finally sold it.
NeilI think Neuling just summed it up! Your fantastic build just stopped me in my (scrolling) tracks! 👍
Andrey BaranovHi guys! Thank you. To be honest, I am surprised by this complimentary feedback. This kit made me angry and added so much white color to my hair...
Thank you once more
Alec KExcellent work. I think that most great builds take a bite out of the modeler 😉
MariusMy eyes got entangled in all that cable work there. Congratulations on the beautiful result, so much work there!
But what an odd design of an aircraft. That huge winspan was complex for it's time, probably suffering under excessive bending and issues with cable tension for the ailerons.
CarloCongratulations on a wonderful result, it may even tempt me to buy a kit next time I see one online..... maybe !!!
Dave FlittonWow! How many years did it take to build this monster? It looks great!!
Andrey BaranovIt took about 13 months... with no other projects during this time
Album info
This model was initially released by Marquette in 1996, and for a long time had no alternatives. Many reviews said that it's plastic was white or gray; I was unlucky to discover the dark brown sprues in the box.
Their quality was terrible. The wing struts were badly casted; I throwed them out immediately. "Transparent" parts weren't really transparent. I sent them to the garbage too, along with almost all other little parts.
After the drawings check, it turned out that the fuselage is too narrow and needs widening by 0.1 inch. Being inspected more precise, I found out that the Argus engines and the pilots compartment interior elements could not be used too...
I started my work with the interior as always.
I did everything carefully, but without fanaticism. Since nothing is visible in the tail section, I limited the interior upgrade for that side only to the machine gun hatch. I replaced the pilot's seat with photo-etched one (by Eduard); cut through the door on the starboard side (some "Muromets" had such a door, so it could also be on "No. 151").
The triangular upper hatch was mistakenly inverted in the sprue. So I had to close it up with a patch, and then cut it through in right direction. Additionally, trapezoidal hatches were made for wing access.
All the glazing was ruthlessly thrown away. I cut flat glass from packaging PET, and made a set of punches with matrices for the nose, squeezed out the necessary parts and adjusted them in place. Additionally, I drilled holes in the imitation of the cabin ceiling and inserted "portholes" made with the help of a punch from the same PET.
To correct the excessively narrow fuselage, polystyrene inserts had to be made (thanks to Evergreen). Alas, I couldn't fully fix the twist of the tail.
I drilled the guides for the spar in the fuselage; then I was glad of my foresight many times. The wings were installed not only on glue, as the instructions suggest, but also on a metal spar, which significantly strengthened the construction.
Before assembling the wings I preshaded the translucency of the textile skin; dark bones from below and light bones in upper part.
The ailerons and elevators were mounted on wire pins with a diameter of 0.1 inch, which allows them to be given the desired deflection angle. On the lower wings, I made wooden paths on which the flight technician walked. Then I docked and glued all three parts of the upper wing. If you do not do this now, then it will be impossible to bring the wing to the horizontal.
The Argus engine housings are cast in resin. Radiators, exhaust pipes, cooling system tubes are homemade.
Having installed the engines, I began to work on the struts. There are A LOT of them here. I decided to make them out of wooden toothpicks. And then – a surprise! - it turned out that they should all be of different lengths, because the seat points "walking" in depth. I will only say that I had to make three complete sets of struts.
Mounting a biplane box with such a huge upper wing is the real quest. It took me several days, and at least twice I started all over again.
I slightly modified the chassis. And – began to wiring. I used my favorite technology (elastic wire, an ear stick tube stretched over the fire and superglue). It took about ten days to complete the wiring.
Coloring. All the linen parts are light gray with a yellowish tinge. All wooden parts are basic yellow acrylic + oil paint for wood texture.
Armament. Homemade "Madsen" (spigot + syringe tube), "Lewis" (left over from the S.E.5 model) and photo-etched "Maxim".
In total, this build took about a year. I can't say that everything I made the way I wanted, but I feel no shame to put this model on the shelf.
