This article originally appeared in the December 1999 issue of Internet Modeler.
ICM 1/72 Sikorsky
Il'ya Muromets
WW1 Four-engined Bomber
By Michael Kendix
Introduction
The name "Il'ya Muromets" derives from a Russian legendary folk hero who counts the single handed destruction of the Tartar Army among his great feats. Igor Sikorsky, no less an over-achiever, designed the Il'ya Muromets aeroplane, a massive World War One bomber, the largest four-engined aeroplane in the world, able to carry a significant bomb load and to engage in long distance reconnaissance missions. The Il'ya's record in World War One was excellent, apparently only three were lost, and they accounted for a fair number of enemy planes shot down, aside from the bombs dropped. The name "Il'ya Muromets" refers to a class of aeroplane (Woodman, Airfix Magazine, May 1985, p.352) of which the 'Veh' was one type; that which the ICM most resembles. Other types included the A, B and the G series. First built in 1913, the RBVZ production plant stepped up production when war broke out. In February 1915 the Eskadra Vozdushnykh (Air Ships Squadron) was formed, and the type 'Veh' appeared shortly thereafter. Production of these aeroplanes continued throughout the war and into the Soviet era. The "Il'ya Muromets" aeroplane itself became a legend, and its design and achievements are a true landmark in aviation history.
Overview
The kit comprises no fewer than nine sprues of material, including one
containing six clear parts; a daunting amount of plastic. Most of the
parts, especially the smaller pieces, require a considerable amount of
cleaning up due to flash material and an oily coating on the surface;
possibly a mold-releasing agent, which meant I had to clean the kit thoroughly.
Once the cleaning is completed, however, most of the parts are well detailed,
although the overall model itself contains several inaccuracies that have
been dealt with in prior publications (Woodman in Windsock, and Internet
Modeler review by me). Many variants of this aeroplane were built, each
with their own fuselage shapes, tail construction and engine configuration.
As I explained in an earlier edition of Internet Modeler, correcting Harry
Woodman's list of inaccuracies would require scratchbuilding some of the
main parts, including the fuselage. Although I was able to make a few
corrections recommended by Mr. Woodman, my limited skill and time constraints
did not permit me to deal with all the kit's shortcomings. Another issue
is that without the most substantial conversion, the kit can really only
be built as number 150 or 151. I chose to build it as 150, since I had
a few photographs of that machine and it presented the easiest option;
even then, several inaccuracies remain.
The Engines
The engine parts are one of the kit's highlights and, according to Harry
Woodman, a fairly accurate rendition of the Argus engines used by the
Il'ya. I began sanding and cleaning the engine parts on sprue (E). I painted
the engines Engine Grey, then I drybrushed them with Gun Metal, Burnt
Aluminum, Brown Violet and finally Aluminum; the latter on the raised
surfaces. The engines fit together well, although care needs to be taken
when assembling some of the smaller parts; for example, the six exhausts
on each engine need to carefully aligned. The radiators were also painted
at this point using gun metal, and brass and aluminium for the edges and
bands. Before adhering any of the engine pipes, I was careful to drill
holes at the point of contact and dry fit each component to ensure that
the parts went in correctly. After assembly, all four engines were set
aside to await the construction of the fuselage and lower wing. Note that
the kit provides eight engine shields but they should only be used on
the port side, so you have four spare. Another inaccuracy of this kit
is that the two engines closest to the fuselage should be further forward
than the outer engines. I chose not to engage in what might have been
a major 
correction task to fix one of the kit's lesser problems.
The fuel tanks in the kit are supposed to sit atop the front part of the fuselage under the top wing, however, they are too wide in circumference to permit the diagonal rigging to go through the space between the fuselage and the top wing. I used plastic tube, cut off the ends of the kit's fuel tanks, sanded the ends down to reduce their circumference and glued them to the thinner plastic tubes. These were painted Brass, and paper bands painted Aluminium were stuck around the tanks at one-third intervals.
The propellers were painted Leather and then drybrushed with various browns, black and grey to give a wood grain effect; the centres of the propellers were painted Silver.
The Fuselage and Cabin Interior
According to Harry Woodman, and all the pictures I looked at, the attractive fuselage cross-bracing on the kit is incorrect since the fabric skinning is absolutely smooth. The first task before assembling the fuselage was to remove this diagonal cross bracing. Following this I sprayed the interior of the fuselage Dirty White, which I used as CDL (Clear Doped Linen) in this kit.
The Il'ya Muromets had an enclosed cabin and the kit contains a fair amount
of interior detail including seat, steering wheel, bombs, fire extinguisher,
instrument panels and various table surfaces. Unfortunately, the kit's
instructions would have the builder adhere these items directly to the
fuselage belly; there is no interior flooring. My first task with respect
to the cabin interior, therefore, was to construct a floor with a wood-like
appearance. This was done using thin plastic card and fitting it from
the window opening in the front to the rear wall (part A3). The floor
was painted Sand and then drybrushed with various browns, greys and blacks
to give a woodgrain appearance. It was also necessary to cut out a rectangular
hole in this floor on the starboard side, where there is a window. The
various interior parts were then painted and adhered into position. I
attempted to make a decent job of this, especially in the front of the
cabin since there is a large window on the 'chin' of the fuselage and
numerous other windows on the sides. The interior of the fuselage contains
molded-on formers and longerons that were painted a wood colour; other
struts were added to the interior using plastic rod. Dale Beamish kindly
provided some Aeromaster wood grain decal, which I used to cover the cabin
door.
The port fuselage half had a distinct warp that caused the underside to
curve inward giving it a mildly concave surface near the front. Not wishing
to risk the 'Plastic in Hot Water Treatment', I glued the fuselage halves
together using brute force. I attempted to coat this concave warp with
a thin plastic skin but the result was not successful. I ended up using
as much Squadron White putty and super glue as I could lay on the surface
to fill it in; the flaw remained but it was reduced somewhat. Half a tube
of CA and putty later, the fuselage was smoothed out and the join made
invisible. Note that according to Harry Woodman's review of this kit,
the upper rear gun position is fictitious, so this was covered over with
the plastic kit part and sanded flat. At this point, the instructions
would have you put the clear parts into the fuselage. This can be done,
but they should be masked. I preferred to wait until the model was virtually
complete. One exception are the windows either side between the wings;
these have to be done prior to rigging since they will be inaccessible
thereafter.
Wings and tail parts
The wings' surfaces are one of the kit's highlights, especially on the
lower wing, which has raised surfaces for the plywood foot panels. The
ribbing, however, is subtle and while they show up fairly well 'in the
flesh', so to speak, it is difficult to capture them well in a photograph.
Ideally, one should use some sort of weathering and highlighting technique
on the ribbing to bring these out. My skills are, unfortunately, somewhat
lacking in this area. The lower wing had a number of molding flaws on
its undersurface that I did my best to fill and correct, although I was
only partially successful. This was then glued to the fuselage.
The tail parts came in for significant criticism from Harry Woodman. Although
he says the rudders and vertical tail piece as incorrect, they were not
too undersized compared to his drawings. The forward part of the horizontal
tail was more than one-third too short in chord. At first, I attempted
to correct this by adding a strip of plastic card, however, this was unsatisfactory.
I found it far simpler to replace the entire part using 2 mm plastic card.
I placed two number eleven X-acto blades in the X-acto holder and scored
the tail parts to create the ribs. I then sanded these down until they
were barely visible. I also re-scored the struts that showed thorough
the fuselage skin; these had been removed during the extensive sanding-and-filling
phase. The horizontal tail was attached by gluing two small pieces of
plastic rod into the inner edge each of the scratchbuilt horizontal tail
parts, and corresponding holes were drilled into the sides of the rear
fuselage. The centre rudder was then attached. After stuffing small pieces
of Kleenex tissue paper into the windows, the assembly was painted Dirty
White. The same colour was applied to the 
other tail parts and the upper wing.
The lower wing's upper surface has raised parts that, according to Harry Woodman's drawings, are wood. These parts support the engines and were painted and dry-brushed (see above) to give a wood grain effect, and similarly for the wooden engine mountings. The engines were then mounted onto the wing.
The top wing
Each side contains twelve interplane struts. Instead of cabane struts,
there are two solid vertical supports on either side of the top of the
fuselage. The upper wing comes in three parts; the port and starboard
wings, and a central connecting piece. I opted to attach the central piece
first, which connects to the supports on top of the fuselage. The wings
were then attached in turn. Unfortunately, I could not do this without
there being an unequal gap for 
each strut. Unless the wing is adhered at precisely the correct angle,
unequal gaps will occur. This is a problem on any biplane kit but is obviously
exacerbated by the size of this kit. Each side's wing is approximately
19 cm, so an error of one degree can result in a difference of 3.3 mm
(3.3 = 19 x tan(1)). I found the struts that needed to be the longest
and attached them first. I then proceeded to glue the rest of the struts,
trimming them as necessary. The outer diagonal sloped struts were glued
on after all the other struts were in place.
Landing gear
The landing gear is nicely detailed, however, the wheels are incorrect,
according to Harry Woodman's review. I chose to ignore this problem, although
it can be solved by using the wheels from the Maquette Ilya Muromets kit.
Naturally, this presents another problem; namely, what to do with the
Maquette kit minus its wheels, and possibly its fuel tanks, which can
also be used to replace those in the ICM kit. My only problem in assembling
the landing gear was the fragile attachments that hold the rigging in
place above the wheels. They are gossamer-thin and I broke them both at
various stages of construction. Fortunately, they are situated in a position
that is not easily viewed.
The tailskid is about 1.5 cm too small but it was straightforward to scratchbuild a new piece from 2 mm card. The remaining parts were added without too much difficulty, including the frame on top of the rear fuselage, just in front of the tail.
At this point the entire kit was covered with Future floor enamel to provide some protection and prepare the surface for the decals.
Decals
According to Harry Woodman (I keep using that phrase!), only the Imperial
Russian decals are correct for the 150, which is the version that the
kit resembles most. When I built my first ICM Il'ya, the decals disintegrated
in the water. That may have been due to an error on my part, but this
time I took a more cautious approach. I cut out one of the decals I was
not going to use (a Ukrainian emblem) and tested it; it was fine, and
I even salvaged it by putting it back on the backing paper. Using a combination
of Micro Sol, which softens and allows you to slide the decals, and Micro
Set, which dissolves the decal film - leaving only the decal colours -
the decals went on well.
Rigging
The rigging on this subject is going to make or break the model. Use the
method that you prefer; I used straight .005" stainless steel wire from
SmallParts. Whereas it is more difficult to use this for interplane rigging,
it is easier to use this material for the tail, landing gear and aileron
rigging. This time, I used Elmers glue rather than super glue. Elmers
has the disadvantage of not being quite as strong but it has some great
advantages; primarily, if you make a mistake and get some glue on the
paint work, it comes off with water and a cotton bud. This stands in contrast
to super glue, the removal of which requires sanding and probably repainting.
Elmers also has greater sheer strength; its rubbery end-state allows it
to absorb shocks and knocks without sheering off, and it dries clear and
any excess can easily be removed with water. Finally, Elmers is cheap
and safe; you can leave a blob of it on a piece of paper and not worry
about the kit touching it or your 5-year old dipping his finger in it.
Finale
The kit was then covered with a clear Aeromaster water-based acrylic coat; half semi-gloss and half flat. Finally, the windows were installed, except for those between the wings on the fuselage sides. The latter would have been impossible to install after the interplane rigging and were, therefore, covered with Parafilm to protect them from the final clear coating process. The clear parts fit tolerably well, although some sanding of the edges was required for a snug fit.
It would be most helpful for a builder to have a few decent references
when building this kit. In particular, any drawings by Harry Woodman are
invaluable, as are the pictures to be found in the Armada book. The rigging
would have been almost impossible without these sources since the diagrams
in the kit provide severe eye-strain potential. Building this kit is a
project probably best drawn out and savoured over several months, possibly
being completed simultaneously with one or two less ambitious projects.
Regardless, the end-product is most unusual and pleasing. I recommend
this kit to those modellers who enjoy a challenge and who are not put
off by various inaccuracies. Such persons will find this a rewarding and
enjoyable experience.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to several people who helped me with advice, encouragement and sources of information. Steve Perry was more than helpful; I copied loads of his ideas and did not do half as good a job. His truly amazing ICM Il'ya can be seen on his website . I would also like to thank Dale Beamish, Matt Bittner, Bob Pearson, and Dennis Ugulano. Also, many thanks to Barry Stettler of Rosemont Hobby Shop for providing the kit.
References
- Harry Woodman. "Ilya Muromets type 'B' of WW1." Airfix Magazine, May 1985, pages 351-358.
- Harry Woodman. "The Big Il'ya." A three part series in Windsock Magazine, 1990, vol.6, nos. 3, 4 and 5.
- Harry Woodman. "The Maquette Kit of the Il'ya Muromets in 1:72 Scale." Windsock International, vol.12, no.2, March/April 1996, pages 8-10.
- Harry Woodman. "ICM's Ilya Muromets." Windsock International, vol.14, no.4, July/August 1998, pages 22-23.
- Ilya Muromets, published by Armada, 1998.