Author Topic: 1:72 Maquette Ilya Muromets (Read 65661 times)

lone modeller · « **Reply #210 on:** September 03, 2017, 04:01:38 AM »

Lovely jig Ian. I always think that the simpler ones are the best. The engines look super - what an improvement on the kit!

This si going to be one of those builds to remember - more scratch than kit!

Stephen. (von Jigmeister)

IanB · « **Reply #211 on:** September 09, 2017, 11:58:17 AM »

The radiators were causing a little angst. Namely, how to attach the brass rod to the plastic cores. I went out this morning and bought a couple of items to try. the first was a normal glue which turned out to be rubber based and totally useless. the second was this

Very thin double sided plastic sheet. I think it may work! It allows me to attach the brass rod and still be able to adjust it slightly to get everything straight.
Here's the first attempt, not bad, but could be improved...

Actually , I have only just noticed the gaps from looking at the pic, they are not really visible by eye. Hopefully they will stay in place, particularly the edge pieces. I'll leave it a day or two and see how well they have stuck before moving on.

Ian

lone modeller · « **Reply #212 on:** September 11, 2017, 03:34:33 AM »

Ian, do you think that the gaps will be visible when the radiators are mounted on the model? My own opinion would be to see what they look like from a short distance first before spending a huge amount of time trying to get a perfect fit.

Stephen.

xmald · « **Reply #213 on:** September 11, 2017, 03:39:42 AM »

Maybe you can go the easier way and scribe them on a sheet and copy them in resin. Stephen is right, think if the effort is worth it

Great work all around. I thoroughly enjoy your build and I`m glad that you got back to it.

RAGIII · « **Reply #214 on:** September 11, 2017, 05:17:42 AM »

I am sure whatever you decide will look great! waiting for your next update as always!
RAGIII

IanB · « **Reply #215 on:** September 13, 2017, 05:37:59 AM »

I decided to try a suggestion from another forum and solder the ends to ensure they all stayed put, and then realised I know absolutely nothing about soldering. I tried again and again to get some solder to stick to the tops of the brass rods, but all that stuck was little blobs here and there.....

Not very pretty! Then I looked at the other end.....

Oh drat...( not quite the exact words, but you get the idea). It's warped!

So that was left and I went for a pint (or 3).

Yesterday I removed all the brass rods and started to clean up them and straighten them (again). I made another core, then went for another pint. (or 2)

Finally, today I had another shot. I made sure the rods were straight, aligned them all, and then dropped the wrapped core onto them. A few minor adjustments, repeat for the other side, and we have this....

Much better! Now, how to ensure they all stay put...without solder!
Same idea, different medium - CA gel!
This was applied fairly generously to the ends, and will be left until tomorrow before I attempt to even up the rods and finish it off....

I'm happy with that, and will be even happier if it works and I can file the ends level! the next set of brass rods will be cut fractionally shorter to (hopefully) negate the need for the filing!

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

(Off for a pint!)

lcarroll · « **Reply #216 on:** September 13, 2017, 06:51:32 AM »

Ian,

So that was left and I went for a pint (or 3).

"Yesterday I removed all the brass rods and started to clean up them and straighten them (again). I made another core, then went for another pint. (or 2) "

Stop it, I'm laughing so hard my Pacemaker/Defib might activate! Typical Pilot, something goes well, go for a beer; something goes poorly, go for two!! (I can say that as a retired Airframe Driver!)
Seriously, don't give up on soldering, I just finally got it to work for me for the first time........ and in the meantime nice fix with the CA.
Cheers,
Lance

Iancshippee · « **Reply #217 on:** September 13, 2017, 09:27:24 AM »

I've had a few that drove me to a pint or several! I had several "differences of opinion" with my Eduard Sopwith Pup, but we did get there eventually!

RAGIII · « **Reply #218 on:** September 13, 2017, 11:14:04 PM »

Ian, again I am sure you will persevere! As for the Pints, I cant Model at all without a few beers to calm my hands

RAGIII

IanB · « **Reply #219 on:** December 01, 2017, 12:51:12 PM »

Well, nearly 3 months on and another build done, and I'm back on this one again. Every once in a while I need to actually finish something, so this may not be the last installment on this build!
Whilst working on the radiators I paid a little more attention to trying to work out how they were mounted. That resulted in the realisation that the lower end was attached to the engine mounts - not possible with the way they were on the model! They should extend further aft and have a curved upper rear edge, as confirmed by photos. So, that left only one option, remove the engines and mounts, make new mounts, and refit it all.

I managed to remove everything without any damage - a feat in itself!

I then used the existing mounts to mark out the basics for a template, which I tweaked as necessary, and used that to mark out the replacements.

Repeat, cut out, sand, group together, sand to get them all the same (it sounds easy when you say it quickly!), repeat...etc...

and finally I had 8 new mounts as identical as I could possibly get them....

I now need to file off part of the top at the front of 4 of them to let in a small square section rod to extend the top for the inner engines which were mounted slightly further forward..... then they need to be painted and refitted and I'll be back to where I left it 3 months ago!

Ian

Des · « **Reply #220 on:** December 01, 2017, 01:57:41 PM »

Great to see you back on this build Ian, looking forward to seeing more updates.

Des.

IanB · « **Reply #221 on:** December 02, 2017, 08:19:49 AM »

Thanks Des! Unfortunately one of the drawbacks of letting a build sit for a while (apart from forgetting all the details you'd worked out..) is that sometimes when you come back to it, some areas jump out at you as "below standard" when you'd thought they were ok! (At least for me, and particularly with this build!). Consequently the first few posts are going to deal mainly with upgrading what I'd already done. I few things - apart from the engine bearers, need attention. The most serious was the lower wing rear mounting pin. The wings on the Muromets don't have backstagger, they are a rectangular section, but mounted at such an angle that they look to be staggered backwards. They didn't look quite right when I dry fitted them so I measured everything again and found that the rear pin for the lower wing was 1mm too high, so the angle of the lower wing was wrong. I thought about it for a while and decided a) it had to be corrected, and b) I couldn't pull the pin out for fear of disturbing detail inside the fuselage. So I bit the bullet and snipped the ends off! I redrilled immediately below the pin and as luck would have it, a .020" brass rod slipped easily right through the fuselage. It's slightly narrower than the original pin but should work ok.

You can just see on that pic the snipped end of the original pin. You can also see the second issue I had - the terrible fit of the mechanics access panel to the wing! I applied PPP to both sides and will rescribe the panels later! The main cabin door also needed attention so PPP was also applied there.

The underside has been giving me problems for a while due to the method I used to fit it (inlaying the floor instead of butting it up against the fuselage sides from underneath). This keeps resulting in the joint popping apart as it's handled. I think the best solution here is to add a sheet of .005" card to cover the whole underside.

Finally today, as I was thinking about painting the engine bearers, I decided I would get the props ready for painting too, and then also decided that since I will be needing the struts soon, I might as well get those done. So I spent a couple of hours cutting them (all 24 of them!) from .020" x .060" rod, then paring the corners to round them off. That's all done, fortunately the struts are very simple staright ones, so all that needs doing now is adding the pins and painting them...

Ian

Softscience · « **Reply #222 on:** December 05, 2017, 05:39:58 AM »

Way to persevere. This model looks like a nightmare. Great ugly beast of an aircraft like that deserves to be modeled though. I hope you keep going. I'm watching closely.

lone modeller · « **Reply #223 on:** December 06, 2017, 04:38:16 AM »

Good to see this is back Ian. I'll bet you enjoyed making thise struts!

Stephen.

RAGIII · « **Reply #224 on:** December 07, 2017, 01:13:08 AM »

Like the others I am glad to see you back on this one. It looks like you are sorting out all of the small issues you have discovered since the Sidelining of this build. I am looking forward to your next update!
RAGIII