Wings of Intent

Some of you maybe familiar with the mechanics of this blog. Usually a step-by-step building article is posted containing references and abundant photos of the process, often with links to sources, then the completed model. Well, I left my laptop in a remote location and will take some time to recover it, and that building article with plenty of information is in it. So for the time being I will present you the completed model.

May this be a small (pun not intended) homage to John Adams of Aeroclub fame, who has provided to me and others many hours of joy, together with other vacuform kit manufacturers like Lars Opland of Khee-Kha fame, Mike Herril of Execuform, Gordon Stevens of Rareplane, and so many others. This is one of John's early vacs, quite simple, but can still be built into a respectable model with some TLC.

The photo below, taken from the Net (explanation given at the top, my photos are for the moment inaccessible) shows the kit -minus it's white metal parts (prop and landing gear):

I opened the air intake and added a mock engine, new flaps, flap supports, linkages, new interior (seats, control columns, "instruments", rudder bars), Pitot, beacons, antenna, wind-driven generator, Venturi and door handles. The decals used are leftovers from this KP Miles M.38 kit that I have built some time ago (I just added the walkways):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/11/miles-m38-messenger-kp-172nd.html

This vintage Aeroclub model was fun to build, and this time of model helps you hone your skills and work out solutions that later can be applied to mainstream kits.

Nothing like a touch of vintage, eh John?

If you like vacs, or would like to like them, this blog have dozens of them, many built together with their injected counterparts. There is much to enjoy and learn from this hands-on medium.

Cute little thing:

Any experienced modeler knows that there are kits and kits, but modelers and manufacturers are mainly used to more or less conventional parts breakdown and engineering, with the odd unconventional take here and there. Sometimes these different approaches work, sometimes they just seem to hinder more than helping. Kits are mainly similar, but that’s just on the surface. The differences deepen considerably when kits are not just eye candy, attic insulation or are being stroked whispering “my precioussss”, but actually built. Take the “in box” reviews with more than a pinch of salt, even more so when the reviewers -or the site they post on- depend on kit samples or sponsoring. Building them is how kits’ true soul is revealed. Modelers sometimes marvel at how some old kits are better than new kits, when logic would dictate the opposite. Even kits produced roughly in the same timeframe -that have access to the same technologies and aware of the state of the hobby evolution- are sometimes worlds apart. This long exordium was just to present an unusual modeling case (not unique, but rare enough): that of Revell’s Ilyushin Il-4 (Revell spells it “Iljuschin” in Geman).

Here I am afraid I have to make another digression: very few know that in the country of Volkania, in Marzipan Province, lies the lair of Evil Genius Zönke Schulz. From his untervolkano secret vaults and dungeons, he used to send some equally evil kits to torment me, as he knows I can’t resist build them. The list of spawns that he bestowed upon me and I have built would be too long, and those kits made for more than one Horrible Dark and Stormy Hobby Night... they are all posted on this blog. So let’s just deal with the one at hand, this Revell kit, the has obscure origins according to Scalemates: starting around 1990 it was produced -if I understood correctly- by VEB Plasticart, and besides Revell it’s been released by other brands like Reifra and Master Modell.

Why am I interested in this relatively old kit? Two reasons: its unusual engineering and detail, and the fact that (as I don’t build military models) it can be converted to an earlier DB-3 that performed remarkable flights, among them one from Moscow to New York (more on that later) for the 1939 World Fair. In fact there were two of them used for records and high-profile flights; the other was named “Ukraine”. Speaking of Ukraine (I know, third digression, but humor me) as I was looking for this very kit the I hid in horror from myself in my own dungeons after its arrival from Volkania, I found these other two that I bought long ago from Ukraine, you know, when we liked and helped Ukraine, before President Stupid and his pathetically incompetent entourage

You can see how nice the Ukrainians are (notice the cards, the souvenir currency bills, the candy, the coupons); how polite, how educated, unlike President Moron and his completely stupid wars costing American lives and spending tons of money that could help his own people. Sigh…

Anyway, as mentioned before, the kit has some unusual engineering and quite detailed parts for its age, including a reasonably depicted interior and deployable flaps. And look at the molding, barely any flash even in the smallest parts (and there are plenty of those). As explained above, Master Marzipan dutifully and painfully erased all raised panel lines, depriving me in the process of a guide to trace the engraved ones. As said, he wants to psychologically destabilize me:

There is some internal structure detail:

A number of small parts are cleanly molded:

Reasonably clear transparencies:

The bonga-bonga bits that go into the "someday these may be converted into something more useful" bin:

Regarding the conversion, there is some material online about the two “civil” DB-3s, both red overall. One had “Moskva” in bold Cyrillic characters under the wing, and the other had “Ukraine” under the wing and on the nose. “Moskva” remaining parts show bright red for most of the plane and a dark, burgundy red/maroon for the nacelles. The sister plane, “Ukraine”, had a similar, but not identical scheme, reputedly with blue cowls.

The Moscow-New York flight was cut short for technical and meteorological reasons and ended up doing a rough landing in Miscou Island, New Brunswick, Canada. Pilots were shaken but ok. An account (containing detailed, but not always relevant or pertinent information) of the deed can be found starting on page 3 of this PDF:

https://atlanticcanadaaviationmuseum.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/nov20021.pdf

But I am choosing “Ukraine”, as I like the idea of Russia honoring Ukraine, before wannabe dictator (and President Stupid’s pal) Pooteen attacked and invaded it.

For the conversion the labor starts by gathering as much references as possible and play the “Game of the 100 differences” comparing the kit and the photos of the desired plane. The changes here centered mostly on completely deleting military features, filling the turret position, removing and making a new different nose, ream-off the fans from the cowls’ faces, modifying the cowls surface detail, removing details on the nacelles and wing not present in the intended plane, and depict details like Pitot, antennas, etc, accurately. It is known that the plane had long distance fuel tanks added, but precisely how or where it could not be ascertained. In any case the cockpit bulkhead seals the fuselage, and the new nose will have the position for the second man as shown in photos. The fuselage needs to be rounded a bit as the upper section has shoulders molded on it that shouldn’t be there. This may necessitate packing the inside corners with a small cord of Milliput to add material and support. The recess under the kit’s tail to lodge the tailwheel is faired over in this plane.

It should be pointed out that there is another Ilyushin Il-4 kit by Mister Craft, a different mold that simplifies some of the engineering -compared to the Revell kit- and then proceeds to complicate it in a different way separating the wing in awkward sections that make no sense. Go figure.

This Revell kit has a horrible fame regarding fit, and looking at the engineering there is no mystery as to why it is so. The mere parts' awkward breakdown is a harbinger of disaster.

Even Revell's own kit box photos show the fit gaps:

To help with the necessary nose replacement I acquired a VP Canada vac kit that has the two nose options, Il-4 and DB-3. We will see to what degree the new vac nose can be grafted to the Revell kit. As the VP kit as explained has the noses of both types, it will still remain a viable Il-4 kit for some other modeler.

So... as Gimli rightly expressed:

The nose section of these three parts needs to be separated (the forward pilot position just for convenience to be able to work that area unhindered, it will be re-glued to the other section later):

Assembly of some minor parts starts. The joystick of the second pilot is drilled through to render a better handle. The landing gear on the record versions was slightly different, but here the legs are left alone to avoid weakening them :

Very carefully, the tick landing gear doors are thinned down from inside with a drum sander and rotary tool:

The inaccurate "shoulders" on the fuselage top are sanded down to a more constant curve shape:

Some of the raised panel lines that were obliterated could have resulted useful if left:

Some of the other projects being built in parallel:

The VP Canada Vac arrived! It's a really nice vac kit, with recessed panel lines, plenty of detail, and 3 options (not two as I initially thought). BUT: the transparencies have yellowed a LOT, and when I tried in other kits that had the same issue the dozens of methods proposed by other modelers to restore clarity, NOTHING ever worked. While the surfaces and detail are great, and the molding sharp and clear, many parts are useless, like props, engine, spinners and wheels. No resin or metal parts are provided to substitute these*

*Actually they were as I later discovered, but they were absconded at some point from my kit, which I bought on Ebay:

In fact the paneling and detail are way better than in ALL other injected kits of the same subject:

Documentation is nice and detailed to a degree:

The hatches that are located on split lines are provided separately, poorly molded I am afraid, unlike the rest of the kit:

The two noses as clear parts. They are also molded on the main white styrene sheet, so you could use either the clear part or carve the windows out from the white parts (at least for the blunt nose option, that will still need to be capped by the clear nose tip):

The canopy and

I think that if I use the blunt nose option of this kit at all, I will be using the white vac sides of the nose, cut out the windows and use "window maker" to fill the openings, then adding the clear front part, thus reducing the use of yellowed parts to just one.

Well, that's not going to work. The height of the section where the nose begins differs from the Revell to the VP kit by about 5mm. So not even close.

Options: use all the detail parts of the Revell kit in the vac (which completely lacks them). Grafting these parts may prove challenging. The interior perhaps not to so bad, but the landing gear would necessitate adaptations and scratchbuilding, as well as the engine/cowl assemblies.

No easy way here apparently...

So kit-bashing of the interior and details of the Revell kit and the rest from the VP Canada vac, which has much better surface detail and sounder engineering (and not those ill-fitting four fuselage slabs of the Revell kit)

Note: apparently I was conned on Ebay, as the VP kit did have resin bits originally, as reported here:

https://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/ussr/attardil4.htm

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/vp-canada-14-ilyushin-il4-db-3m

No resin parts came with my kit.

The detail parts from the Revell kit are being prepped for priming and painting:

I will be using the cowls from the Revell kit, firstly because they are one piece instead of two, secondly because they can easily lodge their own engines, and thirdly because the vac cowls are too blunt/inaccurate at their lips. BUT the Revell cowls are a tad short (being for the IL-4 and the DB-3), so a skirt needs to be glued to them, and the gills need discarding, as "Ukraine" (and "Moskva") had none:

Details on the cowls also varied, so that will need to be addressed later too.

The mark of accomplished master-maker. The pips (where the suction holes are in the mold) are located as much as possible in areas that will removed or are outside the parts:

The separation of the parts from the backing sheets commences:

This sheet will not be used as the injected parts from the other kit will replace most of them, and the cowls as explained are too blunt at the front:

The backing sheet leftovers are kept to provide reinforcement material if needed.

ONE FOR THE VACS:

According to Scalemates, these are the dates the kits were issued:

VP Canada vacuform 198*

VEB 198*

Revell 1992

Maquette/Zvezda/MSD (a different mold) 1999

It's interesting that the vac -the oldest by the way- is in some ways the best of them all, having recessed panel lines, offering three variants, and adding the detail resin parts for all key elements (as explained, someone along the way stole them before I bought the kit from Ebay), while the VEB/Revell injected kits have raised panel lines, have ill-fitting fuselage parts that are badly engineering that render a wrong cross section, plus only offer a single variant.

To add the skirt to lengthen the cowls a styrene stick is coiled and put under hot water:

Once cold it will stay curved:

But first notches that don't belong to the this version need to be plugged:

The extension rings are cut to size and glued, using double clamping to get them into place. Once the glue has dried the cowls will be sanded smooth and the added skirt trailing edge thinned-down from inside to make it more realistic:

The exhausts are different too in this plane, being staggered holes with the stacks cut almost flush with the cowl surface, at an inclined angle. Only one of the stacks seems to protrude a little more and bending backwards. The cowls will also need notches carved to clear the leading edge following photos (Moskva on this occasion, but they were almost identical):

There is also a Contrail vac kit, but seemingly with raised panel lines. I saw it on Evil bay, and guess what, it's also missing the white metal and injected detail parts, a fact the seller seems unaware of, so I wrote to him, trying to avoid another modeler to be disappointed. Here is the Evil bay kit:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/177850496680

and this is the kit WITH the parts missing on the Evil bay kit (the photo is from the Net)