30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/10
Page Numbers: 30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,42
30 MODEL AVIATION
This airplane performs solidly and has a nearly scale appearance in the air.
Is it aerobatic? You bet! Although it’s not a Pattern aircraft, this big model can
hold its own at the local flying field.
A low banked pass reveals the IL-2’s impressive wing area. This is a big
airplane, but it is also extremely agile.
EASILY RECOGNIZED by World War
II-airplane fans, this model is of the
Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik groundattack
aircraft that worked so well during
the war. More Stormoviks were built than
any other combat aircraft that any other
nation used in the conflict.
The whole front half of the fuselage was
built as an armored shell to protect the
engine and the pilot; the later addition of a
rear gunner made it even tougher. With
cannons, machine guns, bombs, and
rockets, the Stormovik was an effective
machine.
Many design modifications were made
during the Il-2’s production life, all
improving its role as an attack weapon. It
was said to be highly maneuverable for airto-
air combat, but few of the pilots were
trained well enough to take advantage of its
full capabilities.
Regardless of how well the aircraft did
or didn’t do in real-world fighting, it makes
an interesting and seldom-seen RC project.
World War II fighters have always been
popular with modelers, but some of us want
something besides another Mustang,
Thunderbolt, or Corsair.
I had always been aware of the variety
of Russian fighters, and a few years ago I
finally got around to designing a MiG-3; it
was featured in the November 2004 MA.
Now that I’ve done the MiG and the
Sport modelers
will find that
this Ilyushin
tank buster is
armored for fun
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:40 PM Page 30
October 2007 31
Lou McGuire (L) built the single-seat version of the Stormovik, while author Dick
Sarpolus built the two-seat version. Both models are great performers.
Stormovik, a future project may be one of
the Soviet Yaks.
My RC version of the Stormovik stresses
easy building and capable aerobatic
performance with its thick airfoil and the
“right” proportions, and there’s enough
scale detailing that can be added for the Fun
Scale group.
This is not a real Scale aircraft project;
it’s a good, practical sport/aerobatic
machine that looks an awful lot like an Il-2.
This airplane is scale enough that I believe it
would be welcome at any warbird gathering,
and casual sport fliers such as myself will
find it easy to build and fly.
The Stormovik is fairly large. At 87
inches in wingspan, it has roughly 1,270
square inches of wing area. The
prototype weighed 16 pounds dry, which
gave it a wing loading of 29 ounces per
square foot—not bad for a sorta-scale
warbird that is intended to be flown in a
Photos courtesy the author
10sig1.QXD 8/23/07 8:57 AM Page 31
32 MODEL AVIATION
The bottom of Lou’s Stormovik shows the location of the “ordnance.” Notice the
flap and aileron servo placement.
The fuselage is constructed from balsa and plywood parts and features foam-core
top blocks.
The foam wing and tip cores and all the additional plywood and hardwood parts
required for wing assembly.
lively and aerobatic manner.
I laid out the design at that wingspan and
area because of the 2.4 cu. in. gas engine I
planned to use. From experience with other
airplanes I was confident that those numbers
would result in the kind of performance I
liked. There are many gas engines in this size
range to choose from or you could use a goodsized
1.8 or 2.1 cu. in. glow engine.
The construction uses hot-wire-cut foam
wing cores, wingtip cores, fuselage top block
cores, and tail-surface foam cores. I like
working with foam and feel that this
construction is quick, simple, economical, and
reasonably light for these fun scale projects.
If you consider building this Stormovik,
you’ll want to know about a fiberglass cowl
and plastic canopy. I made plugs for the two
canopy styles: the pilot/gunner version and the
pilot-only version. That was an interesting
project in itself.
To make the plugs I used a center profile
and several bulkheads of plywood. I filled in
the open spaces with urethane foam and then
sanded the plugs to shape. To make the
surface smooth and consistent I covered it all
with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, filled,
sanded, and primed to the best of my ability.
I also made a plug for the fiberglass cowl.
It’s the same one that is used on my MiG-3,
and that saved some time. The canopies and
cowl are available from Fiberglass Specialties
Inc. The company’s contact information is at
the end of the article.
Retractable landing gear is great in a
World War II fighter model, but to keep the
project simple I went with fixed gear bent
from 1/4-inch music wire. It’s easy and it
works. The gear on the full-scale Stormovik
folds up directly to the rear, not rotating, into
a landing-gear fairing with the lower half of
the wheel exposed after retraction.
A couple of nose-gear type units could be
used, and Robart would probably have
something in its large line of retracts that
would work. But I like to keep the models
light and uncomplicated for active sport
flying, so I’ll live with the fixed gear. I’ll
leave that upgrade to another modeler.
Even with some fun scale detailing added,
my Stormovik, ready to fly without fuel,
weighs 16 pounds. I went with iron-on
MonoKote covering, mainly for light weight
and no painting work.
My friend Lou McGuire built the singlepilot
version of this model at the same time,
and his is a bit heavier. The Stormoviks fly
extremely well at these weights, so they
would still perform okay for scale-type flying
and heavier if you added scale details, a
painted finish, and retractable landing gear.
One of the MiG-3s weighed more than 20
pounds and flew fine.
CONSTRUCTION
All the materials used are standard sizes of
balsa and plywood. I’ve been buying my
wood from Lone Star Balsa in Texas for many
years and have always been pleased with the
company’s stuff.
I cut the needed airframe parts from paper
patterns and either cut up a second set of plans
10sig1.QXD 8/22/07 1:47 PM Page 32
October 2007 33
This bottom view of the wing core shows all landing-gear parts epoxied
in place. Note the space left for the plywood dihedral joiner.
The foam landing-gear pods are shown ready for shaping.
The fuselage assembly is basic. The sides and all the
bulkheads are shown in place.
The landing-gear pods are sheeted and the nose blocks have been
shaped.
The stabilizer, elevator, rudder, and fin are sheet-foam cores
with balsa edge pieces glued on.
The canopy bulkheads get a test fit.
With the landing-gear pods
glued in place on the wing, the
distinctive Stormovik landinggear
system takes shape.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 9:55 AM Page 33
34 MODEL AVIATION
A close-up of the engine installation shows the required cuts in
the fiberglass cowl for muffler and carburetor clearance.
Above left: All cockpit
detail is added before the
plastic canopy goes on.
Left: The assembled
airframe is ready for
covering. A few scale
details have been added.
Type: RC Giant Fun Scale
Wingspan: 86.25 inches
Wing area: 1,270 square inches
Length: 68 inches
Weight: 16 pounds
Wing loading: 29 ounces/square foot
Engine: 2.4 cu. in. gas
Construction: Balsa/plywood, cut-foam cores
Covering/finish: Builder’s choice—
MonoKote used
A removable section of the pod, held in place with covering,
allows the gear legs to be removed.
10sig2.QXD 8/23/07 11:05 AM Page 34
or trace the part outlines I need and cut
out the tracings. I draw around the
patterns onto the balsa or plywood with a
ballpoint pen, and I cut the parts out with
my band saw or scroll saw.
I cut the grooved hardwood landinggear
blocks with my small Dremel table
saw and use a K&S heavy-duty wire
bender to form the 1/4-inch wire landinggear
pieces.
The template patterns for all the
necessary foam-core parts are on the
plans. I make my templates from 3/32
plywood. I do my cutting with a basic
hot-wire bow, nichrome wire, and a
Variac power supply.
If you’re not a foam-core scratch
builder, maybe someone in your club can
cut the foam for you or you can order all
the necessary foam components from
Robin’s View Productions. If you want to
try scratch-building a large airplane, the
Stormovik is a reasonable one to try.
Wing: After you have the basic two wing
panels, you have to cut them up to install
the plywood landing-gear reinforcement
pieces. I mark the cuts to be made on the
foam and do the slicing on my band saw
or by hand with a hacksaw blade. As the
foam pieces come apart, I trim them for
the landing-gear blocks and epoxy
everything back together: the foam parts,
plywood pieces, and landing-gear blocks.
The hardwood gear blocks should
protrude 3/32 inch from the foam cores. I
cut the sheeting to fit since it is contactcemented
to the foam wing cores. I sheet
the wing with 3/32 balsa, edge-glued to
obtain the necessary area. I use 3- or 4-
inch-wide balsa, employing aliphatic
resin glue because it’s easy to handle and
to sand for a smooth surface.
I get many questions about the wing
sheeting. After sanding the edges for a
good fit, tape the sheets together to get
the width, flip the wood over, open the
taped joint like a hinge over the edge of
the workbench, and apply the glue one
joint at a time. With the wood flat on the
workbench, scrape the excess glue from
the joint with a putty knife and weight the
wood until the glue dries.
Take the masking tape off the joints
and use the taped side as the outer surface
of the sheeting because it’s cleaner than
the glued side. Block-sand the sheeting
smooth before it’s applied to the foam
cores.
I’ve used Dave Brown Products
Southern’s Sorghum contact cement for
years to put the balsa sheeting on the
foam cores because it works and I trust it.
There are other ways to do it, such as to
thinly spread epoxy or spray contact
cement.
Be sure to experiment on scrap foam if
you use anything that isn’t sold
specifically for this purpose. Some
contact cements can melt the foam.
The wingtips are also made from foam
cores, and that method is easier than
carving tips from large balsa blocks.
Template patterns are provided for the
upper and lower foam wingtip sections,
which are glued to the balsa centerpiece,
sheeted, and glued to the sheeted main
wing panels.
Don’t forget to burn the holes through
the foam cores for the aileron extension
cables before joining the wing panels
with the plywood dihedral joiner.
With the wing cores sheeted top and
bottom, I sand the LE square, glue on an
oversize balsa LE strip, and plane and
sand it to shape. Afterward I cut the slot
through the LE for the plywood wing
mounting tab, which is glued in place
after the wing has been fitted to the
fuselage saddle.
I wrap the center-section joint with
heavy fiberglass cloth and epoxy,
scraping the excess adhesive off with a
piece of cardboard and leaving enough to
saturate the cloth. I cut the ailerons from
the sheeted wing panels, trim them down
to allow for the balsa edging, and sand
them to shape. They’re hinged along the
centerline.
Flaps would be easy if you wanted
them. I hinge the flaps along their lower
edge, ensuring that they can drop way
down. Cut recesses in the wing’s lower
surface and epoxy in plywood mounts for
the aileron and flap servos.
Fuselage: I use firm to hard balsa for the
two sides, edge-gluing and splicing to get
the size that is needed. I used a hole saw
to cut lightening holes in the plywood
doublers. Glue on the plywood doublers,
wing-saddle doublers, and lower rear
edge strips to the two fuselage sides.
I believe in a thick firewall, so I epoxy
a piece of 1/8 and a piece of 1/4 plywood
together. With one fuselage side flat on
the workbench, epoxy the firewall and
the next three plywood bulkheads
perpendicular to that side.
Glue the second side to those
bulkheads; it is easy to align since the
sides are parallel from the firewall to the
wing TE position. I use triangle stock
behind the firewall to reinforce its joint
with the fuselage sides and insert several
small screws through the sides into the
firewall.
Add the plywood wing-bolt plate, and
then pull the tail end together and install
the rear bulkheads. Fit the top foam
blocks to the fuselage structure. Sand
them if necessary so that the top sheeting
will be flush with the sides when it is
added.
I use soft 1/8 balsa for the top sheeting,
apply it to the foam blocks with contact
cement, trim, and epoxy the top blocks in
place. Don’t add the bottom sheeting
until the tail surface and tail-wheel
pushrods have been installed.
Tail Surfaces and Final Assembly: The
tail surfaces are made on a flat
workbench. Cut the flat sheet foam cores
to shape, add the balsa framing, apply the
balsa sheeting with contact cement, sand
all edges to shape, and slot for hinges.
Align the wing to the fuselage,
making sure the wing mounting tab fits
well into the fuselage bulkhead when the
wing is seated to the fuselage. Drill and
tap the plywood wing mounting plate for
the two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that hold the
wing in place.
With the wing mounted on the
fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizer and
align it with the wing. Add the vertical
fin, perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I recess the control surfaces to accept
1/4 plywood mounting tabs for the nylon
control horns going onto the ailerons,
elevators, and rudder. Epoxy the plywood
mounts in the surfaces and attach the
nylon horns with self-tapping screws. I
use 4-40 threaded rods and clevises for
all the linkages.
On this Stormovik I used fiberglasstube
pushrods from the two elevator
servos to the two elevators. The pushrods
are straight, crossing over inside the
fuselage. I shimmed one servo slightly
higher than the other so the pushrods
wouldn’t rub.
I used separate composite flexibletube
pushrods for the rudder and tailwheel
steering linkages from the one
rudder servo. An alternative is to have
the tail-wheel wire extend up through the
fuselage with a bend going into the
rudder. Either method will work.
I made servo extension cables into a Y
harness for the aileron servos in the wing,
and another Y harness is needed for the
two elevator servos. The 1800 mAh
battery pack is wrapped in foam and
positioned behind the fuel tank, along
with the receiver.
The large K&S wire bender easily
handles 1/4-inch wire to make the main
landing-gear legs. The gear is retained in
the grooved hardwood blocks with nylon
straps and screws.
I shaped the landing-gear fairings
from foam blocks, contact-cemented
balsa sheeting over them, and used a
balsa block for the rounded nose section
that extends ahead of the wing. I cut the
landing-gear doors from light plywood.
I glued the landing-gear fairings to the
wing panels. Small sections allowing
installation of the wire gear are held in
place with the iron-on covering material.
These scraps are easy to remove when
necessary so you can take the landing
gear out for rebending after those lousy
landings.
One scale feature I didn’t bother with
was the wing-root fillets to the fuselage; I
was lazy. The fillets would be a nice
addition.
I used a B&B Specialties 16-ounce
fuel tank for the gas engine, mounted
with plenty of foam around it, behind the
firewall. I have a plywood spacer pad
behind the engine mount to provide room
for the muffler ahead of the firewall.
Whatever engine is used will have its
own mounting arrangement.
The fiberglass cowl is cut for engine,
muffler, and carburetor clearance. I
mount the cowl by overlapping it on the
fuselage and using #6-32 nylon bolts to
retain it.
I trimmed the plastic canopy to fit and
put plywood tabs in the fuselage so the
canopy could be held in place with
approximately four small screws on each
side. Balsa strips are added to the top
fuselage sides in the canopy area for fit
and alignment.
A balsa cockpit floor is installed, and
the pilot and gunner figures are glued to
the floor. Other cockpit detail could be
added.
Gluing the canopy on and fairing it
into the fuselage would be better for scale
appearance. However, I like to be able to
remove the canopy easily for replacement
after a flip-over landing or other event
has done some damage.
I mask off and spray-paint all the
canopy framing and armor-plate areas.
Thin plastic glued on would also add
realism to those features.
Finish: I’m sold on using iron-on
coverings for these fun-scale sport
airplanes. Lou and I applied MonoKote to
our Stormoviks, and we sprayed the
cowls and canopies with matching
LustreKote paint.
Scale Details: I found Squadron/Signal
Publications’ Il-2 Stormovik in Action
(aircraft number 155) extremely helpful
in detailing our Stormoviks. Although
I’m not a real Scale modeler it was fun to
make the rockets to mount below the
wings, the machine guns, and the exhaust
stacks; paint the pilot and gunner figures;
do the canopy detailing; etc.
The Russian lettering on the sides of
my airplane reads (I hope) “For the
Motherland” and is typical of the slogans
painted on Russian combat aircraft in
World War II. The other markings and
detailing were done not with scale
authenticity in mind, but for an overall
scale realism effect, and I’m happy with
the results.
I enjoy flying this model through all the
aerobatic maneuvers I can handle, and the
low inverted passes are fun. The goal is
fun! MA
Dick Sarpolus
[email protected]
Sources:
Fiberglass Specialties Inc.
15715 Ashmore Dr.
Gilmore AK 72732
(479) 359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
Lone Star Balsa
15 Industrial
Lancaster TX 75134
(972) 218-9663
www.lonestar-models.com
MonoKote/LustreKote:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
(217) 398-6300
www.top-flite.com
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45013
(513) 738-1576
www.dbproducts.com
K&S Engineering
6917 W. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60638
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
B&B Specialties
14234 Cleveland Rd.
Granger IN 46530
(574) 277-0499
www.bennettbuilt.com