Civil Airliner IL-18V 1/144 Eastern Express 14466

Civil Airliner IL-18V   
1/144 scale plastic model kit
Eastern Express 14466

Manufacturer: Eastern Express (Russia)
Scale: 1/144
Material: Plastic
Paint: Unpainted, Unassembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.
Condition: New in Box

The Ilyushin Il-18 (NATO reporting name: Coot) is a large turboprop airlinerthat became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still being in civilian use 56 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades and was widely exported. Due to the aircraft's airframe durability, many achieved over 45,000 flight hours. The Il-18's successor was the long range Il-62 jet airliner.Two Soviet aircraft shared the designation Ilyushin Il-18. The first Il-18 was a propeller-driven airliner of 1946 but after a year of test flights that programme was abandoned.

In the early 1950s a need to replace older designs and increase the size of the Soviet civil transport fleet, a Soviet Council of Ministers directive was issued on 30 December 1955 to the chief designers Kuznetsov and Ivchenko to develop new turboprop engines and to Ilyushin and Antonov to design an aircraft to use these engines. The two aircraft designs were developed as the Ilyushin Il-18 and theAntonov An-10 and the engine chosen was the Kuznetsov NK-4 rather than the Ivchenko AI-20.

Aeroflot Il-18V at Prestwick Airport, 1960s

The Il-18 design had started in 1954 before the directive was issued and experience with the piston-engined Il-18 was used although the aircraft was a new design.The design was for a four-engined low-wing monoplane with a circular pressurised fuselage and a conventional tail. The forward retracting tricycle landing gear had four-wheels fitted on the main leg bogies, the main legs bogies rotated 90 degrees and retracted into the rear of the inboard engines. A new feature at the time was the fitting of a weather radar in the nose and it was the first soviet airliner to have an automatic approach system.The aircraft has two entry doors on the port-side before and after the wing and two overwing emergency exits on each side.

The prototype SSSR-L5811 was rolled out in June 1957 and after ground-testing it began taxying test and high-speed runs on 1 July 1957. On 4 July 1957 the prototype first flew from Khodynka. On 10 July 1957 the aircraft was flown to Moscow-Vnukovo Airport to be presented to a soviet government commission, also present was the prototype Antonov An-10 and the Tupolev Tu-114. The Il-18 type was formally named Moskva and this was painted on the fuselage, although the name was not used when the aircraft entered production.

The Moscow Machinery Plant No. 30 located at Khodynka near where the Ilyushin design office and the prototype had been built was chosen to manufacture the aircraft. During 1957 the plant began to reduce its production of the Ilyushin Il-14 and prepare to build the production aircraft designated IL-18A. The Il-18A was only different to the prototype in minor details mainly internal configuration to increase the seating from 75 to 89.

Data from:OKB Ilyushin^[4]

Il-18

Designation of the sole prototype of the Il-18 family.

Il-18A

The original production model, equivalent to pre-production, powered by either Kuznetsov NK-4 or Ivchenko AI-20 turboprop engines. Circa 20 built.

Il-18B

First major production model, a medium-haul airliner that could seat 84 passengers.

Il-18 Combi

Il-18 aircraft modified to mixed passenger / cargo configuration

Il-18D

Similar to Il-18I, but equipped with an extra centre section fuel tank for increased range. The Il-18D is fitted with four 3,169 ekW (4,250 hp) Ivchenko AI-20M turboprop engines.

Il-18D communications relay

Three aircraft modified to provide communications relay between VIP aircraft and Government bodies.

Il-18D Pomor

A single Il-18D converted to a fisheries reconnaissance aircraft, (Pomor - person who lives by the sea)

Il-18D Salon

VIP version of the Il-18D

IL-18DORR

Two IL-18Ds modified as fishery reconnaissance aircraft for the Polar Institute of Oceanic Fishery and Oceanography, the modification mainly involved the fitment of specialised mission equipment. First flown in 1985 they were later modified back as standard Il-18Ds.

Il-18E

Similar to the Il-18I, but without the increased fuel capacity.

Il-18E Salon

VIP transport version of the Il-18E.

Il-18Gr

Aircraft converted to cargo configuration, (Gr - Groozovoy - cargo).

Il-18GrM

Several Il-18 aircraft modified to Gr standard with the addition of a pressurised side cargo door.

Il-18I

Equipped with more powerful Ivchenko AI-20M turboprop engines, producing 3,170 kW (4,250 shp). Seating increased to 122 passengers in an enlarged cabin gained by moving the aft pressure bulkhead rearwards by 1.64 m (5 ft).

Il-18LL

(Letayuschchaya Laboratoriya - flying laboratory), one aircraft modified to be an anti-icing test-bed and an Il-18V used by the Czechoslovak flight test centre as an engine testbed.

IL-18RT

Two IL-18Vs were modified as Telemetry Relay Aircraft to rocket and unmanned air vehicle trials.

Il-18S

VIP variant of Il-18B

Il-18T

This designation was given to civil and military cargo transport aircraft converted from Il-18A/B/V aircraft.

Il-18AT: Military transport/casevac version based on the Il-18A

Il-18BT: Military transport/casevac version based on the Il-18B

Il-18VT: Military transport/casevac version based on the Il-18V

IL-18TD

One IL-18T was modified as a military transport variant to take either 69 stretcher cases or 118 paratroopers. Not wanted by the military it was converted to IL-18D standard.

IL-18USh

One IL-18V was modified as a navigator trainer including two dorsal astro-sextant windows. Although it was tested and found acceptable the Soviet Air Force used a variant of the twin-jet Tupolev Tu-124 instead.

Il-18V

Standard Aeroflot version, which entered service in 1961. The Il-18V was powered by four Ivchenko AI-20K turboprop engines, seating 90-100 passengers.

Il-18V Salon

VIP version of the Il-18V

Il-18V/polar

a single Il-18V modified for Polyarnaya Aviahtsiya - Polar Aviation use.

Il-18V-26A

a single Il-18V modified for Polyarnaya Aviahtsiya - Polar Aviation use with an auxiliary fuel tank in the cabin, revised window layout and enlarged oil tanks on the engines, covered by protruding fairings on the engine nacelles (sometimes referred to as the Il-18D, before the real D model emerged).