In the early 1900s, Igor Sikorsky designed the first four-engine aircraft, envisioning it as a 16-passenger airliner.  Military priorities intervened with the outbreak of WW I and it became a bomber named for a hero from Slavic mythology, Ilya Muromets.  Historical accounts are inconsistent but it's said that German fighter pilots avoided the bomber and its many derivatives because its multiple gunners were lethal.

There were many were many variations as the bomber series was modified during the war.  My Poser figure will draw on features from several variants.

Here's a cartoon view with much of the wire rigging.

A cartoon view with both wings and full tail.

An in-work view of the cockpit.

Aircraft engine in work.  There were many variations during manufacturing, including different engines.  I'm creating a representative combination of details based on a number of different phtos.

Engines in situ.

This cutaway shows three gun emplacements.  There will be an option to substitute a couple of Cybertenko's guns.  The tail gunner used a trolley like an automobile  mechanic's creeper on track to get to the tail gun.

As with other details, the cockpit varied over the many design iterations.  There are modern reconstructions, some very detailed and there are some historic photos.  I've picked and chose from these, opting for some simpler implementations and making some logical if arbitrary decisions.  The bomb racks also appear in several locations.  I haven't decided yet what to do with them.

I've been puzzling over how bombs were dropped.  The render above shows a bomb rack but not how it was used.  I got a copy of Harry Woodman's "Ilya Muromets Type Veh" that in text and drawings explains that.  It also has better information than I had about the configuration of the cockpit.  I'm now redoing some of the details to reflect that.

Here's the partially reworked cabin.  The bomb rack, several of which could be carried, was lifted to a set of rails on the cabin wall.  The bomb bay cover was removed and a crewman, instructed by the bombardier who was looking through a rudimentary sight in the floor on the other side of the cabin, pushed the rack over the bomb bay opening.  A mechanism in the rack automatically released the bombs.  When the rack was empty it would be replaced with another.

I'm almost settled on the cockpit, based on photos and Harry Woodman's drawings and text.  I can't find the location for the compass and the text is ambiguous about the throttles.  At least for now I'll stay with the reconstruction version, which doesn't show up in any of the photos.  I haven't followed the source info exactly but I think reasonably.

I did find Woodman's text about the throttles.  Oddly they were not controlled by the pilot but by a crewman following the pilot's verbal  instructions.  I've set them near the fuel shutoff valves that were located above and behind the pilot.  None of the photos or drawings I've seen show them, so I've taken some liberty in the placement.  The cabin is narrow enough that a crewman can operate the left and right side throttles at the same time.  I'll leave the reconstruction throttles as a configuration option.  I alos found a photo that appears to show a compass.

I'm in the process of rigging the many cables so they move in concert, a tedious task.

Still rigging, but here are some partially textured views.

Rigging about done.  Now working props and textures.

Some progress. 

Textures mostly done.

Side open.

Testing and making refinements, and about to beguine packaging.  Here's a similar render but with crew using the included M4 poses.

Woodman did a drawing showing the bombardier lying down to look through the bombsite.  A crewman dropped the bombs by pushing the bomb rack on rails over the open bomb hatch on the bombardier's orders.

Now in the release queue.

Now in the Marketplace:

https://www.renderosity.com/marketplace/products/161935/ilya-muromets-ww-i-bomber