I always liked the
I-16. And I always liked the Spanish Nationalists' simple but striking black and
white markings. After I found a picture of a "Rata" in Nationalists
markings on the internet I could combine my "likings" and build the
chubby Polikarpov in the colours of Franco's forces.
I used the Eduard
Weekend Edition of the I-16 Type 10, my first kit of the upcoming
Czech manufacturer.
Construction
The Kit needed only
minor cleaning of some flash. Even without the photo-etched parts (which only
come with the standard kit of the I-16 and not the so called "Weekend
Edition") the details of the cockpit are very nice. It's a bit sad
that most of it can not be seen after completion because it is all too deep
inside the fuselage. The details in general are very fine, here the Czechs are
at least on eye-level with Hasegawa and Tamiya kits.
I encountered some
problems to put the finished cockpit in the glued together fuselage but in the
end it worked.
Slightly more
problematic was the fit of the wings to the main fuselage: A lot of putty
and sanding was required to get a smooth under surface. Also the attachment of
the landing gear was not a beginner's job - Eduard can still improve a bit on
that.
I read in some
reviews after the kit was released that the engine cowl is too edgy - but
obviously that was a problem of the past: It's now perfectly rounded and seems
to me to be an excellent imitation of the original.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Painting and
Markings
As I had only a b/w
picture of the I-16 I wanted to reproduce I had to guess about the colours. I sprayed
the upper surface in Russian Green (Vallejo Model Colour 894) and the under
surface in light blue (Vallejo Model Air 008). I had no decals of Spanish
Nationalists insignia so I cut Tamiya tape and airbrushed all markings. The white
and black bars of the Nationalist Airforce are perfectly suited
and quite easy to paint that way. The picture of the original plane shows that all
Republican insignia were roughly painted over by the new owners. I had to guess
about the colour used and in the end I decided for a rather greenish olive
drab.
The domino squadron
marking of the Republicans was kept by the Nationalists. I used cut Tamiya tape for
the white and hand painted the black dots and stripes.
The original plane
shows heavy weathering, especially on the prop. So I used silver paint on the
tip of a toothpick so depict scratches and a wash of brown ink. Tamiya
black pastels were used to imitate soot and mud and finally I drybrushed the
aircraft with sand colour. Finally a coat of matt varnish was applied.
Conclusion
The kit is very
detailed, it looks absolutely realistic and close to the original when finished.
Concerning the construction: This is definitely not a
"shake&bake"-kit like a Tamiya or Hasegawa. The fit could be
better but overall it is still easy to build and with a minor effort and some
modelling skills the I-16 turns out a great looking model.
Recommended
Bernhard
Schenk
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