1/72 ICM I-16

 by David Shen

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In 1941, soon after German set off their invasion of the Soviet Union, Romanian allies also launched an offensive immediately.  A Soviet I-16 Type29 was captured by the Royal Romanian Air Force during the battle.  After reassembly, this machine which had been camouflaged in the color of aII Green/Dark Green was painted with a yellow identification band, and yellow wing tips as a standard type on the Eastern Front.

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This model was from ICM 1/72 I-16 type24 kit.  The kit was rich in details especially the exquisite rivets on the engine cowling, however, the construction was annoying.  After several rounds of sanding, I disappointedly found most of the panel lines and rivets missing, so I had to get them back carefully with a needle.

The camouflage I chose was neither of the two schemes supplied by the instructions.  The Romanian insignia was from PLASTYKs 1/72 RWD14.  This model is so small that I can place two on a single palm of my hand.  Compared with the  Lagg-3, we can obviously see the generation gap of their design concept.

David 

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Photos and text © by David Shen