1/48 Eduard Polikarpov I-16 Type 10

Gallery Article by Bernhard Schenk on June 2 2009

 

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

Photos and text © by Bernhard Schenk