Polikarpov I-16 Eduard 1/48

Isyak is the nick which Soviet pilot give to the one of the most famous airplane before the WW2- the well know Polikarpov I-16 fighter. This fighter has its glory to be first world fighter of the modern concept- low wing, retractable landing gear, enclosed cockpit. Isyak mean little donkey and this is related to the temperament of the airplane in flight. I-16 is also famous to be first fighter to shot down Messerschmitt Bf109 in combat and that happen in the Spanish civil war when Piotr Burtym, a zveno commander from the 116th escadrille, down one piloted by Unteroffizier Guido Honess. As Burtym succeeded to fire on the pilot at a shorted distance, the Bf109 immediately went down from a 2500m height and crashed in the nationalist area.

That was small airplane and so on the scale kit of this fighter is also small and simple. For sure that “Eduard” model is the world top one release. In the August 2007 they have released new set mark 8152. Scale kit have full burst in the great number of parts, two of them are clear plastic and as usually one is gun sight, photo etched parts and protective mask for the wheels and canopy. But even with that entire deep dive in details this is again simple kit. But the fact which catches my attention is the very high molds precision and excellent surface details. With no additional sanding and matching, parts perfectly join to each other. Filler is almost no need here- I use it for the joints just to be complete sure and avoid possible small gaps but actually there is no need for filler.

Kit sample present I-16 model 29 and this is last of the long series of this fighter. So it has no guns in the wings but have three holes in the front engine cowling. Inside of this cowling are the photo etched parts which precisely capture visible details through the small front openings. Interesting to note that “Eduard” applies on each of their model different shape and method of attaching of propellers and the way used in this kit is excellent. Whole kit can be finished with no hub and propeller and finally just put the propeller assembly on the small shaft protruding in the front cowling. And this work great. Interesting to note is that all photo etched parts are used inside of cockpit and as well basic plastic parts are given this is nice base for the weekend edition kit too.

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Four color patterns are proposed for the kit, three of them present Soviet airplane and one is the Romanian sample. I have decided to use winterized version which have basic green and blue camouflage colors and topside is sprayed in the temporary white color. With some field influence added, like dust, stain and mud, final look is very nice.

Special thanks to Oleg Sinolecka and Ferdinando D Amico for their help and assistance.

Srecko Bradic

Sample kit was provided by Jana Sulcova from “Eduard”