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Hello,

My first build for the Eastern Front Group Build is the ICM I-16. The kit provides decals for two Type 18's, and the kit provides parts for a Type 18, 24 and 28 so... We'll have to see where this goes.

The plastic is on the soft but manageable side. After scraping or sanding the mold lines a quick swipe of liquid cement brings the details back. I managed to crack the motor mount ring in two spots and a little liquid cement and CA filler did the trick.

The kit offers a moderately detailed engine compartment that I was thinking about leaving open. There are a couple of ejector pin marks on the access panels that can be easily fixed, though upon testing the fit between the engine and supercharger, the intake tubes going to the cylinder heads are a MM or so short. With nine tubes to extend it might be more trouble than it's worth to leave the panels open. Bummer.

Boxart

LLSDvHx.jpg?1

Firewall, engine mount, tank with sink mark,etc.

kBUh7MW.jpg?1

Progress prior to any paint

C7nyerw.jpg?1

Next update will be after some paint and more glue.

Thanks for looking,

Jim S

PS For you history buffs out there the prototype was built in State Aircraft Factory No. 39, which was basically a prison. Polikarpov and his design team were sentenced to "Internal Prison" after being arrested during the Purges of 1929. Design work for the I-16 began in the summer of 1932 and the prototype flew in December of 1933.It seems prosecutors deemed Polikarpov and his team too valuable to face a firing squad or Gulag.

http://www.novacon.com.br/polikarpov_i16.htm

Edited by Jim S
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Looks like a lovely kit!

I agree. The engine is well detailed as is everything forward of the firewall. The kit lacks locator pins so I just took my time on the fuselage cementing one joint at a time. There is no cockpit detail on the fuselage sidewalls but because they slope away from the opening you really would have a hard time seeing it anyway.

All In all the fit is pretty good. Minimal sanding, no shims yet...

Anyway so far so good. Can't even imagine trying to build one of these in 1/144 though. Lol.

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I like it, the I-16 is cool little plane. I've built the 1/48th Eduard kit, it amazing how small it is sitting next to other fighters.

I'd like to give the Eduard I-16 a try at some point.

The most frustrating part of this build so far is coming up with consistent color references. Seems like every site says something different. Most of the images I can find online are museum restorations which we know not to trust...

Anyway thanks for proposing this group build. Hopefully I'll be able to update the thread before the weekend.I just have to decide on a cockpit color. Sprayed a light grey last night but I'm having my doubts. Just have to see how it goes.

Edited by Jim S
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Brief update-

During the week I was able to get a little bit done. Painted the cowling and engine face with Floquil Platinum Mist, Painted the engine and accessories Vallejo Air Black. Tried painting the balance of parts with Vallejo Light Ghost Grey. Turns out this color is offered as a primer and as a primer doesn't do the job very well. It sprayed ok out of the bottle, maybe slightly grainy, but took a long time to dry, had no adhesion, and when sanded rolled up in to little balls clogging the paper. I looked online and I guess this is the same experience others have had. Just wish I hadn't spent $7.95 on a bottle of the stuff.

I'm working on a mix of Vallejo Air for the interior and will brush paint the engine details. Think at this point the panels will be closed though.

I drilled out the two small windows in the cockpit combing and will fill those with Chrystal Clear or clear styrene as they were glazed.

Anyway. More paint and glue to come.

Thanks for looking!

S8DTehz.jpg?1

Edited by Jim S
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Brief update-

Over the weekend I painted the details for the engine and gave everything a light Sepia wash.

7g3b3Wd.jpg?1

I didn't take pics but I sprayed the interior parts with a light grey, assembled the engine, added the elevator/rudder to the fuselage, and cleaned most of the remaining parts.

I also mixed a dark green and light blue for the camouflage scheme and that's about it.

So until next time...

Thanks for looking.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Meanwhile, back at the kitchen table...

Over the past week I completed the cockpit assembly, engine assembly,married up the wings to the fuselage and the cowling to the nose of the model.

I also filled the two windows on the cockpit hood with clear styrene by sanding down two tapered pins and trimming the pins to fit after they were CA'd in place. I sanded/polished the plugs on both ends and sealed em with a spot of Future.

Right now I am working on the skinning landing gear doors with foil tape and have the engine access panels dry fit and ready to be cemented in place. Before I cement the panels in place I have to attach the exhaust pipes. They will not be attached to the cylinder heads but shimmed and cemented to the inside of the panels.

I managed to cement the firewall a mm or two too far forward which threw the layout off for everything else related to the engine. I realized early on I might close the engine compartment so this mistake sealed the deal.

Anyway, considering I paid less than $10 for the kit I've had my fun and am ready to be done with it.

Hopefully over the week I can tie up the loose ends and paint next weekend.

If you made it this far-Sorry for the lack of pics.

I will post pics when we get past our internet issues.

Trying to manage Imgur over my phone is a hassle..

Thank you for stopping by.

Jim S

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Cockpit, etc

MVjMwO2.jpg

Foil tape and gear door. Essentially this is a two piece door with a hinge that runs across the lower part of the door. I am using the foil as a skin to connect the two halves after I cut the door, the foil will allow me to fold the lower door at a right angle to the upper door.

oyUfKvE.jpg

Peeled the wax paper off, stuck the tape to the door and burnished the foil with a Q-Tip.

EuyQAKx.jpg

Foil burnished, trimmed, door cut, foil sealed with CA around the edges of the door.

Sorry for the bad pick. Hard to tell but the lower door is folded at a right angle as planned.

quBHDWA.jpg

Progress so far. Spent a lot of time dealing with the seams on the top of the wing. 20/20 I should have joined the outer wing sections to the fuselage first.

9C1z6Og.jpg

That's all for now. Like I said before, hoping to paint next weekend.

Jim S

Edited by Jim S
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I know on mine those pieces are fragile since there isn't much of a mating surface.

My first thought was to try brass wire to pin the two together, or use the wire tho brace the inside. I was thinking about leaving them off when I came up with the foil tape idea. Hardly a genius, I simply think TOO much! Lol.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No paint as planned but most of the loose ends are all tied up.

Exhaust pipes were mounted to the access panels, fit of the panels was "Fiddily" to say the least. I spent copious amounts of time dry fitting, sanding, shimming the doors, and restoring panel lines.

I am glad that task is behind me.

Added tubing for gun barrels and pitot, CA'd the tail wheel strut to the tail after reinforcing it with brass wire. I want to try MacGyver-ing a venturi tube for the

starboard side of the fuselage so well see how that goes...

A little bit of sanding and we'll be ready for primer.

Thanks for looking.

Jim S

xrPuYhp.jpg?1

Edited by Jim S
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Very nice with the metal gear doors. I'm going to have a go at that technique myself.

Thanks for following along.

I used the Nashua brand tape that Home Depot sells but I imagine you could use household foil and the adhesive the people use skinning their NMF models too.

A word of advice- Try it on a scrap piece first. I found burnishing with the Q-tip did a nice job but when I used the tweezers to pick the door up the tweezers left a footprint in the foil where the adhesive compressed under the foil. Don't know if burnishing it with something more dense would help, maybe even your thumb with a cotton rag. Anyway, I really liked the way it turned out but the technique needs a little fine tuning.

Thanks,

Jim S

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update time.

Sorry for the lack of timely progress. My work schedule has been all over the place and I had to figure out a thing or two.

After fixing a broken tail wheel strut and punching out foil bezels for the two "windows" I started masking for primer.

Used just about every form of masking I know from Blu-Tack, foam wedges, wet TP,Elmer's Glue, and good old masking tape.

enctqkj.jpg

My trusty Paasche H. Took a pic of it for no other reason than I received this 39 or so years ago and all I've ever done is clean it and replace the needles.

9e5DicU.jpg

After priming with black Stynylrez I painted the wheel wells a light Blue Grey. Right? Wrong? Don't care. It'll look nice with the light blue wings and landing gear.

HzlJZOI.jpg?1

Topside photo. Wings came out kinda blurry, sorry for the bad pic. Need to sand a couple of spots and touch up the primer so I can move on to the main colors.

aI9B8ZA.jpg?1

Thanks for looking.

Jim S

Edited by Jim S
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It's looking good, it is a great little plane.

Thank you.

Two weeks ago I almost bought the 1/48 Eduard I-16 you mentioned in the proposal thread but instead I picked up an Airfix 1/72 Spitfire XIV & Eduard UTI Mig-15.

Think I should just bite the bullet and have my Optivisor surgically attached! Lol!

Anyway, I want to participate in either the Far East, Test Group, or Spitfire Group Builds but seems like things are slow around here so I'll pick another model for this group build. It's going to be on the

simple side so it won't be the Pe-2 or Pe-3 I've mentioned.

Stay tuned!

Jim S

Edited by Jim S
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Update time.

Put down some Light Blue paint today. First experience using Akan and I like it a lot. Added a drop or two of white to lighten the blue and a drop or two of 70% Isopropyl Alcohol for a nice wet final coat.

90AIKW0.jpg?1

Inside of gear door

F9RxzGz.jpg?3

Outside of gear door (foiled side)

cqASkxi.jpg?3

Exterior colors I am using

COFzTeu.jpg?1

That's all for now. Thanks for looking!

Jim S

Edited by Jim S
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The akan looks good. And alcohol thinning is always a plus. I'm eager to hear about how well it takes to masking.

I want to say it will spray without thinner. It was my first real application of the stuff, beyond a simple test. The first partial cup I put a drop of rubbing alcohol in for good luck, the last partial cup I put two drops in not wanting to start losing details with a heavy layer of paint.

As far as durability with five days of cure time it's hard as heck. When I spray the green this weekend I will try to set do a pull off scratch test for you.

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I'm interested in the Akan paint, I'm using Mr. Paint on my build but I do prefer acrylics.

This is my first experience using Akan and so far so good. I prefer acrylics myself and since the beginning of this year have invested quite a bit of money in Vallejo Air after having a really good experience with their Model Color range. I think I like the Akan more than the Vallejo Air though I have yet to try brushing it. By the way, Vallejo Air primer is junk.

I am not familiar with Mr Paint. Polly Scale was my go to acrylic for ages but Testors couldn't help but ruin that...

Anyway, I mainly tried the Akan for the WWII VVS colors but might branch out from here to at least some modern Soviet Colors. I even have a bottle of Green for Russian armor I want to try on Tamiya's SU-76M.

Stay tuned and keep at your Pe-2. It's looking really good!

Edited by Jim S
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