Alain Gadbois Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Hi all! I have had a fascination with the trainer variant of the I-16 for some time. The idea of putting two seats in such a small aircraft is a feat in itself, and the result is actually quite interesting! I used the Azur kit of the type 10 as a base. There are quite a few changes apart from adding a second cockpit to make an accurate UTI-4. Most obvious: removal of all weapons, long span ailerons and removal of flaps. Here is the documentation I will be using: Also the fantastic walkaround of the example in Finland by Nikolay Kovyazin (scalemodels.ru) will be essential. At the present, I am considering building this colorful one: Here are some of the kit parts to see what we are starting with: The nicely detailed front cowl but with closed only shutters (I don't mind this at all really). The gun tubes to be removed. The front fuselage with some details of the gun fairings to be removed: The lower central wing section where the flap panel lines need to be filled. Finally, a pic of the tail planes showing the very nice and restrained fabric representation. Thanks for watching, I hope you like the project! Alain Out2gtcha, KiwiZac, Trak-Tor and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Love it! Will follow along Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted February 11, 2019 Author Share Posted February 11, 2019 Hi all, Thanks for the comments and likes! Let's first work on the major item of the conversion: from one cockpit to two! I glued in the door on the left side and removed all the cockpit details inside. Then I started cutting back on the head rest as the rear opening is further back than the single seater. I used the plan to open up the new openings. Some of the removed material was used to fill in the front of the single seat opening. Using the original plastic gave me consistant color, thickness and hardness. It is easier then to define the shape of the opening. So here it is now! Note that both openings are different in shape, and there was a lot of work to get then looking right. Also I scraped the inside a lot to thin the plastic to my satisfaction around both openings. Bye for now! Alain Trak-Tor, Kagemusha, florin13 and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Great start to a fascinating project - I've thought about doing the same - such a bonkers idea to put another cockpit into such a short aircraft. Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorbenD Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Cool project Alain - nice start Torben Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCRATCH BUILDER Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Ditto, Great start! Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Well done Alain. I’m looking forward how to produce the forward canopy. Troy Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 23 hours ago, Kagemusha said: Great start to a fascinating project - I've thought about doing the same - such a bonkers idea to put another cockpit into such a short aircraft. That's why I found this interesting to model. And I think the UTI looks cute too! On 2/10/2019 at 11:14 AM, Hans said: On 2/10/2019 at 12:48 PM, Out2gtcha said: Love it! Will follow along 21 hours ago, TorbenD said: Cool project Alain - nice start Torben 18 hours ago, SCRATCH BUILDER said: Ditto, Great start! Thank you guys! 9 hours ago, Troy Molitor said: Well done Alain. I’m looking forward how to produce the forward canopy. Troy Both canopies will be vac formed over masters. I may try first to just crash form over the masters as often this gives satisfactory results. Alain Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 Hi! I started making the masters for the canopies tonight with bits of Renshape, a very useful material for sculpting. It is light but rigid and is easy to shape with a sander or a simple x-acto. This is the initial result after 15-20 minutes cutting and sanding: After the masters are done, I will make a silicone mold and cast a hard resin copy over which I will form the clear parts. Also, as in many kits, because of the large wing to fuselage fillet, the complete round lower section of the fuselage is missing. I have been reflecting on the way to correct this. The photos shows where I added styrene strips and epoxy putty to complete the curved section on the fuselage sides. This is the position of a structural member on the fuselage I will ad later with styrene strips. The curve drawn on the styrene sheet shows just how much is missing: After reaching this point, it seems the easiest and most practical way in model terms is to build the rest of the missing curve up from the bottom fuselage section. I will use a curved piece of styrene sheet and more epoxy putty to achieve this. Thanks all! Alain BiggTim, LSP_Kevin, Fvdm and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Sweet conversion, Alain! And you are rocketing through it! Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmayhew Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Ha ha that actually looks pretty cool! it somehow looks less ‘egg plane’ Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted February 14, 2019 Author Share Posted February 14, 2019 On 2/13/2019 at 1:41 AM, LSP_Ray said: Sweet conversion, Alain! And you are rocketing through it! Thanks! The first steps really went nicely, but there are many modifications left to do and some problems to correct with the kit...plus all the cockpit detail. As usual this will slow down progress plus all the little things that seem to pop up when you think the kit is nearly done! On 2/13/2019 at 2:32 AM, nmayhew said: Ha ha that actually looks pretty cool! it somehow looks less ‘egg plane’ Thanks! Surprisingly, the fuselage is pretty well streamlined back from that big engine. The effect is mainly from that very big and flat engine cowl. I still wonder how the prop actually manages to push air back around it! Alain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 (edited) Hi all! I will show you the work I have done to lengthen the ailerons and remove the wing gun panels. I modified first the right wing by scribing a line to the next panel. All the UTI-4 had the longer ailerons. Then I roughly defined the position of the internal structures and the aileron line has been deepened to correspond to the original detail on right. The fabric effect is done by scraping away and a coat of ultra thin blends it all in. In the back you see the flaps have been filled in with ca glue and some strips of styrene (more in a later post). Once this has dried, the gun panel detail is scraped away carefully to avoid going to deep and also not to damage the detail right next to it. So this is what it looks like when compared to the unmodified part on left. The other side has also been modified since I made the last photo. Today I purchased the new ICM I-16 and it is a nice kit. I will be comparing both and use the parts to help detail the landing gear legs of the Azur kit which are pretty bare. Bye for now! Alain Edited February 16, 2019 by Alain Gadbois LSP_Ray, TorbenD, KiwiZac and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorbenD Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Lovely stuff Alain Torben Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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