Polikarpov I-16, Type 17

[Dpgsbody55]

While I was in Melbourne last month, I bought myself this for my birthday.

 

 

This is the shortest time a kit has languished in my stash in about 20 years!!  Having seen others build this, and never having built an ICM kit before, I decided to have a crack and hopefully finish before the deadline for this group build.  So a few days after I got home, I placed an order with Hannants for some etch parts to liven it up, and they finally arrived today.  The virus is slowing everything down, including the post, it seems.

 

 

A few days after finishing my P-39, I started work to get a head start before my Eduard etch arrived.  I started on the engine and tail, and also glued in all the bulkheads.  Here's those bulkheads being glued to the left side, with the right side temporarily held in place for alignment purposes.

 

 

If memory serves, most of the I-16's presented here so far have been later types, such as the Type 24 and Type 28.  This is a Type 17, which started in production in 1939 and has a few obvious differences with the later types.  The lower wing surfaces have no hard points for bombs or rockets, as the next picture shows.  The wing I'm building is the one at top.

 

 

Another difference is the right side of the fuselage.  Type 17's have no door in the rear fuselage and also no "door" in the cockpit on the this side.

 

 

Unfortunately, the right side fuselage I'm using is a little twisted, so that will present some issues when I come to glue the two halves together.  But that's for another day.  At the moment, the paint is presently drying on the insides, but I don't yet have a picture of that.  More soon.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

[Alain Gadbois]

Great subject and great progress!

One of the caracteristics of the  Type 17 was the mounting of the 20mm guns in the wings, which look very cool.

 

Alain

[Dennis7423]

Great choice!

 

One thing I did add to the kit was a long tab to assist in the wing to fuselage joint. I attached them to the upper wing, and it gave the fuselage something better to grab onto when joining the two. I highly recommend doing so as well. Might help the fuselage twist a tad, too!

 

- Dennis S.

  Thornton, CO USA

[Dpgsbody55]

Thanks Dennis, and the tab has been added. 

 

Been working on the Eduard etch controls in the cockpit last night - fiddly little suckers, aren't they.   Sometimes I wonder why I do this, but it's always worth the effort.  Well, mostly .

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

[Dennis7423]

8 hours ago, Dpgsbody55 said:

Thanks Dennis, and the tab has been added. 

 

Been working on the Eduard etch controls in the cockpit last night - fiddly little suckers, aren't they.   Sometimes I wonder why I do this, but it's always worth the effort.  Well, mostly .

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

Yes, quite fiddly, but worth it! You can see them fairly well once the kit is built up, thanks to that bulbous cockpit. I found the seatbelt application a little tricky, as the seat pan and back are two separate parts, with one attached to the floor (added separately) and one attached to the seat back (attached to the bulkhead inside the fuselage!). I got myself turned around during my build, and ended up having to chop the rear bulkhead in half in order to attach the fuselage skins I added to the bottom of the cockpit (I glued the skin to the fuselage half, then to the bottom of the bulkhead, which was attached to the opposite fuselage half, before I was ready to seal the fuselage up!). Most of my trickery with this kit was self-induced. After you finish the cockpit, the rest of the build is a real breeze.

 

I wish they would have supplied an exhaust template like they did with the I-153 kit, but alas, we can't always have everything we want.

 

- Dennis S.

  Thornton, CO USA

[BradG]

A little hot water might get that twist out of it.

[Dpgsbody55]

16 hours ago, Dennis7423 said:

 

Yes, quite fiddly, but worth it! You can see them fairly well once the kit is built up, thanks to that bulbous cockpit. I found the seatbelt application a little tricky, as the seat pan and back are two separate parts, with one attached to the floor (added separately) and one attached to the seat back (attached to the bulkhead inside the fuselage!). I got myself turned around during my build, and ended up having to chop the rear bulkhead in half in order to attach the fuselage skins I added to the bottom of the cockpit (I glued the skin to the fuselage half, then to the bottom of the bulkhead, which was attached to the opposite fuselage half, before I was ready to seal the fuselage up!). Most of my trickery with this kit was self-induced. After you finish the cockpit, the rest of the build is a real breeze.

 

I wish they would have supplied an exhaust template like they did with the I-153 kit, but alas, we can't always have everything we want.

 

- Dennis S.

  Thornton, CO USA

 

Hi Dennis.  I've looked at the seat belts too and scratched my head over them.  My present thinking is that I'll make the belts up with the seat back not installed, glue in the seat pan, then install the seat back and try to bend the belts into shape then.  Or something along those lines...    I noticed the cut bulkhead in your build and wondered why you did that - now I know.  I haven't decided about the fuselage skins yet.  I made a one piece part for that but it just split.  It may be easier to do this after the fuselage has been assembled, and perhaps in two halves.  I'm also adding a fuselage tank, which you can see on the real thing just protuding below the instrument panel.  I think it just needs to be a flat piece as there's no way you can see around it.  I just have to figure a way to mount it.

 

As to the exhausts, I'm not adding the engine until I'm ready to mount the engine.  That way, I can glue the exhausts into a properly aligned position as I add them, starting with the lower pipes first.

 

13 hours ago, BradG said:

A little hot water might get that twist out of it.

 

I think I'll be OK pulling it into position as I glue it together.  I've thought of hot water to soften it, but not being able to press it evenly against a flat surface may well mitigate this method.  I'll see how I go.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[mgbooyv8]

Hi Michael,

 

I scratched my head also over the Eduard seatbelts.

In my opinion it is not executed very well.

Here you can see how I solved the issue.

Hope it helps.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Dpgsbody55]

17 hours ago, mgbooyv8 said:

Hi Michael,

 

I scratched my head also over the Eduard seatbelts.

In my opinion it is not executed very well.

Here you can see how I solved the issue.

Hope it helps.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

Thanks for your tips on the seatbelts, Peter.  I'll certainly bear this in mind when I get to that part of the build.

 

I've made some passable progress on this model in recent days.  Firstly, I've got an engine which I could install barring the exhaust pipes, but I may do a little more work on this before it finally goes in.  I am thinking it may need spark plug leads, as the rear plugs are visible if a side cowling is made removable, though the kit does not come with anything to facilitate their addition.  Colours are taken from a picture I found of an actual engine.

 

 

The wings have also been completely built up, and I've followed Dennis's suggestion of adding tabs to the wing which will help in joining the wings to the fuselage.

 

 

The fuselage and interior bits have been painted in my approximation of one of the many colours used by the various factories scattered around Russia at this time.  Interior colours for VVS aircraft are a real minefield and there seems to have been no true standard in any way, including the various types of I-16 that were in production at any one time from 1938 to 1941.  Interior colours varied from the blue I have depicted, to various shades of blue, blue/grey, blue/green and grey.  Alas, all the Rata's around today are recreations, so the colours I've used are a refection of them.  It also seems that in 1939, all of the I-16 Types 5, 10, 17, 18, 24, 27 and 28 were in production at the same time.  I wonder how this affected front line units at this time, as the Winter War against Finland was raging at the end of 1939.  Anyway, here's the photos.

 

Firstly, left side painted with a couple of parts added.

 

Next, some Eduard additions built and awaiting paint.  Very fiddly

 

 

Painted and installed, with control rods added.  Two of these pass through the bulkhead, and I'm wishing now I'd drilled these before gluing them in place....

 

 

Next, the floor has been added.  I taped the right side fuselage into place while this was setting as it could affect alignment later.

 

 

Some work has started on the right side also, with the air regulator complete, but undercarriage selector only partially complete.  BTW, this is the same colour as the rest of the model, despite what the camera has depicted.  I've also added a rib at the front, to aid location of the engine firewall later.  Hopefully this will keep the engine square with the fuselage.

 

 

That's all for the moment.  Hopefully another update in a few days time.

 

Cheers, and a happy Easter to all.  I hope you're all staying well.

Michael

[Padubon]

Very nice.  I have a soft spot for the -16, I will get one soon.

keep it up!

 

[Dpgsbody55]

The cockpit is now finished as far as I can go before gluing the fuselage halves together.  The seat belts were a pfaff and I'm not too happy with them.  I now tend to agree that the set in the Eduard aftermarket kit are too short in the lap belts, but my patience had worn out by then, so they are "stock".  I also think that they should be painted on both sides, and I have done that where necessary.

 

Here's the pictures, starting with the simpler right side.

 

 

The cables will be fed through a hole drilled in the forward bulkhead which contained a pulley set for the cable runs in the real thing.  But that's for the next update.

 

Here's the left side.

 

 

 

I would have liked to have added some wiring, but the control rods got in the way and I felt the rods were more important to add, given the Eduard etch control levers added also.  The instrument panel is OK, but I have left out the radio provided in the Eduard etch, as most Russian planes didn't have them in 1939 when the Type 17 entered production.

 

Next up, I'll glue the fuselage halves together, add my fuel tank, then run those cables.  After that, I'll look at adding a floor, then add the wings. 

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Alain Gadbois]

Very nice work on the cockpit, looks very convincing!

 

Alain

[Dpgsbody55]

Thanks Alain.  I wish I'd thought out this build a little better, though, as I'd have liked to include some wiring.  That said, once the top cover is on the fuselage, you need a torch to see anything.

 

Some more progress.  First of all, I added my fuel tank (just the front face), pulled through all the cables and added a fuselage floor.  Here it is with the cables pulled tight.

 

 

Fuel tank visible over the top of the instrument panel.

 

 

Left side of the cockpit.

 

 

Next, I added some structure to the lower cockpit sides that brace against the wing spar centre section, then added the lower fuselage or cockpit floor in two halves.  You can see in this where I've secured the cables from the undercarriage crank etc.

 

 

Then the other floor half was temporarily added and the lower wing used to help set the position of them.  The next two pictures show the results.

 

 

 

So here's the now completed fuselage, with the fop of the cockpit glued in.  I've painted the top coaming and masked it off, including the windscreen mounting point.

 

 

Next up, this morning the wings are added and set into place.  Some small adjustment was required as the wings didn't want to sit square to the plane, then I taped the rear part of the wing to the fuselage to maintain alignment.  Clear tape was used to set the small amount of dihedral these planes had.

 

 

And a few moments ago, I added the the tail plane and again set the dihedral.  I found that the way the kit has designed the mounting tabs doesn't help hold the tail planes in place.  They want to slide backwards a little.  I also found that they didn't quite meet the leading edge of the fillet, so a very small amount was filed out of the mounting holes on each side to correct this.  Here's what it looks like now.

 

 

Now you can see what I meant about needing a torch to see the cockpit details.

 

 

Regarding the added fuel tank, I wouldn't bother again as it's not visible with the kit together.  Very annoying, as I've found a picture which suggested it was visible.  Only if you're a 5 year old pilot, I guess.

 

Tomorrow, I'll start cleaning the model, filling gaps and the sink marks on the fuselage exterior where the frames have been molded on the insides.  Then splash some paint about.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Padubon]

Did you have any to battle any seams? Looks like it fit well.

[Dpgsbody55]

4 minutes ago, Padubon said:

Did you have any to battle any seams? Looks like it fit well.

 

It is still drying after having the wings and tail glued into place.  But the fit is very good and I think it will only need a little filler and clean up and the exterior of the fuselage halves have some small sink marks that correspond with the interior detail.  I will be spending some time on this as you can be sure that any defects will show after it's painted.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael