Polikarpov I-16 - Spanish Airforce - DONE!

[Fanes]

Don't you just like it when everything goes according to plan?

- well not so much for the flat coat. I tried a new one on the interior (Mission models) and even though it sprayed nicely, it didn't dry flat.

I might even say it's more of a gloss coat.

FThe search for a decenct acrylic flat coat continues...

[Alex]

4 hours ago, Fanes said:

Don't you just like it when everything goes according to plan?

- well not so much for the flat coat. I tried a new one on the interior (Mission models) and even though it sprayed nicely, it didn't dry flat.

I might even say it's more of a gloss coat.

FThe search for a decenct acrylic flat coat continues...

FWIW I have always found Vallejo acrylic matte to work well for me.  I cut it ~50% with their thinner.  I tried Mission Models paints on one project and wasn't impressed.  I think the colors are done well from an accuracy standpoint, but for me they fell well short of either Tamiya or Vallejo acrylics in terms of ease of use.

[Fanes]

On 10/29/2020 at 2:35 PM, Alex said:

FWIW I have always found Vallejo acrylic matte to work well for me.  I cut it ~50% with their thinner.  I tried Mission Models paints on one project and wasn't impressed.  I think the colors are done well from an accuracy standpoint, but for me they fell well short of either Tamiya or Vallejo acrylics in terms of ease of use.

Thanks for your input Alex! I ended up using some flat coat from AK (should be from Vallejo) which lays down flat but not as thin and smooth as a lacquer flat.

 

cockpit finished up

I finished the pit in multiple small sessions and decided to take pictures afterwards. So here it is:

 

The floor with some wheatering and the seatbelts in place. Decided to go with Sutton belts since they were used later in the war and the original I-16 belts were only available as Eduard's steel (they are just awful).

 

The backrest all suited up

 

From now on it's all assembling.

 

Cheers

Joachim

 

[Fanes]

Assembly time

Some quick pictures from the assembled Rata

 

The cowl's fit isn't perfect. Might also have been me.

 

The wing roots should be good with a small amount of filler

 

The tailplanes might some more love but that shouldn't take too long

 

So, I guess my next post will be with some primer on!

[mozart]

Looking promising Joachim, though as you say the fit of some bits isn’t good. No doubts you’ll lick it into shape. How heavily are you weathering it? 

[Fanes]

2 hours ago, mozart said:

Looking promising Joachim, though as you say the fit of some bits isn’t good. No doubts you’ll lick it into shape. How heavily are you weathering it? 

That's a goo question Max. Since the photos from the spanish I-16 show little to no weathering, I'll go for a light weathering.

Some small exhaust stains, low contrast wash and a little bit of fading/light filter to account for the spanish sunshine

[Fanes]

One quick shot form the bench:

 

The black base is on! I used Alclad's black primer which somehow went down a little rough. Nothing a little buffing can't even out.

There will now be a little halt to this build since I plan to focus on putting decals on my F-104.

[Fanes]

I'm having a hard time with the decals on my Starfighter. So it's back to therapy, eh the I-16.

What's better then hundreds of tiny stencil decals which somehow tend to show silvering (what the heck - haven't had that issue in years)?

Cutting masks of course

Fast forward about one hour and the drawing is finished.

I'm very excited to see how the arrows will look like after cutting!

[mozart]

Those masks look really good Joachim, the arrow insignias will be a challenge for sure! Look forward to seeing the results. 

[Alex]

Yes - that's a high degree-of-difficulty stencil job for sure.  Really interested to see how that comes out.

 

What material will you cut the masks from?

[LSP_Kevin]

Would love to see you upload those excellent masks to Scale Model Paint Masks , Joachim!

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

Lovely looking masks! 

I've gotten some pretty tiny stuff cut with my 1st gen Silouhette cutter (2mm-ish)

[Fanes]

4 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Would love to see you upload those excellent masks to Scale Model Paint Masks , Joachim!

 

Kev

Will do Kevin - will do! I have a dozen of drawings for masks ready but tend to forget to upload them

 

13 hours ago, Alex said:

Yes - that's a high degree-of-difficulty stencil job for sure.  Really interested to see how that comes out.

 

What material will you cut the masks from?

I used vinyl (Oramask 810) which works usually like a charm.

Forgot to take photos yesterday but the masks came out pretty mediochre.

As feared the arrows got butchered even on the slowest and weakest setting.

On the other hand the sourrounding mask looks good. I'll post pictures later to clarify things

[Fanes]

Taking photos of vinyl masks under artificial light seems close to impossible.

I'll try to put them on the Rata together with some paint

[Fanes]

First masks applied

Here's a picture of the applied masks.

I had to do them the other way round. Usually I would have laid down the brught colours first and the black parts at last.

Now all hope is on the MRP red to get a decent finish.

 

The colour for the black part of the insignia and codes is a 50/50 mixture of Tamiya nato black and gloss black. That's just atad lighter than pure black.

Next step (later today): the white behind the St.Andrew's cross and as a base for the yellow/red roundels on the wings.