Polikarpov I-16 Rata

[Shar2]

Polikarpov I-16 Rata

1:48 Weekend Edition

History

The first low-wing monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to enter service, the Polikarpov I-16 was obsolete even before the Second World War began, yet plodded along as the Soviet Union's first line fighter until 1943 when the Red Air Force finally introduced more advanced aircraft to fight it out with the Luftwaffe for the remainder of the war.

Of advanced design for its time, the I-16 was, none-the-less, an illustration of poor timing, being the fastest of its type when first introduced, highly manoeuvrable, with excellent climbing speed and roll rate, yet soon outclassed by a newer craft developed by Germany and Japan. While the aircraft performed well against German combat aircraft during the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939), and against the Japanese Air Force in Manchuria starting in 1937, by the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the aircraft was outclassed by new generations of enemy fighters. Yet, as the most numerous of the Soviet fighters available at that time, it bore the brunt of the battle for several years.

On the plus side, its simple, rugged construction, all-wood monocoque fuselage and metal wings made the I-16 easy to maintain under frontline conditions, and enabled it to absorb heavy punishment while staying in the fight. In fact, the plane itself was sturdy enough to be used as a ram to destroy enemy aircraft in midair when ammunition ran out in a dogfight.

On the negative side, it had poor longitudinal stability, a tendency to stall in a glide, and was exceedingly temperamental, requiring highly skilled airmanship to perform well and not kill the pilot before the enemy had a shot at him.

Although more than 7,000 of the fighters and their two-seat trainer variants were produced, not more than a handful have survived, with 3 non-flying aircraft being in museums (two in Russia, one in China). However, at least 6 wrecked I-16 had been restored to flying condition in New Zealand by the end of 1998, all of them Type 24s dating from 1939. At least one was imported to the USA in 1999.

The Model

The model comes in a very attractive open ended box with a picture of the type 10 Rata in flight. On opening, the single poly bag containing the sprues is quite loose but the parts are quite well protected. There are four sprues of green styrene and one of clear, contained in a separate zip bag. All the parts appear very well moulded with only the smallest bits of flash and a few moulding pips. Being the Weekend edition there are no resin or etched parts in this set, but, unless you’re really into super detailing then this won’t really matter. The two clear parts, the windscreen and gunsight are thin and very clear. The detail that is present is delicately done and being a wooden aircraft, there are very few panel lines, what are fitted are well done and slightly raised, as the ones on the real aircraft are. The fabric on the wings and the tailplanes are very finely done with the ribs just showing through the taught fabric. The interior of the fuselage is perhaps slightly soft and could do with some plastic strip to build up the frames a bit. The only real difficlulty I can see when building this model is the very small location pins and holes, and they are tiny, making them almost useless, so care should be taken when fitting and gluing parts like the wings and fuselage.

The build starts with the cockpit and the fitting of the seat base and back to the floor piece, along with control column and rudder pedals. The sidewalls also have details, such as throttles, undercarriage lever, plus several other control boxes and levers are also fitted. Before the closing of the fuselage the multiple exhaust pipes need to be fitted. There are a choice of instrument panels, one with moulded details and one without, giving the option of painting or using the decal provided. Once the fuselage is closed up, the completed cockpit is fitted along with the instrument panel. The wings are made up of a one piece lower part and two piece uppers, along with two more exhausts. With these glued together the completed wings can be fitted to the fuselage, followed by the two wing machine gun barrels and pitot probe. The tailplane is next and consists of two single piece horizontal parts, the rudder, tailcone and tail skid. Moving forward, the engine is made up of the cylinders, or I should say half cylinders on a backing plate, inner plate, prop shaft, cowling front, two more exhausts and the upper machine gun bulges. Turning the model over the undercarriage, each consisting of the main leg, retraction actuator, wheel and the four parts of the undercarriage doors. The final operations in the build are to fit the gunsight, windscreen, speed venture, two engine bulges, propeller and spinner. There is only one colour scheme for a Type 10 aircraft of the Sinkiang Aviation unit, Dihua airfield, China, 1941-42. The small decal sheet giving the unit and country markings, for aircraft 33 and the optional instrument panel as mentioned earlier. The decals are well printed and in register although slightly glossy, they shouldn’t silver over a layer of Future or whatever sealant you use.

Conclusion

This is a very nice model of a great little aircraft and even in 1:48 scale it’s still quite small. For a quick build, which these weekend edition models are designed for, it will be a great addition to a modellers collection. Recommended.

[Flankerman]

Just a slight nit-pick - nothing to do with the review - which is excellent BTW.

The I-16 was only called 'Rata' by the Spanish Nationalists (because it was painted grey with a black nose)

It was nicknamed 'Mosca' ('Fly') by the Spanish Republican side.

The Soviets called it 'Ishachok' (or Ishak for short) - which means 'Little Donkey'

The name comes about as a sort of corruption of the designation in Cyrillic - 'I-Sixteen' is 'Ee shesnahdtsat'

So the boxart shows a Soviet 'Ishak'

I'll get my Anorak.......

Ken

[Shar2]

Thanks Ken, I was aware of the different names for it, I just used the one most recognisable. Actually it's a Type 10 of the Chinese Air Force and I don't think they gave it a name. I'll get your coat.