I-16 type 29, Rumanian air force, 1941

[Antoine]

Digging, still digging.

Just a few bits painted and glued on this one.

[Antoine]

The pit is quickly assembled and painted.

Nearly forgot to put on the harness...

Beautiful dashboard, thanks eduard!

The wash is awful.

I really need some lessons here.

But anyway, once closed, there will be nearly nothing to be seen.

[Antoine]

A little update

I like this kit very much, but there are some area were the fit is not that good.

The main problem is at the wing/fuselage junction.

I did it this way:

First the upper right side, were the fit was best on my I-16.

Then the rear underside.

Then the upper left side and lower forward area.

I give the glue plenty of time to dry between each stage, about one day.

Then it was time to mask everything, so that the sanding sessions wouldn't damage anything.

Then, sanding, and micro meshing.

Here is the result, waiting for a coat of paint to see if everything's well.

[Antoine]

On the road again.

This specific aircraft is not equiped with RS-82 rails, so, after a little bit of masking to keep the wing clean, putty is on, with a spatula.

Little by little, preparing for painting. Two coats of RLM04 on the wingtips, aft fuselage and the fin.

After the second coat.

Metallic grey around the cowling, to figure the metallic ring seen on the front fuselage.

I then sprayed some alu around the pit and on the inner part of the wings to prepare the weathering.

But I can't remember exactly which parts of this aircraft were made in metal, and which parts were made of wood...

[Mike]

Cutesy little Rata

[Antoine]

Masking is over.

Préshading is done with tam XF9 hull red, just for a try.

Attacking the camo.

Nearly everything is permetted on this unique aircraft, so I choose RLM78 light blue for the underside.

Its German, and not very far from the Russian blue, so I think I can't be very far from the truth!

[KiwiSteve]

Love the markings will be watching this build seeing as I'm building a type 24 next

[chaoslord]

this is a quite unusual bird!

and you are doing a great job my friend.

keep it up, eagerly awaiting for the result

[Antoine]

Thanks a lot for the nice comments everybody.

Apart from a few fitting problem, this is overall a nice kit, built OOB, and I didn't bother to much with extra detailling (And in fact i nearly ruined the cockpit paint with a much too heavy wash...).

The interesting part is commencing now, with the painting and weathering.

I think that I'll really enjoy myself, and post step by step, so any constructive comments is more than welcome.

[Antoine]

Continuing the paint.

This aircraft is interresting for more than one reason:

A fellow Romanian modeller, seeing the build on ARC forum, gave me a link with much pics of the aircraft, and some advices:

This aircraft, it seems, was captured by the Romanian army without its wings.

So the Romanian mounted another pair of wings ffrom another aircraft.

So the differences in camo, etc, etc...

I've picked gunze H423 dark green(RLM83), that I'll weather with H422 light green (RLM82)

t the moment, to me,the russian green doesn't fit.

I'll wait till tomorrow, to see how it looks in daylight.

Edited July 4, 2009 by Antoine

[ollieholmes]

This is lookingg very nice.

[Antoine]

Thanks a lot.

More pics tomorrow morning.

[Antoine]

Beginning of the weathering.

Masking in place for the canvas part on the wings.

The result, oversprayed with RLM82

[Antoine]

The metal could be seen under the coat of russian green, so I've added another coat.

Then, to "smoothe" the contrast between the russian green and the RLM83, I've sprayed a very light coat of very diluted RLM82, darkening one and lightening the other at the same time

After another look at the pics and profiles, this time I'm satisfied.

And the winner is.....

It's very clean overall, just some traces wipe off on the fuselage yellow stripe.

We were talking about it a few posts above, this is to illustrate my interpretation.

[p-26luvr]

I put in my order for one of these kits just this afternoon, after reserching it on www.vvs.hobbyvista.com & http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com ( Iwas really looking for material on the nMig3 ,I am working on ICM's kit. ). The site has some good color photos like a walkaround, & build articles ,mostly Hobbycraft/Acdemy. And of course some interesting color profiles. You have to search the 2 sites through. For a good walkaround series of photos go to : http://walkarounds.airforce.ru - in the Russian aircraft section. I really like your build photos, I have a good idea what the kit looks like & I am now looking forward to having it in my sweaty old hands. I'll be looking forward to the finished model. Carl T

[sonofjim]

.....A fellow Romanian modeller, seeing the build on ARC forum, gave me a link with much pics of the aircraft, ....

Antoine Was this Radu by any chance ?

its funny i thought of him immediatley as i read you were doing this Romanian he has taught me so much about Romanian ww2

endevours ,its a great model your building and fantastic work Antoine very clean build and excellent choice of colour and techniques

all the better for a very important and virtually forgotten nationality keep up the great work jim

Edited July 7, 2009 by sonofjim

[Antoine]

Antoine Was this Radu by any chance ?

No, I don't think it was Radu Brinzan, I know he is on ARC, but under his own name.

Anyway, thanks for your kind comments.

Got a hard time yesterday evening trying to glue the undercart together, so I've some advice to give about it.

I'll do the decaling tonight, so maybe a few more pics and comments this evening.

[sonofjim]

No, I don't think it was Radu Brinzan, I know he is on ARC, but under his own name.

Anyway, thanks for your kind comments.

Got a hard time yesterday evening trying to glue the undercart together, so I've some advice to give about it.

I'll do the decaling tonight, so maybe a few more pics and comments this evening.

hi antoine i thought it was Radu the link to the gallery on cartula is Radu's

he has my sculpts on there LOL

anyhow lovley job on the I-16

jim

[Antoine]

Decals are in place.

The undercart...

Quite fragile, I should have painted it AFTER glueing everything together.

[Miroslav]

Very nice work!

[Antoine]

Thanks!

[Maxidad]

Very nice step-by-step, Antoine. Nice and informative.

Paint work looks really nice

[AnonymousFO98]

very nice work indeedy!

[Antoine]

You're welcome!

[Antoine]

Tonight work.

As you can see, I'm not mastering at all the wash technique...