Eduard 1/48 Polikarpov I-16 Type 24
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Background
 It
was my extreme pleasure to finally meet the owner of Eduard - Vladimír
Sulc - at the IPMS USA Nationals, that were held at the beginning of August
in Kansas City. He was kind enough to hand Internet Modeler ("me")
a number of kits for review, including this Type 24. In addition, he gave
me one of the corrected cowls for our reviewer currently working on the
Type 10.
What a gracious and nice person! I enjoyed talking to him, and we -
naturally - talked a lot about models.
The Kit
The production release of Eduard's I-16 Type 24 consists of approximately
75 injected molded parts, two clear injected pieces, a fret of photoetch
and masks (this time "kabuki"). There are plenty of parts for
the spare bin, since Eduard provides most parts on three different sprue
(apparently substituting only the fuselage and wings per Type).
 One
of the problems I pointed out in my Type
10 First Look still apply. The cockpit floor isn't correct. While
some will like how Eduard handles the cockpit overall, it will be better
served either by judicious scratchbuilding, or an aftermarket company
providing a resin and photoetch replacement. Thankfully Eduard listened
to the modelers on one point - they corrected the cowl. In fact, if you
email Eduard and tell them you have the Type 10 with the original cowl,
they'll send you a replacement. In addition, the photoetch handles the
starboard wheel well "window", but providing a photoetch frame,
and a piece of clear acetate to put behind it. However, cutting the window
out is left to the modeler.
 Decals
are for four different schemes, but the first scheme is actually two different
aircraft flown by Safonov, with the uppersides in AII Green and lowers
in AII Blue. The second scheme is for a machine flown by Tsokolajev of
the 4. GIAP, Baltic Fleet, Lake Ladoga, April, 1942. It was finished with
AEh-9 uppers and AII Blue lowers. The third machine is Krichevsky's of
the 254. IAP, Leningrad Front, 1942. Eduard has you finish this in what
appears to be AII Dark Green over AII Blue, but I wonder if the Dark Green
should actually be AII Green. The final machine in the main part of the
instructions is Shestakov's "White 3", of the 69. IAP, Odessa,
Summer, 1941. It too is represented in AII Dark Green over AII blue, with
an attractive red rudder.
  I
typed above "main part of the instructions" because the decal
sheet caters for a fifth pilot, but the only representation you'll get
for that machine is the front of the instruction sheet, at the bottom
of all the text. It's an aircraft believe to be flown by Guryakov of the
4. GIAP KBF, Winter, 1941/1942. It appears to be finished with an AEh-9
coat over the standard AII Green on the top sides, and AII Blue on the
bottom. All decals are well printed and in register.
Conclusion
This has turned into one of Eduard's best kits that I've seen and if
you like the I-16 - and build in 1/48th - you're doing yourself a disservice
by not picking one up.
My thanks to Eduard for sending
the review sample.
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