Eduard 1/48th Polikarpov I-16 Type 10 By Matt Bittner

Background

Since I've already previewed the Eduard I-16, I won't go into too much detail in this article. Now that Eduard has the "teething" problems sorted out, they have released the Type 10 as the first in their series. Since publishing my preview article, a number of others inconsistencies have come to light. I'll explain in the text below.

The Kit

The production release of Eduard's I-16 Type 10 consists of 75 injected molded parts, two clear injected pieces, a fret of photoetch and masks (but not "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).

The same problems I pointed out in my earlier article still apply. Cockpit floor isn't correct and there is not window in the starboard landing gear well. 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. In addition, two other potential problems have come to light with the Eduard I-16. First, the cowl isn't 100% correct. Yes, you can get there with sandpaper and drawings, but I've heard rumors about new cowls coming from an aftermarket resin producer. The other problem is the "tail kink". If you look at a head-on shot down the spine of a "real" I-16, you can see where the rudder "kinks" (for lack of a better term) to one side to offset the propellor's torque. This was not molded by Eduard, but it may be difficult to do in this medium, which is just speculation on my part.

Decals are for four different schemes. The first is for Major Mikhail N. Yakushin's machine that flew with the Red Five Aerobatics Team, 1939, sporting an overall AEh-9 grey with a black cow and stripe down the fuselage, with a red vertical tail. The second machine is for an unknown unit in the Ukraine, 1941, which was also overall AEh-9 grey "weathered" with a brushed coat of AII Green. The third aircraft is Gernalmajor Ivan A. Lakeev's bird, 1941, painted in AII Green on top with AII Blue on the bottom. The last bird is controversial. It's labeled as coming from an unknown unit in the Leningrad area in 1944. Since we've been able to track down one photo only - published in the In Action book - this photo only shows from the front-edge of the stripe forward. Where the In Action color plate "artist" came up with the four on the rudder is currently unknown. In addition, it is thought this machine was painted AII Dark Green over AII Green, and not Black over Green. For a better representation of what we think this aircraft looks like, I include an updated profile supplied by Erik Pilawskii.

Conclusion

Aside from the comments I made about different areas of the kit, overall it's not a bad kit, and the fabric representation is extremely well done. Weather or not the problems I pointed out matter to you, it's your call, but this is a nice kit to start from.

My thanks to Eduard for sending the review sample.