How to Punish a Polikarpov I-16

[Brian da Basher]

Recently, I was lucky enough to be part of a tri-lateral deal involving the ever-generous Jeff Fontaine and Frank2056. From Frank, I got every frugal whiffer's dream: a box full of parts and half-starts. After finishing up my DC-XLR project, I was looking for something comparitively simple. In the box was an almost completed 1/72 Hasegawa I-16. I rummaged through my spares box and found a Brewster Buffalo cowling that was an almost perfect fit. I glued it on and sanded it until it blended in. Next, I filled in the wheel wells and added some spats Jeff was nice enough to vac-form for me and as a final touch, added a cut-back windscreen from a 1/48 Curtiss Racer. I'm not sure what to call it, but I'm leaning towards whiffy late 1930's Red Chinese markings and a mottle scheme over light gray. Anyway, here's the pics before I take her into the paint shop. The windscreen is temporarily tacked on with poster putty.

Brian da Basher

[Daryl J.]

Punishment??   This would be enlightenment.   
,
Daryl J.

[McGreig]

Now that's impressive - a real should-have-been. And the changes are nice and subtle - if you ever display it at a show, I bet a lot of people won't realise that it's a whiff.
Looking forward to seeing this painted

[puddingwrestler]

Why not paint it up in bright cartoony colours like something Pegleg Pete (the villain in the old Mickey Mouse toons) would fly? It's got that perfect stumpy, almost exagerated cartoon quality to it!

[frank2056]

Brian - I knew you'd like that I-16! It looks a lot better with the spats, too.

[philp]

looks like a racer to compete with the GEE BEE.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Brian,

The spats sure look better on the plane than they did on the vacu-form sheets.  If I ever get another supply of Mattel plastic I will hook you up with some more of those things.  Now you have what 26 more spat projects to do before you run out of this spat stash?  :^)

[sequoiaranger]

Reminds me of the Curtiss P-36 "export" derivative (Hawk-75) with the fixed landing gear. Certainly it was to the Soviet Union's advantage to "export" Communism and the tools of Communist power. Quite a believable build. And the link with the Brewster Buffalo isn't far off. The I-16 in general looks like a Buffalo that ran into a haystack and kinda accordion-ed!

This is probably a DUMB question, considering your proclivities, but have you ever made a "Spatfire"--a Spitfire with spats?

The closest I got was a combo of a 1/48 Supermarine S6B/ 1-72 Spitfire combo with **GLORIOUS** spats (illustrated below) from a Travelair Mystery Ship.

[John Howling Mouse]

Looks good, Brian.  Maybe TOO good?  Too believable?  The JMNs won't have anything to pick at with this little gem.   C'mon, throw them a bone to pick!   

[sotoolslinger]

WOW neato B That is one slick and subtle bash

[retro_seventies]

Love it Brian - so stubby! 

[Brian da Basher]

At the 1934 Comintern it was decided more had to be done to assist the Chinese Communists in their struggle, so the Soviet Union simplified the design of their Polikarpov I-16 and sent three examples to Chairman Mao along with permission for them to build their own under license. Comrade Engineer Li Chi was put in charge of the project at the newly established Peoples' Aero Factory #1 in Quingling and before long, the first Chinese Communist-built pursuit rolled off the assembly line. Due to a mis-reading of the blueprints, the new aircraft was called the Li Chi, but this was mis-interpreted as the Lychee due to its small size. The Lychee was similar to its Soviet cousin, but the retractable landing gear had been replaced with a spatted undercarriage to simplify production and maintenance. The I-16 cowling had also been re-designed to better handle the extreme heat of China. Before long, the Red Chinese Air Corps under Comrade Commander Hau-Tse Sung was re-equipped with the new Lychee which inflictred punishing losses on the invading Japanese Army Air Force. The Lychee was also an excellent ground-attack aircraft and the Chinese Red Army cheered when they saw it swooping down on the enemy who often ran merely at the sight of it, intimidated by the superior technology evident in its well-streamlined spats. The example shown here, Comrade Commander Sung's personal aircraft, #240 is in Communist "One China" markings used after the Japanese invasion. It is currently on display at the Peoples' Museum of Great Victory in Lauhang which is across the street from Madame Chow's House of Chow where one can get an excellent lychee chicken as the Wednesday blue plate special.

Brian da Basher

[GTX]

Pretty!!!!

Regards,

Greg

[Brian da Basher]

The model was brush-painted by hand with acrylics. The base color is Model Masters Primer Gray over which I dry-brushed Model Masters Euro Green and Polly Scale Light Green in a stippled pattern. The rudder stripes were painted by hand and the markings are a combination of 1/72 scale Nationalist markings with 1/144 scale late-1940s Red Chinese markings used in the center and on the rudder.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

I want to thank Frank2056 and Jeff Fontaine for sending me all the parts that made this project possible. I couldn't have done it without them!

Brian da Basher