JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
I am three models into my re-entry into scale modeling and enjoying it very much. The first was a 1/48 Hasegawa Bf109G-10. The late model 109's have always been a favorite of mine.
The second was a 1/48 Tamiya (old) Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero that my daughter requested after we watched Hayao Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises". The canopy was a real struggle for me and that's one part of a build that you must do right the first time.
The third was the 1/48 Hasegawa Macchi C.202 Folgore that I shared last week.
I thought it might be fun and try to build a plane from each of the WWII combatants. So with that in mind, my next project is a Russian fighter. I was contemplating trying to get my hands on the 1/48 Tamiya Ilyushin Shtormovik that I've heard good things about but it's pricey and as a ground-attack plane, it sort of goes against my fighter plane motif that I've got going. So I settled on the iconic Polikarpov I-16. My local hobby shop had a copy of the Eduard Profipack kit of the I-16 Type 10 at a reasonable price. This is my first kit from Eduard and I was curious to how it would compare quality/build wise to the Japanese brands I've built in the past.
The kit is nicely boxed and packed with multiple clear bags holding the different sprues with the clear parts, photo-etched parts and masks getting their own bags. Being a Profipack kit, it comes with the photo-etched parts and masks, which is a nice touch... I guess I will attempt to build this kit strictly out-of-box. The instructions are a grade better than what I'm used to seeing (not that I've seen much). It's printed in color on thick, glossy paper.
After perusing the internet, looking at reviews of the kit and different builds for a few days, I decided to get to work. Before removing the parts from the sprues, I thought I'd hollow out the exhaust stacks. Eduard's attempt at providing hollowed out stacks is admirable but they are really just dimpled and fairly unconvincing. Since they are so tiny, I left them on the sprue to begin the hollowing out process using a sharp Xacto. You can compare the stock stack on the left with a hollowed out one on the right in the picture below.
The stacks themselves have mold lines which I wanted to address so at this point I removed them from the sprues (Eduard provides more exhausts than you need for this particular kit... helpful just in case you happen to lose one!) to clean off the mold lines and to finish out the hollowing process.
The I-16 has wing guns that Eduard provides as separate pieces. Since I am aiming to do a OOB build, I hollowed out the ends instead of using metal tubing. The gun on the left is cleaned up and hollowed out while the gun on the right is straight from the sprue.
That's it for now. The cockpit has a bunch of tiny photo-etched parts but I'm debating whether or not to use them. The cockpit opening is tiny and I doubt you'd see much beyond the instrument panel.
The second was a 1/48 Tamiya (old) Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero that my daughter requested after we watched Hayao Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises". The canopy was a real struggle for me and that's one part of a build that you must do right the first time.
The third was the 1/48 Hasegawa Macchi C.202 Folgore that I shared last week.
I thought it might be fun and try to build a plane from each of the WWII combatants. So with that in mind, my next project is a Russian fighter. I was contemplating trying to get my hands on the 1/48 Tamiya Ilyushin Shtormovik that I've heard good things about but it's pricey and as a ground-attack plane, it sort of goes against my fighter plane motif that I've got going. So I settled on the iconic Polikarpov I-16. My local hobby shop had a copy of the Eduard Profipack kit of the I-16 Type 10 at a reasonable price. This is my first kit from Eduard and I was curious to how it would compare quality/build wise to the Japanese brands I've built in the past.
The kit is nicely boxed and packed with multiple clear bags holding the different sprues with the clear parts, photo-etched parts and masks getting their own bags. Being a Profipack kit, it comes with the photo-etched parts and masks, which is a nice touch... I guess I will attempt to build this kit strictly out-of-box. The instructions are a grade better than what I'm used to seeing (not that I've seen much). It's printed in color on thick, glossy paper.
After perusing the internet, looking at reviews of the kit and different builds for a few days, I decided to get to work. Before removing the parts from the sprues, I thought I'd hollow out the exhaust stacks. Eduard's attempt at providing hollowed out stacks is admirable but they are really just dimpled and fairly unconvincing. Since they are so tiny, I left them on the sprue to begin the hollowing out process using a sharp Xacto. You can compare the stock stack on the left with a hollowed out one on the right in the picture below.
The stacks themselves have mold lines which I wanted to address so at this point I removed them from the sprues (Eduard provides more exhausts than you need for this particular kit... helpful just in case you happen to lose one!) to clean off the mold lines and to finish out the hollowing process.
The I-16 has wing guns that Eduard provides as separate pieces. Since I am aiming to do a OOB build, I hollowed out the ends instead of using metal tubing. The gun on the left is cleaned up and hollowed out while the gun on the right is straight from the sprue.
That's it for now. The cockpit has a bunch of tiny photo-etched parts but I'm debating whether or not to use them. The cockpit opening is tiny and I doubt you'd see much beyond the instrument panel.
Furlushinger double post.
