Polikarpov I-16 Type 10

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

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Eduard's latest new-tool release is a 1/48 scale Polikarpov I-16 Type 10.

Hobbycraft has several 1/48 scale I-16s in its range and they are not bad kits, but they have now been eclipsed by Eduard's new offering.

Eduard's 1/48 scale I-16 Type 10 comprises 94 parts in olive coloured plastic, 2 parts in clear, a colour photo-etched fret, a small masking sheet and decals for four marking options.

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The kit is state of the art in terms of packaging, quality of injection moulded parts, included detail and markings.

Even before fondling the plastic, I was impressed with Eduard's continuing use of separate resealable bags to pack their sprues.

The styrene parts are attached to five sprues via fine connectors. Moulding quality is superb. I could not find a single sink mark or ejector pin in any area that will be visible on the finished model.

What impressed me most, however, was the brilliant depiction of fabric detail on the wings and the tail surfaces. Eduard has really nailed this - not surprising considering their history with fabric-covered WWI aircraft - with a very convincing yet subtle texture. As on the real aircraft, the fabric effect is different on the lower wings compared to the upper wings and the tailplanes. Really superb.

The remainder of surface detail is a combination of finely raised access panels, recessed hinge lines for control surfaces, and a minimal amount of crisply engraved panel lines.

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Smaller details are no less impressive. For example, each of the exhaust stacks is supplied as an individual part, and they are all hollowed out at the end.

A number of parts are marked as "not for use", indicating later variants will be coming in the future.

The colour photo-etched fret is a thoughtful inclusion. This fret provides the harness and instrument panel in living colour, plus more metal detail parts for the cockpit and the front cowl cooling grille. The instrument panel should look fantastic when assembled, incorporating all the tiny details of the dials and even Cyrillic stencilling on the panel itself.

Instructions are supplied in a colour 12 page booklet, with a detailed history on the front page followed by a parts list and six pages of construction steps and four pages of full-colour marking guides, each with a four-view illustration.

Markings are supplied for four aircraft, all with different schemes. Decals are produced by Aviprint and look to be very thin and of high quality.

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My only nitpicks are that the profile of the front cowl is too squared off, even compared to the illustrations on Eduard's own box art and instructions, and that the trailing edge of the bottom wing is a little thick. These issues, if they bother you, can both be addressed by a few minutes with a sanding stick.

Eduard has continued to increase the quality of their kits over the last decade. They are now at the point where Eduard's new-tool offerings rival the best kits from Japan. Indeed, Eduard's overall packaging and level of included detail is, in my opinion, better than most mainstream model companies.

Eduard's Polikarpov I-16 Type 10 is a beautifully detailed, simple to build kit that offers many interesting marking options. I am sure that we will see a few squadrons of colourful Ratas at model shows before long!

Highly Recommended.

Review kit purchased with HyperScale funds

Review Text Copyright © 2006 by Brett Green
Page Created 24 May, 2006
Last updated 24 May, 2006

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