Polikarpov I-16 Type 10

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Eduard's released their debut 1/48 scale Polikarpov I-16, their Type 10, all the way back in May 2006.

This was a landmark kit at the time thanks to its fine surface textures, high level of detail and the effective use of coloured photo-etch.

Hobbycraft had several 1/48 scale I-16s in its range and they were not bad kits, but they were immediately 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.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Thumbnail panels:

Even after nearly twenty years, the kit is still a worthy player in terms of packaging, quality of injection moulded parts, included detail and markings.

The plastic parts are attached to five sprues via fine connectors. Moulding quality is excellent. 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 depiction of fabric detail on the wings and the tail surfaces. Eduard has really nailed this 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 nice.

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.

Smaller details still impress too. For example, each of the exhaust stacks is supplied as an individual part, and they are all hollowed out at the end.

The plastic engine is a bit simplified but you won't see much behind the cooling shutters.

A number of parts are marked as "not for use", being reserved for later variants.

The colour photo-etched fret is always a welcome 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 great when assembled, incorporating all the tiny details of the dials and even Cyrillic stencilling on the panel itself.

The clear sprue contains one small windscreen.

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 Eduard as usual these days, and look to be very thin and of high quality.

My only nitpick is that the trailing edge of the bottom wing is a little thick. This can be addressed by a few minutes with a sanding stick.

Eduard's venerable 1/48 scale Polikarpov I-16 is still worth building nearly twenty years after its first release.

Buy with confidence!

Recommended.

Thanks to Eduard for the sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2024 by Brett Green
Page Created 22 November, 2024
Last updated 22 November, 2024

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page