Currently working on the Eduard 1/48 I-16 type 17. Not sure which variant I am going to build yet.

On the I-16, does anybody know about the two "lights", holes, near the gunsight above the instrument coaming?

Are these supposed to be lenses, or lamps of some kind? My references are not too extensive and I am debating if I should drill them out....

thanks

They're windows, which let a little ambient light shine onto the instrument panel. Drill them out and glaze with Krystal Clear/Clearfix or equivalent.

Thanks Jesse. Some shots show them some don't. So...there just glass

I think that they may have been overpainted on some aircraft, which is why they don't show up in all pictures. There's nothing about them in the "In Action" book

The instrument hood of the I-16 in addition to the two "skylights" for panel lighting also had two handhold cutouts in the leather padded area near the back edge.



Although the I-16 can be a confusing animal on which to "pin down" details due to all the major and minor modifications it went through during its service life, I've read on some of the Russian modelling sites that this feature was identical on all marks. Notice on this pic of the type 5 that the more swept-back sliding canopy of that mark actually was completely behind the light holes when at the back of its travel:



HTH;

Automaton