When I made the quip about who'd produce a 1/32 scale version of the Polikarpov I-153 I hadn't realised that Sliver Wings already had! But at $201.00 NZD I think that's going to have to wait.

Chris, no scale model kit is worth so much hard earned money. That are about 135 Euros, which is far beyond my wallet ....

Anyway, first steps are made for Irina's bird. This little engine consists of 48 parts. Still needs to be painted, mainly black. I really hope it will fit in the nacelle later ....




Have a nice Sunday!
Torsten

Alas, I think Chris is right, I've bitten off more than I can chew what with all the other campaigns I'm in. I believe I'm shifting my build and, literally, down-scaling a bit. This seems a little more reasonable, but still interesting:





I still have two left. I've already done the type 24 and have a separate boxing of the type 10, so I think I'll go with either the 17 or 18 for this campaign.

Enjoying watching what everyone else is doing so far!

Michael

Very nice engine.

But how do you plan to paint this now that it is completely assembled? It seems impossible to me that all those different engine and frame parts must have the same color?

Michael, I see lots of parts for a small airplane. How easy or fast will this I-16 be?

Bob

Not to worry Bob, don't forget there are enough parts for two airplanes there (plus some extras). There were originally three in the box and I've already built one, so I know it's not a bad build at all.

Michael

Attached the LG then taped the canopy and primed all ready for paint if the weather here will cooperate.

Been making progress on my yak-3. The fuselage is all buttoned up and her wings are on. The wing fuselage joint fit up perfectly

I opened up the gun troughs in the upper cowling and used some brass tube to make some blast tubes. The cowl piece itself was slightly oversized but easily sanded in.

Next up will be to fit up the lower radiator housing,fab up some new trim tabs and hollow out the exhausts.

Mike, can I ask you what glue are you using for the brass tubes? I have had to build two exhaust tubes for my Po-2 as they were oddly missing (I found out different ICM Po-2 kits do have this part though). Anyway I have shaped them, but when I tried to stick them together with cyanoacrylate superglue, the bond was so weak it broke on touch.

Mike, both the cockpit and nose look good.

Hi shrimpman! In this case I did use CA and alot of it. I initially glued it down and got the attitude set and then flooded around it. The surface was rough too, I had to thin it out so the tubes would show through the troughs. In your case you might consider trying a 2 part epoxy. You can also try roughing up the contact surfaces or give the glue something to dry and grab on to.

Bob thanks for the compliments, Im really enjoying this build. Ive never built a yak before and I cant stop admiring its different looks. I see your 7V is coming along well! I have a couple of ICM's yak-7s in my stash, it nice to see one coming together.

Whilst I've got several other builds under way for other campaigns I'm still working on the Chaika. I've got it mostly complete although I won't progress any further till the photoetch parts for the cowl front and wing bracing turns up from mother Russia. So here's where I'm up to, it's been an easy enjoyable build that I've had fun with.









Scuse the resin dust I've been furiously sanding resin parts for the Pacific Coast Models Hawker Hurricane I'm building for one of those "other" campaigns.

Chris, those wings look nice a aligned and the desk looks cleaner than mine.

Bob

Hi Bob thanks but looks can be deceiving the bottom wings deviate slightly not easily seen in the pics but there. My bench just seems clean Bob because I tidied up before taking these pics. However I've not seen your bench so it may well be more of a clutter than mine. I'me working on building a man cave outside of the house (Shed) so I can get back some room and organise myself a little better. (And my wife will be ecstatic to get my uh "stuff" out of the house her words are stronger)

Chris, all I could do was laugh after reading the wife comment. Many well wishes on your man cave completion don't forget the vent fan.

Bob

Good one! My entire working space is about 3 square feet of a living room table. Wife not too happy. Anyway, I've mae some progress on my Po-2. I've managed to attach he wings, I was realy dreading that step, but all went well, I did not break any struts and somehow managed not to mess up my paintwork, which is a huge success for me. I followed your advice: I attached the fuselage struts first, and placed the top wing to get the right angle, carefully aligned the wing and let it harden. Then I took the top wing off, attached the wing struts to the bottom wing and pushed them further to the sides and then, whole wing struts were still soft, I glued in the top wings to the fixed fuselage struts and then I pushed the wing struts into to holes in the top wing. I have had trouble with the decals, they turned out extremely thin and much more brittle than I expected and sadly one of the red stars broke to pieces when I applied them. I managed to rescue that by pushing the broken pieces together and painting on the mising bits. Now it's time for the strings, and there's a lot of them, and the engine. It's not a great build, but so far I am very happy with myself, I made much fewer bad mistakes than on my previous models and my technique must have improved a lot, so far I have not broken any pieces, while few months before when I worked on ICM model, I spent more time fixing broken parts then building the plane.

Bob, nice work on your Yak 7. I have the same kit here twice, 1 in winter camo with skis and a summer version with wheels. But I haven't tackeled both kits yet.
Shrimpman, nice "sewing machine" there. That's how the Wehrmacht called this aircraft when the "Night Witches" came in with them to disturb.

Anyway, I have also some progress on my Peschka. Wings and gondolas are ready and the interior is painted with Dark Grey 378 from Revell. The engine is airbrushed with Black 8 also from Revell. Now comes the detail painting ....





Next steps will be assembling and painting the fuselage. Still a long way to go ....

Have a nice Sunday!
Torsten

Shrimpman: Very well done indeed! You're on the way for sure!

Torsten: Looking good my friend!

Michael

Looking damn fine Shrimpman the Po-2 is coming along very nicely.

Torsten the engine looks bloody good! That's a very good looking kit gonna have to add this to my "must get" list.

Yes, you should do that, Chris! It's really a fine kit and I'm amazed about the fitting. Comes close to Tamiya. I can only congratulate Zvezda for this kit. My only worries at the moment are how the engine will fit in the nacelle. I'll see ....
Right now I work on the fuselage interior and the bomb bay. 435 parts want to be glued together .... Hopefully I can throw some paint on it tomorrow and show some photos next week then.

Torsten

Shrimpman, I have passed that kit many times because it is a bi-plane, but you make it look easy. Nice job.

Torsten, "DITTO" what Chris stated. Nice looking kit and the engines are eye catchers.

Bob

Finally, my Po-2 is finished! This is my best model yet and it's been a great build, although very exhausting at times. I need an Airfix now to recover. It does not look as great and clean as your planes, but I am still very proud of myself. I have scratch-built some parts, including the ammo crates. I've learned a lot, I can see progress, I did not mess up as bad as I usually do, even though the rigging got me cursing a little.

I think it looks great SM!

Michael

Great job Shrimpman. That is one sweet model.
Take care,
Don "Lakota"

Hi Shrimpman awesome work buddy your Po-2 looks ready to take off and harass some Germans.