Hi all

Today I got my Ishak (little donkey) on which I'll ride into battle against Clankys imperial phalanx :-) :-) :-) :-)

It is a really nice kit and I hope it will not be too much trouble:



For those who can read German here is a small review

I'll try to replicate this camo



Frank do you already know what my opponent will be?

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen,

Not entirely sure, but I'm leaning towards the FineMolds Claude. I'll be spending the next week finishing my KV-8 and my Pershing, and then the next month working on my 350th scale Hornet. So I don't expect to get started on this campaign until July...... I'll just have to endure the droning of the Polikarpov over my head for a while.

Frank

Everyone who is interested in the Eduard I-16 should check out this:

Eduard I-16 t.10 first impressions by Sergei Kosachev .

I found the tail offset to be present at the model but much less pronounced as in the original photo supplied by Sergei. When I rework the fuselage spine to give it a rounder appearance I'll try to improve the angled shape.

Hello Frank

I have to start soon to be able to finish my model in the timeframe. I often loose interest (or motivation) during a build (cockpit, airbrushing, decalling are the most dangerous stages) and those messages as above take much of the fun of a build ... though sometimes I surprise myself and actuall build a model at once (without putting it back in the box) lets see what this will be :-) :-) :-)

cheers

Steffen

Hi again

Frank as Jean-Luc demanded this thread to be in Aircraft I asked GunTruck to move it from campaigns. Which he did very fast! Thanks again Gunnie!!

Side note to all I-16 builders. Eduard has posted an extensive answer to Sergeys remarks (see link above) in their news letter. IIRC Rowan already wrote it in his Eduard june news article.

Here is the link anyway: Eduard I-16 Newsletter

I have already sanded the nose cover and the squared fuselage top and I am happpy with it. I think it looks better now. I'll post photos soon...

"Good fight and good night!"

Steffen

Nice to see that Eduard is defending themselves from the so called 'experts' out there. A good too many models get the kiss of death from these so called experts. I myself plan on purchasing all of the variants.

Frank

Hi All

I've started my I-16. Here are a few pictures of my progress so far:

Here are the fuselage pictures with the changes to the spine:





I was not able to really improve the look of the cowling, so I am glad Eduard will re-do it for the Type 24 release. (it has still to be smoothed out)



As Rowan suggested I sanded down the trailing edge of the wing. In the picture the three wing parts are already glued together but not yet sanded.

Edit: I just realized this could be misunderstood: the thickness of the trailing edge was already reduced ... it is still out of scale but much better. I did not sand the leading edge



And finally I did a first dry fit of fuselage and wing parts:



cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

I've been putting off working on the cowling and I'm interested to know more of your thoughts about modifying it. I suppose I could set up a makeshift lathe and restore the T-shaped intake and gun openings afterwards. You don't seem very certain that your modification was worth the effort - was the plasic too thin to let you acheive the correct profile?

I suppose I can always practise on the alternative cowling - or take the easy road and just leave well alone for the purposes o fthe review!

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

I think I improved the profile but I am not satisfied with the transition to the front plate. I can't say what disturbs me ....

I took the photo from above to illustrate what I mean:



HTH

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

I think it is a huge improvement and once it's polished that hard transition should disappear on the front face. I think I'll have to pluck up the courage to try it myself...!

Did you work around the air-intake or sand across it like the guns?

All the best

Rowan

A bit of both. I tried to avoid it, but I'll have to restore part of it as I had to get pretty close to the intake and I was using sanding sticks...

best wishes

Steffen

Nice bit of work on your I-16. Nice to know what needs fixing, and how to do it.... My Claude will not get started until I get back from my vacation in three weeks, but rest assured, it will be completed in July.... after the world cup!!!

Frank

Hi Frank

you already said that you are occupied with other projects and I do not have any problem with that. This is a 6 month campaign and I'm not sure if I'll finish the Ishak much before that

Also watch Rowans I-16 thread as he has much good ideas to improve the model ... i bet he will put it into a feature so you can look it up when you finally get your I-16 in 2008 :-) :-) :-) :-)

BTW seems you'll get company as Fred (JPTRR) wanted to jump in with a rebuild Ki-27 that Jean-Luc already approved

best wishes from sunny, blue sky Schwerin

Steffen

Building update -- some more pictures:

Here is a probably one of my mistakes. As already diskussed in Rowans thread about his I-16. Placing the cockpit into the fuselage is challenging. I thought it would be best to glue it to the wing as there was an indent which led to a good alignment with the fuselage. I can quite easily combine the fuselage with the wing assembly this way. What i forgot was the instrument panel which might interfere (but does not have to necassarily as it sits quite deep in the fuselage



Here is my engine assembly. Do not put too much work in, as it is barly visible. I just painted the engine aluminium and gave it a black wash.



Here is the comparison between the late cowling (below) and my "improvement" on the early cowling. Somehow this foto does not reflect the improvement as much as I see it in real life. However, I am glad I did it.



Here is my instrument panel (still lacking the small knobs and levers).





Hint: I glued a small (about 2-3 cm) sprue to the back of the plastic plate so that I have a "handle bar" that I can stick into some tool or just a blob of "blue tack" and so I can use both hands for the fiddly work...



thats all for now

cheers

Steffen

two more pictures

the fuselages sides completed and "washed" (they look now dirtier than before ) :



and the cowling with the rebuilt intake (which has to be cleaned ...)



Not much for today, but it was very warm...

cheers and a cool

Steffen

... I can confirm that!

Your are making good progress on your I-16!
Ich bin gespannt wie es weiter geht!

Jean-Luc

Hi Steffen

You say you don't read the instructions - but I see you've already added the exhausts! I've left mine out until much later - which could blow up in my face when I find I can't fit them! :-)

Hot weather or not, I'm looking forward to the next installment.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Jean-Luc

well, it still is damn hot in my room ... good I have a ventilator (running 24 hours a day since saturday)

Today(after I took the photos) I glued the fuselage halfs together. I have to do some bits on the instrument panel but I think mating the fuselage and wings may be done tomorrow or on thursday.

I hope everything will run smooth with WEM so that I can get the colours friday or monday (I would prefer friday but I have enough other models running to survive the weekend :-) :-)

maybe more tomorrow, but do not bet on it. These times my severe overweight takes it's toll

Da hilft auch kein

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Have you found out whether the cockpit fits OK attached to the wing? I'm just thinking ahead for the review, where "dos and don'ts" will be really useful.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

as I wrote the instrument panel is not yet finished and thus not yet glued in. Without the panel the pit is easy to move in! (I've tried several times, also with the fuselage glued together)

I do not believe there will be interference, but with my luck there will ...

best wishes

Steffen

Hi Stephen

Have you added the joystick yet? That was where I had to do a bit of juggling to get it 'round the instrument panel.

All the best

Rowan

Great work Steffen. This thread is not only very interesting, but would translate very well into an online build for future reference...hint, hint.

Keep it up.
Leon

Hi Rowan and Leon

Rowan: the joystik is already mounted and all is painted so I will have to fiddle around with the pit.. And yes I put the exhausts in because I will forget them later (there are still 4 in the lower cowl that are not yet mounted .... let's hope)

Leon: Rowan will put his built into a feature so do not fear ... you'll have his build as reference

best wishes from already hot Schwerin (10 am local)

Steffen

Hi All

here is the next construction update ... more than I thought possible ...

I painted the wing attached cockpit floor and then added the seat belts :





I have finshed the instrument panel but I did not take a good photo. Here is one of the bad



I attached it to the fuselage by adding some super glue to the attachment points and holding it on the stick (see some posts above) with pliers I placed it in the fuselage. After the glue began to set I cut the rod and added more super glue to strengthen the bond.



Now here is how I joined the fuselage and wings. No problem at all !!!







I used my usual glue (very thin from Kibri) and while I did not feel the need to attach plastic strips behind the cowling wing join I added them just to be sure (Rowan: you may notice that I have glue all exhaust stacks in place before the mating ... I can't forget now)



That's all for now and there will not be much progress until I get the colours...

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Now who's got two pairs of hands!? Great job illustrating how you fitted the interior!

The paints hopefully should be with you soon, because WEM pride themselves on their quick delivery.

All the best

Rowan

I got only two hands but I have a tripod :-) :-) :-)

cheers

Steffen