This plane was flown by Generalmajor Ivan Lakeev of the Soviet Union in the early 1940s. For his efforts in the Spanish Civil War in 1937 while flying an I-16 type 5 he was made a Hero of the Soviet Union.
The instruction included with the kit warned that this guy was a high ranking officer and that his plane, while war ready with full armament, was "very carefully maintained, kept clean and polished, in perfect condition". I stuck with that for the most part. The only weathering is some very mild panel line shading and some very light exhaust. The exhaust almost disappeared under the finish coat. I tried to leave the plane with a semi gloss finish by mixing Future and Tamiya flat base. I'm pleased with the results.
The cockpit is very nice with a mix of PE and styrene parts. The IP is the best I've done OOB. The colored etch went a long way here. To bad it's barely visible.
This project really turned out to be a lot of fun. A bit out of the ordinary for me, I'm glad I picked it up. So glad infact that the I-16 type 24 is waiting in line. Hope you enjoy. Critiques welcome.
