Introduction

During the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939) combatants came from many nations. The Nationalist Forces were backed by Germany and Italy while the Republican Forces were backed by the Russians and Mexicans. It should also be said that while most nations refused to get involved people from many locations around the world went to fight on one side or the other. Joseph Stalin just as Adolf Hitler saw this Civil War as a chance to gain experience for their troops when it came to using the latest aircraft. The Russians sent I-16 type 5 and 6 fighters early in the conflict and these had great successes against all of the aircraft on the Nationalist side until the advent of the Bf 109. At some point in 1937 the type 10 I-16 was sent to Spain and it is this variant that ICM has released a set of decals for one of eight I-16 type 10’s fighting for the Spanish Republican Forces.

Review

This offering from ICM is packed in a re-sealable plastic bag that contains a decal sheet and an instruction sheet. This is protected by being stabled to a card hanger that provides the information the buyer will need. The decal sheet looks very good to me having good colour with no bleeding. The carrier film is nice and tight to the decal edge with the exception of the aircraft codes.

This offering covers eight aircraft and allows the modeller to create some quite colourful aircraft. I rather like some the aircraft art worn on these birds and this is unusually on the tail of the aircraft. ICM has provided a painting guide for these aircraft with reference to the colour by name along with Revell and Tamiya paint. The aircraft covered in this release are:
1st Squadron of Spanish Republican Air Force, April 1938
3rd Squadron of Spanish Republican Air Force, January 1939
5th Squadron of Spanish Republican Air Force, Summer 1938
4th Squadron of Spanish Republican Air Force, December 1938
7th Squadron of Spanish Republican Air Force, January 1939
3rd Squadron of Spanish Republican Air Force, November 1938
6th Squadron of Spanish Republican Air Force, Autumn 1938
4th Squadron of Spanish Republican Air Force, January 1939

Conclusion

I rather like this offering from ICM as it allows for some colourful finishes to the I-16 type 10 and that should attract the eye of anyone looking at models generally. I do not see anything negative about this release and it is good to see aircraft from the Spanish Civil War getting some coverage.