Finished: Polikarpov I.153

A quick tape-up, major parts fit well enough.


The cockpit opening, is too small for the butt-end of an Exacto knife to fit inside of, so there won't be much work done in the cockpit.


Much, much more can actually be seen through the undercarriage bays...


Masking tape harness belts.


Tape anchored with CA, entire thing given a coat of Humbrol enamel, quick wash to bring the tape details out again.

heyyyyyy - pre-drilled for rigging?? Merci monsieur Heller.

OK, home late, cleaned up, sat down with a few minutes before heading for the bunk. Agent 003 is confused by this choice of subject, but supports me in my endeavour.


My "CA to anchor the tape belts" left the seat a little more textured than I had hoped for, but it's not so noticeable in person. Need to hit the buckles with some aluminum. Don't forget, the cockpit opening in TINY.


Tried drilling out the "spade" on the control stick last night, not convinced. I know, there will be very little visible, but I think I'll try building a better stick.

Original control stick with a square on top.


5 minutes later, found a thin "beading needle", ran a square-ish plier tip through the loop to give me a spade shape, CA-d that to the origincal stick after removing the square.

Not fermis-like, but good enough considering how likely it is to be seen again.

Softened up the main wing with the ol' hot water trick.


Alright, Hasegawa decals. I could go out on a limb & steal a couple of the swastika kill marks; the Cyrillic script; that "horse killing a snake" badge is just too cool to not use somewhere (but there may not be room); and a white 10 or white 6, although digits could come from other sheets I suppose.

Kit instrument panel is ridiculously basic but it's darn near unseen after installation. No time wasted here.


Seat + stick +Cockpit floor. Again, the seat can be seen but little else. (I may have to pick up one of these, or the I-15 / I-16 in a larger scale at some point)


Cockpit installed & fuselage halves together. Flying along at a slightly uncomfortable pace for ME, I went ahead & added the upper wing as well.


The cowling, had LITERALLY 8 attachment points, and a big ridge that, I think, was a poor attempt at replicating that bright NMF ring?? Bad seam or poor attempt, either way, at this scale it's gotta go. Sanded it down a little already, but had to stop & get back on the laptop to finish off an afternoon project.


As molded, the cowling just has indentations where the exhaust pipes punch thru... Wondering what exactly to do here. Ideally, I suppose I'd drill holes back through at an angle? Maybe I should mail this piece to fermis??

This *** needs a pin-vise. This spinning a micro-sized drill bit between a finger and thumb is KILLING me.

The outside paint:

(I'm sort of on an enamel kick to try & clear out some items, that green was first opened & used for the Kfir, already starting to settle out funny. So I thought I'd try it here as a first coat. Lighter than I was originally going for but it gives a good faded look. Thinking my next build needs to be something israeli so I can use up the last of that Humbrol before it lump-i-fies...)

Underside goodies:


Landing gear hit with "Chrome" so the oleos are already bright & shiny, I'll paint the other items in more appropriate aluminums etc when I get a chance. The wheel hubs - one underside blue-gray, one topside green, on purpose, to add a little variety. They've gotten a second colour coat, a shot of Future, and a was since then.


Cowling & rudder:


Cowling weathered & sealed & dry-fitted here. Main camo green is pale, but MUCH greener in person, late night pics with bad light source.




The area around the lower wing attachment needs some work. Alignment of the struts was spot-on, but there were some gaps around the attachment points. Considering it was going to get a brush coat of Future anyway, I decided to fill those areas WITH FUTURE!!!! Easiest way I could think of without filling/sanding/repainting.

Oddly enough, I think that the "humbrol red over white base coat" ends up looking really close to the kit-supplied Soviet stars. I'll have to test one of the numbers on something, see if they're useable.

(The rigging will be done with lengths of 30-guage florist's wire, that i stole from a 30-guage florist...)

I'm kinda digging how the biplane setup sort of forces you to start painting before final assembly is done. Fewer opportunities to slow down & get distracted!

Propeller, wheels...


Tail surfaces in place. Also used a slightly darkened version of the original colour to accent the wings, some areas on the fuselage, just looking to give it a little wear.


Might be too dark in some spots, may have to over-coat those areas with the original colour.

Nice work here. Another Soviet Bird! I like it. If you can, try and use plain red stars. The white border came later. I like the red cowling and rudder. It really adds some character.

VanceCrozier

(The rigging will be done with lengths of 30-guage florist's wire, that i stole from a 30-guage florist...)

Heller of a good job on that little kit !

Man, I love the I-153 and yours is looking great Vance!! I developed a crush on this bird while playing WarThunder as it handles and maneuvers like a beast!!

Nathan T

Nice work here. Another Soviet Bird! I like it. If you can, try and use plain red stars. The white border came later. I like the red cowling and rudder. It really adds some character.

Thanks Nathan - yes, I know I'm winging it a little by adding the Cyrillic writing to the fuselage, but I do have limits! You're right, I haven't seen the white-bordered stars on ANY I.153 pics yet.

Sprue-ce Goose

VanceCrozier

(The rigging will be done with lengths of 30-guage florist's wire, that i stole from a 30-guage florist...)

Heller of a good job on that little kit !

Merci monsieur le Goose.

Thanks! I just finished up with that Fiat & was in the mood for another biplane so I pulled this little gem out of the stash. I prefer engraved lines, but these older Heller kits have such fine details that I don't mind them being raised at all. Kinda surprise that it is really not much smaller than the Fiat actually. I'm liking it.

Nice build. Always thought this plane was so ugly it was handsome

tempestjohnny

Nice build. Always thought this plane was so ugly it was handsome

It has.... ??? CHARACTER!!! I do think the gullwing on the topside is an interesting look.

ajd3530

First, let me say what a beautiful/handsome sidekick you have. Kitty cats are the third best thing in the world, behind babies and good food. When I moved from home, I had to leave my little friends behind because of a strict no pets policy in this appartment. I miss them dearly, EVEn if they did happen to swipe the occasional canopy or drop tank...

Second, let me say I love your choice of subject. I live this line of planes, I have a handful of I-16's in my stash. I wish there was a 1/48th offering of a n I-153 besides the Classic Airframes one. I'm just not the kind of guy to drop 30-40 bucks on a kit that has mediocre fit at best.

Yes, those little Polikarpovs are interesting machines. I'd like to go 1/48 on one of these, try to show off the cockpit a little better with open pilots door. There just isn't much to be seen all closed up like this one is. Eduard makes a nice I-15 or 16? that I wouldn't mind picking up, if I can get a deal.

~chuckle~ Yep, the cats keep an eye on me. That fluffy one is the youngest (Agent 003), she has to be watched though as she is certainly the one to take a swipe at anything loose & within her reach. Fearless.

Agent 001 is the oldest, only shows occasional interest and knows not to touch anything. She's apparently figured out who really feeds her.  Checking out the alignment of the Seafire propeller blades.

And this is Agent 002, who went to that big bench in the sky last year.  This one made frequent trips to the bench to see what I was up to, and seemed fascinated with what I could do with my fingers. (seen on an inspection tour of my Fouga Magister)

You mentioned robbing swastikas from the Hase decals.   Please check this, I think the Reds used small red stars for kill markings.   One Red officer asked "Why would you paint the symbol of your enemy on your own plane?"  I love your plane and the markings may "spoil" it.

Jack

jrb53

You mentioned robbing swastikas from the Hase decals.   Please check this, I think the Reds used small red stars for kill markings.   One Red officer asked "Why would you paint the symbol of your enemy on your own plane?"  I love your plane and the markings may "spoil" it.

Jack

ahhhh - good call Jack!!! I do see some leftover stars on that Hasegawa sheet as well. That seems to ring a bell, I'll have to look into that.

Last night was looking like a washout. emergency practice for the daughter at least gave me some reading time at the gym, but I was wiped when I got home. Watched the tail end of the Rangers-Islanders game from Yankee Stadium, got some stuff gathered up for work, then... then.... heard a little Russian model whispering to me from the corner of the room, asking for some attention. So, with reckless abandon I started decalling!!! (I had Future-coated earlier)

The basics are pretty straight-forward, top & bottom wings...




The fuselage sides & rudder is where I had some fun!

Oddly enough, I have all my decals on & sealed, before finalizing the filling/touchups... I'm REALLY liking that script.  It's kinda long for the area it was applied to, but I've seen several pics of Russkie machines with a script over-running the fuselage star.

Very nice Vance! Stars and Cryllic look awesome! Thats what lured me into VVS stuff! Keep up the good work!

Vance, sweet work on this one.  You've made it look worth a heck of a lot more than what you had initially paid.

What did you use for the two main colours?  I've been doing some research for my stash of these Polikarpov fighters, and it looks to be a minefield.

regards,

Jack

Thanks Nathan, jgeratic! Yes Jack, I'm getting more than my money's worth out of this one. The colours are admittedly from the *TLAR* method, but I'm happy with them. The green could've been a touch darker, but to be honest I'm trying to use up my stock of enamels as I switch to acrylics.

Upper surfaces are Humbrol enamel, I'd have to check to be certain, but I think it is 102 Army Green?
Cowling/rudder is Humbrol 153 Insignia red over an application of flat white.
Lower surfaces are Modelmaster Russian Underside Blue.

Alright, despite the generally situation over the weekend, I got a little bit of bench time. Exhaust stubs, I gave up on the Qtip stretching thing, went with stretched sprue painted black on the ends;


I also drilled out the larger stub on the lower port side. (I assume this one is larger to collect the exhaust that would otherwise be released through the landing gear bays?) Not so great a photo, but it's done, just needs some paint.


Annnnnd - my first attempt at using stretched sprue as rigging. Thinking about leaving it in "natural gray styrene" to make it less obvious? Or maybe a mid gray?

Bump!  Because  ... that's why!

Looking good Vance!  MORE!!!

Thanks! Was hoping for more bench time tonight, but I seem to have brought work-work home with me.  :(

Nice exhaust and rigging. You could try hollow brass tubing for the exhaust, and cut them at an angle to the pipe looks tapered, if thats how they are supposed to look. But, collecting tubing in various sizes does get exspensive...  Could you paint the rigging wires steel or something?

lol, yep, WISH i had a random selection of tubing ready for such things. BUT at this scale, those tubes are really only about a millimeter across, is there such a thing? Just couldn't make the Qtip plastic work for me. Ah well, close enough. And you're probably right, a steel colour for the rigging will probably be the least obvious thing I could do.