Polikarpov I-16 Type 10 (Eduard 1/48) - In progress

 

 

 

 

 

Fuselage and wings mated together. I had to glue in reinforcement bars from a sprue in the front since the fuselage halves were warped a bit and created a nasty gap at the wing roots on both sides. Now it looks better and manageable with a small amount of putty. 

All main parts assembled, minor seams filled with a cyanoacrylic glue, filed and polished. 

Wheel wells airbrushed with a light-blue RLM65 paint. 

 

Slight progress today, model got a unifying underlayer of Mr. Surfacer 1500, got polished and I sprayed the bottom color as well. I used AK 3G acrylic AMT-7 light blue. 

Top airbrushed with AMT-4 green and the entire airframe covered with 3 thin layers of gloss coat. I just need to apply color to few details and it will be ready for decals. 

 

I finished this little bugger today, and boy, building this thing last two days involved a lot of cursing due to all sorts of problems! First, the decals solutions I'm usually using started to eat through the varnish and left a huge stains around every decal I applied it on. Thankfully, after drying, the stains were almost not visible. Then, I did a light wash by applying my trusted Tamiya paneliners. Again, they eaten through the varnish and this time it was not fixable, under some angles I can still spot the places I applied it on 🙁. Seems like the AK 3G acrylic varnishes are not sealing the surface completely and some of the acid or enamel based chemistry can go through - I think I will be returning to the Tamiya gloss and semigloss varnishes for the protection of the surface. And I'll leave the AK 3G varnishes for the finishing touch only, I like the resulting ample shine they produce (AK's satin varnish with a drop of their gloss varnish). And to finish me off, the final assembly of the undercarriage turned out to be a 2-hours long test of my patience - I'm happy I'm done with it 😄.