Polikarpov I-5

[JackG]

Starting off with what I hope will be a straight forward build. No aftermarket stuff, just what is in the box. Though might throw in a Quickboost control stick since I have a trio of them.

Will be doing the second marking option, as the aircraft appeared in the summer of 1941. Many of these early design fighters were pushed into the front lines to make up for losses suffered in opening stages of Barbarossa. Their use was mainly in the ground attack role.

regards,

Jack

[Learstang]

Good choice; I have this kit and plan on doing the very same version, although not for this GB.

Regards,

Jason

[JackG]

Thank you Jason.

Interior is now together and ready for paint, will add some home made tape belts after just before closing up. It is pretty well detailed for the scale. There are four ejector marks, but the rear ones are blocked from view by the seat, and the ones in front will be sitting in darkness.

Only real problem thus far was fitting of the four machine guns and making them point straight ahead. The bottom pair was rectified by enlarging the hole they slip through. The top pair required bit more work, as the breech at the rear had to be cut and beveled to conform to the interior of the fuselage.

Did end up using a Quickboost control stick (available as a three pack for the I-53). It's length was cut to just slightly longer than the original kit part.

regards,

Jack

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Wow.....Didn't realise these saw sevice during the war, I'd imagine it was quite brief and very bloody!

The interior looks smashing.....I've got ICM's I-15, I-153 and several I-16s in the stash and TBH, they scare me!

[JackG]

Thanks Sarge. Yeah, I have all those in the stash as well, and this is my first stab at them. Seeing some fit problems the further I get along. Could be a problem created through casting, rather than how the kit was created?

So fuselage is now joined up and lower wing attached. It did take several sessions of sanding and test fitting to get the lower wing to fit.

Still a minor gap to fill in at the front, and some slight sanding required on the leading edge of the wing root section. I also cut out the top and bottom sections of the engine intake and replaced with sheet plastic for a more streamlined finish. Inset photo shows it all cleaned up and sanded.

The tail unit was also problematic. I suppose ICM took a different route to ensure both elevators are level by making them one unit, instead of the usual two separate pieces and having the rudder/tail already part of the fuselage? Their method leaves a gap between the tail and top surface of the elevators, or at least my kit did.

I believe most modelers would do the simple thing and just fill that with putty, but here is also another gap of missing plastic along the hinge of the rudder (indicated by the two red arrows),- the tail surface here should be continuous. I decided to be a bit more adventurous and try and drop the tail down to fill that unwanted void. I also extended the back end of the tail with some strips of sheet plastic.

Still a bit of a gap ... honestly, that was a lot of extra work to save on some putty.

regards,

Jack

Edited May 27, 2016 by JackG

[TonyTiger66]

I just found this WIP Jack. I hopes its ok to watch along; I really like Polikarpov's designs.

I also have this and the other ICM kits in the stash, but have never built it.

It's coming along really well, very nice modelling .

Best regards

Tony

[Jake Moon]

Looking very nice! The level of detail on these ICM 1/72 kits amazes me.

[JackG]

Thank you Tony and Jake. Of course, everyone is invited to share my journey on this - my first try at one of these.

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Instructions give a hint on some scratch building detail along the bottom of the fuselage rear, but no exact diameters provided. These include braces for the elevators, a pair of hand rails(?), and a step to help climb into the cockpit.

I also replaced the axle for the wheels, after accidentally breaking it after the whole land gear assembly was attached.

Usually I will attach wing struts at the bottom end, but since these are same colour as the underside, they were affixed to the top wing. This way the whole can be sprayed together.

Added some plastic 'bits' to be the guides or end points for the bracing wires. The opposite ends will be attached to holes drilled into the fuselage.

Engine parts have been cleaned up, and three parts already joined.

Am considering removing the push rod detail, and replacing with brass.

It should be doubled up (one rod in front of the other), so that means 18 pieces.

A dry fit of the aircraft thus far:

regards,

Jack

[Basilisk]

Some great modelling happening here.

Cheers, Peter

[CliffB]

You are doing a fantastic job here Jack and seem to be having a good time too

It's just a pity that there's no opportunity to use those wonderful wheel spats!

Cliff

[TonyTiger66]

Wow! That dry fit is tidy. It looks like this kit goes together very nicely?

Good save on the undercarriage Jack

The 'bits' for the bracing wires look good. It looks like a lovely little engine right out of the box, almost a kit within a kit. Very fine detail for injection moulded.

Best regards

Tony

[Sgt.Squarehead]

That really is looking good Jack.

Would the pushrods actually be visible with the cowling assembled.....Your mockup suggests it might be work that only you (and us) will ever know about.

[JackG]

Thank you Peter, Cliff, Tony and Sarge.

Wow! That dry fit is tidy. It looks like this kit goes together very nicely?

Good save on the undercarriage Jack

The 'bits' for the bracing wires look good. It looks like a lovely little engine right out of the box, almost a kit within a kit. Very fine detail for injection moulded.


Best regards
Tony

There was a trio of fit problems mentioned early on, but really nothing that the regular modeler can't handle.

That really is looking good Jack.

Would the pushrods actually be visible with the cowling assembled.....Your mockup suggests it might be work that only you (and us) will ever know about.

The engine really is nicely detailed, though some aspects of it is a tad on the chunky side. The tops of all the cylinder heads are visible, so it is easy to see the push rods there. When looked at from certain angles, much more of them can be seen through the holes in the armoured plate.

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Little more detail work done today ...

1. - Added a pitot tube based on a prewar photo. Created from 0.4mm hollow brass rod, along with two pieces of wire splayed outwards. The front end was also crimped to give some flatness, though difficult to see.

2.- Slight amendment to the cabane struts. The kit has them with locating pins sticking straight down, but the location holes in the fuselage are perpendicular to them, making a very difficult attachment at best. So those four points were cut off, and replaced with plastic rod (approx. 0.5mm). In the photo above, one of the rods still needs to be trimmed down.

3.- Just a test shot with some stainless steel wire for scale comparison. Another reason to replace the push rods is to facilitate painting, as they would be inserted in position after the engine is painted up.

regards,

Jack

Edited June 1, 2016 by JackG

[Roberto]

Great improvements are being made on this kit. Bravo.

[Jake Moon]

Beautiful work, especially with that brass. I'm very eager to see the rigging done with the little plastic attachment points - I've never seen that before!

[JackG]

Thank you Roberto and Jake.

Yes, those little plastic attachment points are pretty much fairings for the flat wire bracing.

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Well, I've been working on the engine and something just doesn't look right when comparing the model parts to photos of the Bristol Jupiter VI - has anyone else spotted it? Right where the push rods attach at the central hub, ICM has them very close to the base of the cylinder heads. Was wondering why the push rods appear so short, but could this be because it's the licensed built Shvetsov M-22? I'll post some photos soon.

regards,

Jack

[Learstang]

Excellent work on the I-5, Jack! She'll look a right treat in her war plumage.

Regards,

Jason

[JackG]

Thank you Jason.

The other day took care of some final details, followed with a primer coat.

Went ahead and attached the wind screen, but scale wise is fairly thick. The exterior side was sanded down, but one can cheat a bit and sand the top edges slightly more, sort of like a bevel, to give a thinner look.

Primer on, and gaps pretty much gone at the base of the tail. I forgot to take a progress photo, but I built up the spine a bit to represent framework where the fuselage seam was. This was done with some thin plastic sheet, after attached was further sanded down and shaped. Mind you, I 'm not completely sure this detail is correct, perhaps it should have remained flat?

Now back to the engine ...

After cutting off the kit's push rods, drilled some location holes in their place. To aid in lining up the replacement stainless steel wire, some hollow brass rods were doubled up, and super glued to each other. Working at two points at a time, once glued in place, these 'bases' for the push rods are trimmed. A little filing to touch up, and a sewing need is required to re-open the hole in the brass.

Engine where it currently stands, painted up, and two pairs of push rods in place. Unfortunately the details do not match photos of actual Bristol Jupiter VI. The circumference of the engine is too large in front of the cylinders, and the push rods should actually sit lower by a good scale mm. There is also detail to the framework here that should be simplified.

So the above is just an FYI, as I won't be fixing this since the parts are all glued and painted, plus much of the corrections would be obscured by the nose plate armour.

regards,
Jack

[Basilisk]

Considering how small these parts are, you do an amazing job.

Cheers, Peter

[JackG]

Thank you Peter.

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Well I was all set to add decals this afternoon, but ended with a shattering experience.

All five points on the star insignia broke, two of them went even further and disappeared into powdered form. Upon close inspection of the decal sheet, doesn't appear to be any protective film over the markings - wondering why they looked so flat. I've emailed ICM for a possible replacement. Anyhow, there's a final shot of the engine before it gets covered up in front.

To upgrade the fighter to 1941 standards, decided to equip it with bombs, even though none are supplied in the kit. ICM's boxing of the I-153 to the rescue. It has options for rockets and two bomb sizes. I chose the smallest ones, since they are suppose to be 10kg type.

1.) The tail fins are very thick, so decided to thin them a bit.

2.) One set of fins are trimmed off, the remaining is sanded down.

3.) New fins added from plastic sheet.

The red check marks indicate the 'refurbished' bombs, compared to the original kit.

The underwing attachment points are simply a couple strips of sheet plastic, with two location holes drilled in each. Their placement is just a guesstimate, likely being inline with a wing rib, and just at or slightly inboard of the wing strut found on the opposite.

This was my first time trying the Akan paint brand, using their acrylic colours.

The blue sprayed quite nicely, but found the green very thin. It took several layers to arrive at a decent density, though some might find this advantageous in creating a streaked/worn look.

regards,

Jack

[CliffB]

All these small details should make a big difference to finished model. It's great to watch

Cliff

[JackG]

Cliff, thanks kindly.

Well, a business day has passed since firing off an email to ICM about their decals, and it doesn't look like they will respond.

I've looked through my other unbuilt kits for some Soviet stars, and though I can find some of the proper early style, they are all either too large or too small. All three locations for the insignia on this Polikarpov I-5 are of different sizes. Didn't want to go this route, but found what looks to be a good set from an unfamiliar brand, KV Decals - but looks like they are affiliated with Begemot?

Quality is certainly a lot better, so there's that to consider as well. Seems only Hannants and Ebay stock these (actually Ebay did not have the Type 1 in 72nd scale). So have these on order, meanwhile I'll continue with the other bits - wheels, prop, tailskid, etc.

regards,

Jack

[John Thompson]

Well, a business day has passed since firing off an email to ICM about their decals, and it doesn't look like they will respond.

Very impressive build, Jack - you have some real skill at this hobby!

FWIW, within my experience (which is from about 3 years ago), I would not expect a fast response from ICM. You may get a reply from an office manager or something of that nature whose name I forget and whose English is not great, but they will help you eventually. My dealings with them were for replacement parts for their I-16 kit - canopies the first time, wings and other parts the second time, due to excessive sink marks. Both times they came through for me, but only after 2 - 3 months and a bit of nagging.

John

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Do they have a FB page.....It seems some companies respond well to public humiliation.

Personally I don't use FB, but it does seem to have its uses in this instance.

[JackG]

Thanks John and Sarge.

Yes ICM is on Facebook. Latest message on there is also a complaint from someone not getting feedback after two weeks - so they aren't answering any quicker there either.

regards,

Jack