Further Adventure In Soviet Biplanes, Aviation USK I-15 series

  

 

       Continuing my effort to get all of my Polikarpov I-15 series models done in one push I sat myself down and confronted the pile of USK models. These kits were far from what current standards are but they are thirty years old and short-run kits of aircraft with limited appeal. Even with those caveats in mind they are frankly rather rough. Molding quality is below average, detail is foggy, parts fit is dodgy and the instructions are vague. The kits do have rather nice decals. They are the only option unless you want to spend thirty bucks a kit for I-15s.

 

 

yes, that is the sum total of the instructions

 

and there is the kit in all its flashy glory 

 

 

indistinct as it is the kit captures the shape rather well, if little of the detail

 

 

lots of mold-risers to sand off

 

the cockpit interior, as I was intending to add a pilot I left out the control stick

 

 

the narrow cockpit opening forced me to install the pilot before closing the two fuselage halves,

the fit between the halves was surprisingly good

 

 

lower wing assembly was fun, no locating pins and uneven contact surfaces 

meant that constant checking was requires as the glue dried to maintain proper alignment

 

after the first one I knew to sand the mating surfaces to get a better fit

 

 

next was the engine cowling, unlike the Encore kits there was no engine inside the cowling to assist with assembly, a far amount of filing and putty was required to get these in decent shape

 

 

these two were set aside to dry while I got the wings and cowlings sorted on the other two kits

 

 

then it was cabane strut fun! I might just avoid biplanes for a while after this

 

 

as the cabane struts were curing I added the tailplanes and their associated struts

 

 

I then set the I-15bis kits aside as I got to work on the one I-15 model,

this one has a "gull-wing" and (joyously) there isn't a cabane strut to be found!!

 

it took a bit of filing and sanding and a touch of putty to get it all sorted out,

 but I would build ten of these before I did another kit with cabane struts

next it was lower-wing time

I braced the model nose-down to avoid the issue to wing-droop while the glue dried
 

 

while that was drying I took a stab at assembling the engine provided with the kit

this lasted a bout five minutes and then it was off to the spares bin to hunt up a replacement

 

 

happily my habit of saving "useful bits" saved my sanity and I found a replacement

which fit perfectly and even looked right 

 

 

it even fit inside the cowling without too much trouble

 

this pleased me greatly, I then gave the kit an overall tidy-up on the seams and joints

 before sticking the landing gear struts on and setting it aside to dry

 

 

after an hour I added the wheels and it was ready to join the rest of the flock

 

 

all seven models  sorted out and ready for a trip to the paint shop 

 

       This mass-build took a total of four days working about two hours a day. This is much faster than building each in succession would have taken. These are no competition-grade models (no rigging, or interior details) simply wargaming toys but I do strive to make a presentable finished product.Painting will go rather quickly as I can work on one as the others dry.