Sovietwarplanes

ICM has posted CAD images of the 1/72 I-153 kit which they proposed back in 2011:
http://www.icm.com.ua/news/370-i-153-chaika-wwii-soviet-biplane-fighter.html

John

Very welcome news indeed, if they actually bring it out this time. We shall see.

Regards,

Jason

Hi John,
this was waited for very long! I wonder if the political facts there will affect the release or the availability of this kit.
Regards
Massimo

This kit is now up on Hannants' web site as a "Future Release", apparently due in late November. Hannants have already set a price (6.66 GBP), so November availability seems credible, or at least Hannants believes it to be.

John

I am very looking forward to this. Although I have not built my ICM I-15, I've built the I-15bis and I thought it was a nice little model. An I-153 done to at least the same level would be greatly welcome indeed. Now all we need is an accurate 1/72nd scale Il-4, and of course your late Yak-1B, John.

Regards,

Jason

In stock! http://model-lavka.ru/review/I153.html

Excellent news! Thank you for the link, Musa! Just looking at the sprues, it looks quite nice. The wheel wells look about right. Nice surface detail (no surprise here - ICM usually have good surface detail). It also looks like they got the engine face plate correct. I'm going to be ordering mine as soon as I can.

Regards,

Jason

I just did a currency conversion - this site has the price as 225 rubles. That converts to 4.87USD! That can't be right - it can't be that cheap, can it?

Regards,

Jason

Hi all,
it looks an excellent online shop and the price of the it is incredible, but I looked at the section for mailing and they speak only of mailing in Russia, Bielorussia and Kazakhstan. Nothing about mailing in Western Europe.
Regards
Massimo

Hi,
more pictures of the box content is here at http://model-lavka.ru/review/I153.html (http://model-lavka.ru/review/I153.html)
Regards,
   66misos

Hi all,

After a short glance and dry fitting a few comments of the kit.

In general it looks very nice and also seems to fit pretty well. Easy and unusually fast built as a biplane. I was a bit scared as ICM track record is not the best one in this department!

In general surface detailing is nice but several hols on the fuselage sides are instead raised and in front panel not opened through. The upper cowl air intake shape looks good for me but it is not opened. Right side fin and rudder hinge line is missing. I think that these are minor things for most builders. A bit more tricky might be the exhausts: there is only recessed places for them in the cowl. Pipes itself are totally missing. Ailerons seem to be lacking depth on the lower surfaces.

Interior looks nice. Wheel wells are boxed. Nice detail is separate mass balances for the prop hub. Bombs and RS-82s look as nice as this technology allows. Four decals: One from Khalkin-Gol, one Murmansk, one Gulf of Finland and one Baltic area.

As my references are not in hand I don't comment more about the shape issues.

Cheers,

AaCee

Verdict: Nice kit and very good with a little work if there are no problems with the shape.

As long as there are no major issues with the shape, I'll be buying one. Thank you for the review, AaCee!

Jason

Hi AaCee,
thank you for the informations. Strange for the lack of the rudder division line...
I guess that there is not a detailed engine.
There were different variants of the front plate, that were differing for some holes; besides they appear different according to the position of the shutters. I think that there is work for photoetching manufacturers.
Anyway, interesting model, particularly if easy to build.
A warning: I don't know if the instructions say it, but rockets are only for the black-green version, due to a wartime overhauling as a shturmovik.
Regards
Massimo

Hi Massimo,

Engine is a front relief of the cylinders in a circular plate. In front of this comes a separate part consisting of the crank case and push rods. Certainly enough for a closed cowl but in case of removed front plate  something more would be better. The sthurmovik alternative should have the open one. RS-82s are specified only for it.

I try to wait a moment to see if there is some photo etch or resin coming for it. Cowl with exhaust pipes would certainly be helpful.

Anyway, Heller/SMER and AModel are now obsolete IMHO.

Cheers,

AaCee

Hi AaCee,
I've collected some commented photos of I-153 here:
http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/i15/i-153/i-153painting/i-153painting.htm (http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/i15/i-153/i-153painting/i-153painting.htm)
As you say, some assault I-153s were photographed without the shutter, probably in summer 1942. Some planes only.
I agree, the other kits are obsolete. Probably I'll keep the resin skis, tanks and other details from a Smer. Anyway, when I built one, I found it less terrible than I thought.
Regards
Massimo

That's right - I forgot about the resin and PE bits I'd collected to do my FrankenChaika (made up of about four or five different kits). Doesn't look like that will every be built, but who knows. I can still use the bits for it on this ICM kit.

Regards,

Jason

Well, living and working in Russia has its perks. Got mine today for 250 Rubles, that's just under 5 USD, which is excellent for the quality of the molds and the choice of weaponry and markings.
Could anyone please tell me is there a consensus on the most accurate set of drawings available, to compare it to?

I will post my findings here, of course.

Hi,
really cheap!
I suppose that the most accurate drawings are those of the monographs of Maslov.
Regards
Massimo

I'm having trouble liking this kit as much as I want to like it, especially since I already bought and received 3 of them from Modelimex. I've started building one; besides the small problems already noted by AaCee, here are a few more:
(1) The interior framework for the cockpit is very fragile; one of the side frames became 6 pieces instead of one because I wasn't careful removing it from the sprue.
(2) The pilot's seat is too narrow, and just looks funny; ICM already did a good-looking seat in their I-16 which they should have reproduced for this kit. The seat certainly doesn't benefit from being designed in 4 pieces, either.
(3) The underside of the lower wings in the location where the RS-82 rockets would be mounted is incorrect, and not as well detailed as ICM's I-15bis.
(4) The joint between the lower wing and the fuselage doesn't follow a panel line, it just goes across the middle of the wing root. This is either good or bad, depending on how you look at it - good, because if you very carefully fill and sand this joint, it will allow a very nice finish without damaging any detail; bad, because if you don't want to do that, you'll probably have a false panel line (one which doesn't exist on the real aircraft) right across the wing root.
(5) No detail inside the landing gear well doors (the ones hinged to the fuselage on the real aircraft) - photos show this surface to be heavily ribbed, like Heller did on their I-153.

All that being said, this is by far the best 1/72 I-153 kit available now. I guess I'm just disappointed because the wait has been so long for a kit that is good, but which could have been so much better if the masters had been created by the same person who did ICM's other Polikarpovs. I rate this kit at 7 out of 10.

Here are some detailed drawings, which I found on Musa Zekoreev's web site:
(http://s30.postimg.org/y2rs57t9p/Drawing_1_I_153.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/y2rs57t9p/)(http://s27.postimg.org/f9i5nilcf/Drawing_2_I_153.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/f9i5nilcf/)

John

Okay, John, since I have every other 1/72nd scale Chaika (Amodel, Heller, Smer [ex-Heller with some PE goodies]), how do I combine them with this one (Frankesteining - a word I just coined) to create the (near)perfect I-153?

Regards,

Jason

There's not much on those older kits that's worth saving, compared to the ICM kit. All I can think of, with reference to my previous post, is the landing gear well doors (not the ones that cover the wheels) and maybe the pilot's seat, both from the Heller kit, although I haven't checked the Heller seat. Combining any major parts from the older kits with this one would be pointless.

John

So how is the wing dihedral? That seems to be a major failing on the other kits. Of course, I suppose it doesn't much matter as I will buy this kit anyway, and sooner than later, but forewarned is forearmed, or something like that.

Regards,

Jason

Thank you, John!

I have much more positive feeling towards it after built both old and new tool I-15bises. I didn't like neither of them in building phase despite how nice they look in sprues. Too much fitting problems. I was much more happy when I built the Airmodel vac in the '80s. This one seems to fall together when compared to them!

Now I have compared the kit to the Maslov drawings also shown by John. I found a few small possible accuracy issues which might or might not be correct.
- Is nose upper air intake channel a bit too shallow in profile?
- Rear fuselage hump profile in rear. At least my eyes there is something although very little missing from the profile and
- horizontal tail surfaces looks a bit narrow. I would probably cut them from hinge line and add a strip to both sides before rejoining them in deflected position.

Wing dihedral looks good for me.

One strange thing missing is the gun sight.

I would rate this 8? out of ten. Last time I built an I-153 was from Heller 35 years ago so I'm easily satisfied.

Cheers,

AaCee

Regarding the gunsight, good point; how about this one:

http://northstarmodels.com/product/172-soviet-gunsights-pak-1/

John


PS - I took the liberty of contacting Andrey Kotkov at Begemot regarding any plans for one of their decal megasheets for this kit; he replied that it was going to be done, but not soon.

Helo everyone,

I finally managed to track down Maslov' Book and rescale the plans to 1/72nd.
The measures I ended up with are following:
Length: 87.15mm (6275mm full scale)
Span: 138.89mm (10000mm)
Height: 47.57mm (3425)

To my eyes the kit matches the plans exactly in terms od size and shape, except the lower wing, which is 0.5-1mm shorter. I also Agree with AaCee that horizontal tail surfaces are a bit narrow, but the contour is good.  Everything else looks spot-on, even the size and shape of the ailerons, and the position of ribs.
I tried to take photos with least possible distortion
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6436_zps0778b344.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6436_zps0778b344.jpg.html) (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6437_zps9e8831f1.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6437_zps9e8831f1.jpg.html) (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6439_zps4826c2c0.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6439_zps4826c2c0.jpg.html)
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6446_zpsc74b4d20.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6446_zpsc74b4d20.jpg.html) (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6448_zps755def89.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6448_zps755def89.jpg.html)

One thing I like with this kit is that both the upper and lower wing are cast in one piece, giving accurate scale thickness and well defined leading edges. One possible point of concern is the lower wing-to-fuselage joint, which goes right across some rib detail. But I do like the upper joint of the lower wing, very well engineered in terms of hiding the seam IMHO
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6430_zps3b00e69e.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6430_zps3b00e69e.jpg.html) (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6431_zps8075ab4b.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6431_zps8075ab4b.jpg.html)

Canopy is crystal clear, and one of the best I have seen from ICM. A big plus is that it comes separately packaged
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6434_zps36cc7500.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6434_zps36cc7500.jpg.html)

But despite accuracy and detail improvements, one thing that still haunts Eastern European kits is the quality of molding. As you can see, There is a very subtle seam going right across the fabric on upper wing and both sides of the fuselage. This is not merely a discoloration, the plastic on the rear side is more glossy and there is a distinct seam when looked at diffrerent angles
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6451_zps4b96c3e6.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6451_zps4b96c3e6.jpg.html) (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6452_zps352664bb.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6452_zps352664bb.jpg.html) (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6454_zps8ddede9b.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6454_zps8ddede9b.jpg.html) (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x31/warhawk_photo/razno/I-153/th_IMG_6467_zps91cb2543.jpg) (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/warhawk_photo/media/razno/I-153/IMG_6467_zps91cb2543.jpg.html)

However, the salesman was kind enough to replace my model with a decently cast one. My No.1 advice for anyone considering buying this kit is to ask to open the box and look carefuly at the molds before purchasing.
Other than that, I believe this Chaika easily surpasses everything else before it. Hey, at least there's no more of those ridiculous perpendicular ribs on from the mid section of the upper wing  ;D

Thank you for the review and photographs, warhawk! It seems like ICM got the shapes correct, which is my main concern. I wonder if those seams you pointed out will be visible under a coat of paint? Since I'm going to be ordering mine from somewhere online, I'll have to take my chances with the seams.

Regards,

Jason

Hi,
excellent review indeed , thank you for posting it.
Perhaps those seams are visible under a thin layer of silver paint, but I think that a layer of green, black or blue can hide it effectively.
Regards
Massimo

Here's what mine looks like, now that it's finished:

(http://s18.postimg.org/t4aw25qad/I_153_006.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/t4aw25qad/)(http://s13.postimg.org/6ojeqy7nn/I_153_007.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/6ojeqy7nn/)(http://s30.postimg.org/4vqail6a5/I_153_008.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/4vqail6a5/)(http://s1.postimg.org/vbpyl9ahn/I_153_009.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/vbpyl9ahn/)

John

Excellent job, John! And the very one I want to do. I received the kit about a week ago. It may not be perfect, but at last we have a good, accurate, new-mould kit of the I-153! I'm well-chuffed with mine, and seeing how it can turn out, it's time to get back to it.

Regards,

Jason

Nice work, John,
what have you used for the rigging?
Regards
Massimo

Thank you, Jason and Massimo! I used nylon monofilament fishing line for the rigging; I believe it was 6-pound test. Next time I think I would use 4-pound.

John

Is anyone else building this kit? I'm on my second one, and still having problems with brittle plastic. I'm having to rebuild or replace parts of the landing gear with heat-stretched sprue. Seems ICM's styrene mix needs more plasticizer.  :(

John

John, I've done a lot of prep work on mine (removing parts, then cleaning them up), and I did have a part break on the landing gear. I also fear for the delicate tubing used on the cockpit, which I haven't gotten the nerve to clean up yet, and will do whilst still on the sprue, to decrease the chance of breaking. The small parts are rather delicate, it seems, partly because of the plastic, and partly out of a desire to keep them scale on the part of ICM - commendable, but that does have its drawbacks. Sometimes having parts a bit overscale does make them easier to work with.

Regards,

Jason

Hi John!

I'm half way building mine. I totally agree with the poor quality of the plastic! I have not touched the landing gear yet but I had to scratch half of the fuselage tubing.

I straightened the back of the pilot seat so that it fits between the fuselage tubing. Maybe not 100% accurate but looks much better than the original. For the lower part of seat I removed the sides, filed away the ejector tower and made new sides from card to better match with the modified seat back. I sourced the seat belts from the Kuivalainen I-16 etches.

Next step will be joining the upper wing to the fuselage. After that wing - fuselage seam seems to need some filling. I'm just thinking what to do with the ailerons. They seem to be circa 1 mm too narrow from the lower surface when compared to the ICM I-15bis and photos.

Cheers,

AaCee

Thank you, Jason and AaCee! I didn't bother with the cockpit framing after breaking the first frame I removed from the sprue into 4 or 5 pieces - it's almost impossible to see it after the fuselage is closed up anyway. The idea to modify the too-narrow kit seat is a good one, though! I didn't realize the ailerons might be too narrow, but I'll probably just ignore them.

Cheers!
John

Here's my second one in the pre-war scheme of AII Aluminum and AE-9 pale grey; I used a set of Moskit exhausts which I squirrelled away a few years ago, a GoNzA cowling face photoetch set, and some parts from an ICM I-15bis whose upper wing was too poorly molded for the kit to be usable:

(http://s2.postimg.org/6iefweyyt/ICM_I_153_2_001.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/6iefweyyt/)(http://s18.postimg.org/au144j8b9/ICM_I_153_2_002.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/au144j8b9/)(http://s4.postimg.org/895pmx4tl/ICM_I_153_2_003.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/895pmx4tl/)(http://s10.postimg.org/czile8t1x/ICM_I_153_2_004.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/czile8t1x/)

I used an aerosol can of Armor Coat aluminum anti-corrosion paint for the base colour on the fabric surfaces and some WEM AE-9, lightened with Humbrol flat white, on the metal surfaces.

John

Hi John,
it's a nice model. Which parts did you use from an I-15bis?
Regards
Massimo

Thank you, Massimo! From the I-15bis, I used the tailplane struts, the main wheels, the pilot's seat, cockpit floor, and joystick - I think that was all. I also used the tailplanes from the ICM I-15. I know, it sounds like I waste a lot of kits, but the parts I used came from the spare parts box, so far. I might not be able to say that about the next one I build, though!  ;)

John

Earlier in this thread, there was some discussion regarding brittleness of the plastic in this kit. I wanted to try using the RS-82 rockets that are provided, either for another I-153, or maybe some other VVS aircraft. The RO-82 launch rails are extremely delicate. I tried every cutting tool I could think of - fresh scalpel blade, X-Acto saw, very fine sharp-edged file - my success rate for removing these parts from the sprue and cleaning up the parts was 0 for 8, or 0%.

I then tried brushing the parts while still on the sprue with a light coat of lacquer thinner, then letting it dry for a couple of hours. This seemed to soften the very thin plastic enough (without damaging the detail too much) that I was able to do the next 6, using a new scalpel blade, with no breakage - 100% success rate!

I used ordinary hardware-store lacquer thinner; probably any solvent which "melts" styrene (MEK, toluene, whatever) will work.

If anyone comes up with a better method, I'd sure like to hear it.

John

Very nice Chaika, John! Great to see one built up.

Regards,

Jason