ICM 1/72 I-153

[learstang]

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

[warhawk]

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.

[Massimo Tessitori]

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

[John Thompson]

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.

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:


John

[learstang]

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

[John Thompson]

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

[learstang]

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

[AC26]

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.

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.

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

[John Thompson]

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.

[warhawk]

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



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


Canopy is crystal clear, and one of the best I have seen from ICM. A big plus is that it comes separately packaged


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


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  

[learstang]

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

[Massimo Tessitori]

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

[John Thompson]

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



John

[learstang]

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

[Massimo Tessitori]

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