Here’s my latest project, the Hobbycraft 1:48 Polikarpov I-16. This will be a Type 10 variant.
Of course, Eduard makes a fine I-16 kit already, I have built one with good results. But I had three of these older Hobbycraft/Academy kits in the stash for some time, which I did not want to simply relegate to the ash heap of history. Can they be brought up to date? Why, yes!
First, I wanted to open up the cockpit area. Here, you can see I ground off the molded closed doors. The aftermarket kit I’m using comes with seperate doors which can be affixed in the open position.
The kit’s molded in exhaust pipes are pretty horrific. Bleah! Let’s just grind those off, too!
Well now that I did that, I’ll need to modify the firewall. If not, it protrudes noticeably into the exhaust pipe ports. What on earth were those Hobbycraft engineers thinking?!?
The real plane had these two round portholes above the dash, to allow light in. I had to add my own:
Underneath, I added holes in the wheel wells to accomodate the gear retractor cables.
Now the aftermarket cockpit parts can be installed:
WOW! I love the detail you doing in this tiny plane!
I want to get this russian tiny plane too but I dunno if I must get the Academy/Hobbycraft or Eduard’s, what do you recomend? It worth the $26 bucks Eduard’s price against $10 Academy’s??
There is no question that Eduard makes the better kit. For $26, you get the plane, plus photo-etch parts, canopy masks, and more extensive decal options. Both kits have their little fit problems (watch out for Eduard’s front cowl! And the exhaust pipes are not very convincing.). Both kits have their cockpit doors molded shut, so regardless of which kit, you must grind them off if you want an open cockpit. The Academy/Hobbycraft is a bit easier to construct, but is more deficient in detail, especially in the cockpit, which is a complete fantasy, having no roots in reality whatsoever. I built the Eduard kit last year and I like it a lot. But I paid five dollars for two of the Hobbycraft kits ($5 for BOTH kits, how could I pass it up?) on Ebay, and wanted to do somethin’ fun and useful with them, hence my resin aftermarket set project. So assuming you bought the Academy kit for $10, and my resin set for $15, it would only save you a buck. If you’re starting from nothing, I’d choose the Eduard kit. If you stumbled on a sweet deal too good to pass up(really cheap!) on the Academy kit, or are on a tight budget, then use that one.
That’s exactly the kind of info I wanted to hear, Thanks a lot! Im already saw the review from both kits and both say they are great, I just wanted to hear the opinion from someone that already build both kits, and you’re right I think I’ll get the Eduard kit.
