The Little World

Well, they had to be different from the Adlers of the Germans and the Bald Eagles of the Americans. And these fighters were tiny things – so it was either going to be Falcons or Tits. And you can play with tits as much as you wish…

Actually, I think the Falcon name was attached to the fliers, rather than the planes. Stalin had a real appreciation of the importance of Soviet aviation and an affection for the aircrews. He didn’t exactly extend this benevolence to the officers of the VVS…purging and murdering them every so often. But then he purged and murdered the Ukrainians and many other groups in the Soviet Union – it was just his funny little way…

The I-16 colours are totally authentic as they have been endorsed by the State Committee. Anyone who queries them will be considered a counter-revolutionary and arrested. Shooting and exile will be the least of their problems, as they will be first handed over to the operatives of Britmodeller for questioning. No pleas for mercy will be listened to.

The decals of this ICM product proved to be fine – not always a feature of eastern European kits. An ICM Polikarpov built some time ago had decals that fractured and fell apart to a marked degree. Polish decals can be even worse. It is good to see that the problem may be under control – of course I appreciate a scheme that doesn’t have vast graphics or stencils, and the Soviet habit of secrecy and frugality in the factory pays off handsomely.

And there was an experiment – I debated whether to coat over the decals and paint after everything was dry but elected to try sanding and flatting the finish with a melamine sponge instead. I think it has worked, though I should not skimp like this with bigger insignia.

Windscreen was perfect, and all-in-all I think this has been a very satisfying model. I’ll welcome more ICM in the future.