Polikarpov I-16 - the Soviet fighter

The Polikarpow I-16 is a Soviet-built World War II single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber nicknamed "Išačiok" ("Donkey") or "Jastriebok" ("Hawk") by Soviet pilots. During the Spanish Civil War the Francoists called him "Rata" ("Rat"). Although the I-16 was designed almost at the same time, as the I-15, its basic concept was completely innovative for its time. This fighter was the world's first monoplane with a retractable undercarriage (although retracting it required 44 turns of a knob on the starboard side of the cockpit). The prototype was "lifted" into the air for the first time by Valery Tchkalov in 1933. He claimed, that "it's a good machine, maybe a little too difficult to control, but it will bring a lot of benefits." Problems with the complexity of piloting due to oversensitive rudders immediately appeared. Despite this, the aircraft was directed to serial production and 7,005 fighters of this type were produced, 1,640 of which were two-seat trainers. The aircraft received its baptism of fire in the battles of the Spanish Civil War. A number of fighter of this type were sent to the Iberian Peninsula as an aid from the USSR to Republican Spain, fighting against the rebels of General Francisco Franco. In Spain I-15 and I-16 were called "Chatos" and "Moscas" respectively. They were used in the USSR AF until the middle of 1942, at the beginning of the war they suffered a lot of losses. They were increased by not very good flight characteristics and little experience of young pilots, sent to the front. The I-16 was produced in 10 major versions, starting with the I-16 Type I with the stellar 480 h. p. power engine M-22 and ending with the I-16 Type 24 with a much more powerful engine and more powerful and varied weaponry.

A medium-complexity well-designed and detailed model of a Type 10 modification fighter, used in the USSR Air Forces at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. If You make a model without a cockpit interior, with an opaque cockpit cover and an included chassis, it will be perfectly done by both a novice and an advanced modeler, working under the supervision of a more experienced colleague.