ICM 1/32 Polikarpov I-153 Republic of China AF 1940.

The I-153 was a development of the Biplane I-15 family of the '30's, being a variant featuring retracting landing gear and in later versions an uprated engine. The development of a rapidly outdated biplane type was due to some false theories holding that highly maneuverable biplanes would still have a place in combat. Despite this fallacy, the I-153 was one of the best biplane fighters to see service, being about as fast as one of these was ever going to get. Russia supplied 250 or so various fighters to the Republic of China Air force in 1939-40, to help in their war against the Japanese. 90 of these were I-153. They were good against bombers, but had trouble with the monoplane A5M's and Ki-27's. and were totally done when the A6M Zero appeared. They did remain in service as trainers for quite a while.

The ICM outfit has been releasing some beauties in 1/32, my favorite scale, of late. This I-153 is very well done generally from what research I turned up. The interior is good, but as usual unfortunately, no seat harness is provided, so Eduard to the rescue. This is a separate "Goumingtang" Chinese boxing, the only difference from the Russian model being the open cowling front, as opposed to the cooling-shuttered standard version. This required some engine rebuilding, as the kit engine is simplified and adequate only to be behind the shutters. I assumed (uh-oh) this model would have the earlier M-25 engine, a version of the Wright Cyclone that featured the pushrod tubes ahead of the ignition harness ring, with prominent tubing connections and clamps. This time it's Vector to the rescue, with a resin M-25. Sort of. After assembling the cylinders, I found the thing was way oversize and would not fit in the cowl ring. So it was mix and match time, using the ICM cylinders mated to the Vector pushrod tubes and crankcase. Turned out good enough. The rest of the assembly was easy enough, only the lower wing to fuselage seam needing any real work. The gull upper wing lined up nicely with the lower and the struts were dead on spanwise.

On to the paint. Nothing I had of newer stock looked like what I wanted, so I dug deep and found some OLD Model Master "Russian Topside Green". This was paired with old Model master RLM 65 Light Blue. The Green is now gone, and the 65 almost so. I will miss the Model Master paints, but thankfully it appears the New Tamiya Lacquers will be a good substitute, if matching colors can be found. None of them will say "Russian Topside Green" or "French Khaki" though, I'll betcha. Bye bye model Master.

I used my newly appropriated "marbling" pre shade technique to create shading, and fabric appearance. Also new to me was the new Tamiya Lacquer clear, which worked excellently. Applies smoothly, if used with Mr. Color self-levelling thinner, and dries VERY fast. This new Tamiya stuff is the cat's heinie. The decals in the kit were too light in the blue for me, so I stole some roundels I had lying about from a P-40 sheet. Good thing it only had them on the bottom, as they gave trouble and need the Cleaver technique of many poked holes to get them to stay down. Rudder stripes were masked and sprayed using my own mix of blue. Which of course looked too light only after I removed the tape. Fug.

A light flat coat finished the paint.

Rigging was done with Radu Briznan (supposedly) 1/32 flat wire, which is definitely too thin but it's what I had. The spindly landing gear need to be splayed out more from the kit stance. TINY wingtip lights finished it off.

All in all I'm happy with it. My ROC collection is growing. I got a Dora Dewoitine 510 coming next and an ICM Gladiator in the pile. Need more decals! these things are a pain to mask.

14 additional images. Click to enlarge.