1/33 I-153 "Chaika" (56th Fighter Regiment, Khalkhin Gol 1939)

[Zenon1947]

I built another old model (1971) from Maly Modelarz. This time, it's a I-153 "Chaika". However, as the original design really shows its age, I asked my grandson, Kacper (PacificWind) to remaster it and recolor into a more interesting camo and markings.

Now, the model portrays a plane of 56th Fighter Regiment, Khalkhin Gol 1939.
One change was needed here - the propeller and its spinner. They were taken from Maly Modelarz (1965) I-16 "Rata" to match this version of "Chaika".

[Viator]

Very fine model!

Chaika means lapwing or peewit in Russian.

So, 56th was a Russian fighter regiment, not a Mongolian?

[Butelczynski]

Nice work Zenon. I'm currently building the same model but scaled down and repainted by Rata. Mine is in about 1:50 and of course in Finnish colors.

I see you had the same problem with wing alignments like I did lol. There is a design error in marking of locations of both wings.

Cheers to both you and Kacper!

[Zenon1947]

Thanks.
There's a good book about I-153, in Polish and English - "Wydawnictwo Militaria 222 Polikarpow I-153" by Mikhail A. Maslov.

Originally Posted by Viator

So, 56th was a Russian fighter regiment, not a Mongolian?

56th Fighter Regiment was Russian. Mongolians didn't have any planes at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 as far as I know. They supported Russians with infantry, cavalary, artillery and some armored vehicles.
Even later, Mongolians never had I-153s. Their only fighters during the entire World War II were I-15s. I-16s, and Yak-9s.

Originally Posted by Butelczynski

I see you had the same problem with wing alignments like I did lol. There is a design error in marking of locations of both wings.

These old models are never too accurate. Digital remastering/recoloring has one good thing when it comes to Maly Modelarz - all those "white fields" can be painted in camo color, so it always look better if something doesn't align in 100%.
There's one thing I'd like to share about the wings. Don't use these parts in the picture. They will make it difficult to close the wings. It's better to use stripes for reinforcement under the longest formers.

[Butelczynski]

I never used those parts Zenon. I don't know why Mr Wasiak insisted on them in many of his models. They don't make assembly easy now, with much better paper and they made it impossible with original card resembling particle board (płyta paździerzowa?) then card.

In this model I think bottom wing should be installed a little bit forward from what's marked on model. Also parts between wings are a little bit too long imho.

This is in part why I avoid biplanes. Even a little bit of an error either by builder or designer and model starts looking strange. I don't know how Pericles is building his models. I wish I had his skill

[gomidefilho]

A very interesting work, and a great repainting work by Kacper (who, by the way, has been missing from the forum). I have several original Maly Modelarz purchased over the years at the GPM second-hand store, on Ebay and some of the famous 40-year-old CDs, and there are actually some models that already in the planned pieces we noticed that there are some difficulties. I only repainted the Hanpden and the PWS BH 33 that are in the queue, I hope to be successful.