Polikarpov I-16 Ishak RED 21

[ramses]

Parts for the nose plug/prop/spinner:





A backplate for the spinner, with a washer recessed into it, was made.
Hollowed out the balsa spinner, first with the Dremel and then with sandpaper:



Glued all together and finished the spinner with pieces of paper (still needs to be sanded well):



The plans shows a tail skid, but my version (Type 24) had a tail wheel instead of a skid.
The rest of the assembly is built as shown on the drawing, with a 0.4mm core and balsa sanded to shape. The tail wheel rotates smoothly on the axle; fortunately, no glue got into it. A white ground layer is applied:



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

The woodwork for the Polikarpov is finished!

Fuselage, wing, empennage, cowling, exhausts, turtle deck, tailcone, landing gear, wheels, cannon blisters, windshield, wing and empennage fairings, and the engine plug (and also the rockets):



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

In a previous post you can read why I stretched the tissue on a frame and pre-shrunk it:



For this Polikarpov, I have used natural Deluxe EzeTissue.
This tissue weighs 12.5g/m².
It works very well and has a high wet-strength!
You can varnish it with EzeDope, but this natural version can also be varnished with regular dope (which is what I'm going to do).
Like all tissue, it has a grain direction that you need to take into account.
I cut the required sections with the correct grain direction from the frame.
Starting with the tail planes:



One sheet of tissue was enough for the tail surfaces and wing.
In the photo below, the top of the wing still needs to be covered:



I applied the pre-tensioned tissue to the tail surfaces and wing dry and didn't dampen it afterward. It still sits nice and tight and wrinkle-free:



For the fuselage, I used a new sheet of EzeTissue, which isn't pre-tensioned.
The Polikarpov fuselage is strongly double-curved, and I wanted to try covering large sections wet instead of using individual strips. Because of its high wet-strength, you can pull the tissue wet around the fuselage, and it dries tightly:



I applied all tissue to the I-16 with a glue stick:



The last two pieces of tissue and the fuselage is done:



Left to dry:



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

Ready for dope and finishing:



Cheers, Ramses

[g_kandylakis]

Hi Ramses,

please do not post AI generated or AI modified images in your posts.

Workbenches can not and should not be that clean and orderly... It just doesn't look right.

If, unlikely as it may be, these are indeed photographs of your workbench, then stop posting altogether as you are putting us in a very difficult spot.

George

[ramses]

        

[ramses]

I finish the tissue with a mixeture of 50% Model Engineering spanlak and 50% Extron nitroverdünnung fur flugzeug spannlack (in two layers):



I made pieces of wood covered with tape on the table to pin everything in place while hardening. Here I started the first layer of dope on the underside of the wing:



There's an extra balsa wedge under the right wing's trailing edge.
This is to provide the right wing half with washout:



First coat on all parts (except the unsupported left wing half):



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

The left wing half has been fixed after the first coat of thinned dope.
Meanwhile, all parts have received two coats of thinned dope:



I pinned the cowling temporary to the fuselage, ready to glue the wing to the fuselage:



Wing inserted into the cowling recesses and glued the wing to the fuselage:



Turtledeck glued to the fuselage and the fuselage prepared for gluing the stabilizer and tail cone:



The drawing shows small lithoplate hinges for the fin and rudder:





The fin and rudder are glued to the fuselage, and the formers for the wing fairings are made:



The front cockpit edge and cockpit doors are made of paper.
Next up are the paper fairings:



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

First, I made the fairings on the underside of the horizontal stabilizer.
The templates shown on plans fit perfectly; again, a very nice design to build!!



Stabilizer, fin and wing fairings finished so far, now on to the underside of the fuselage:



There is a considerable part that needs to be covered:



The paper fairings for the fuselage/wing transition are glued in place.
A 1.5mm balsa spar is made, which will rest against the cowling.
A 1.5mm balsa wedge is glued behind it, which will form the belly:



Finished the belly:



Covered with tissue and two layers of thinned dope over it:





The Polikarpov is ready for finishing:



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

Cut the thin hollow styrene gun covers to size and glued them to the nose:



I like how the fuselage is built around the protruding wing:







Glued the cowling to the fuselage and finishing the two peg positions:



Preparing for the rubber motor according to the plans with a Rooks hook on the prop shaft:







Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

The Polikarpov I-16 Ishak has completed its first test throws outside (without LG):

Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

I made the decals for the Polikarpov I-16 RED 21 in Photoshop and printed them on a laser printer:



A  paint corner improvised from an old cardboard box:



First the underside of the I-16 with the airbrush:



Mask off everything for the gray color on the top:



Holes temporarily filled with soft foam:



Applied the gray topcoat with the airbrush. I also airbrushed a sheet of 200g paper with the "sky" color, which I'm going to use to make new rims in the same color as the underside of the I-16:



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

Cut out the decals and ready to apply:



The new rims:



The decals for the LG were unfortunately too fragile...
I made them on an 8-micron thick decal sheet; in hindsight, 13 micron would have been better... So I painted them myself. First the outlines:



Painting with matt black Humbrol:



Glueing the six rockets to the wing with UHU Hart:



The layers of paint appear opaque, but are sprayed so lightly that you can see through them with strong light behind them:



Lightly weathered the I-16 with dry brush:



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

What I also had to make was a new, wide and hook-shaped 'winder stand' for the Polikarpov:



Since this winder stand is specifically for the Polikarpov RED 21, the stand has been given the same color and number 



The Peanut Polikarpov in the standard winder stand, the RED 21 in its own dedicated winder stand:





Converted a 'planebox' for the Polikarpovs:



Cheers, Ramses

[ramses]

In June 2025, we had an indoor trim/flying day. I set up my table and got the equipment ready. I was a bit nervous (small gym and lots of table legs), but I was also looking forward to it:



I had some bad luck with my rubber motors that day.
First, after fully winding, the rubber came off the hook in the fuselage... a violent explosion in a fragile fuselage.
No damage, unbelievable, lucky me i thought..

But this happened three more times (!!), remarkable because I'd never experienced this before. A rubber motor also snapped during winding.
Meanwhile, the Polikarpov had some damage to the fuselage tissue but was still flyable.

Henk (de Jong) gave me a blast tube, which we used every time afterward. Thanks again, Henk! Henk also helped me bend the propshaft hook after sliding the rubber over it. After that, I had no more problems with the rubber motors and luckily I was able to make some trim flights. An action photo taken by Henk:



Since the gym in Velp is relatively small, I started very carefully.
On the other side of the hall to avoid the table legs during takeoff. I started the Polikarpov right in the corner of the gym because I knew from Richard that the I-16 initially flies straight for quite a while.
That was indeed the case, and I eventually managed to get the Polikarpov to turn counter clockwise in this gym after a straight takeoff. Very low to the ground, with the left wingtip occasionally dragging on the ground.

The damage to the Polikarpov due to the 'exploding'rubber in the fuselage several times. Below and behind the cockpit, there's tissue damage and a piece of stringer broken:



Tissue damage at the number 21:



And the tail wheel is broken:



Cheers, Ramses