CZECH MASTER RESIN
Irbitis VEF I-16
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History
 Karlis
Irbitis designed the I-16 in mid to late 1938 for Valsts Elekrtotechniska
Fabrika (State Electro-Technical Factory) in Riga as an inexpensive, lightweight
fighter for the Latvian Air Force. Due to problems with procurement of
the engine from Czechoslovakia and of Kollsman instruments from the USA
the first flight did not occur until the spring of 1940. This flight,
from Riga’s Kalnciems Aerodrome, lasted only a few minutes when
the engine quit due to inadequate fuel feed. Test pilot Konstantins Reichmanis
made a safe dead-stick landing without damaging the plane. Only a couple
of more flights were made before the project was shut down and placed
in storage by the Soviet occupation of Latvia. The I-16 was left dormant
during the Soviet presence and was not revived until the Germans replaced
the Soviets as occupiers of Latvia. Development of the I-16 proceeded
slowly under German oversight with the plane being flown only a few more
times before being abandoned by the Germans as being of no value to them.
The ultimate fate of the I-16 is not recorded but it was probably scrapped.
The airplane was of, primarily, wooden construction and was covered,
save for the nose and control surfaces, with plywood. A Czechoslovakian,
license-built Walter Sagitta 1 SR, air-cooled, supercharged, V-12 engine
of 460 hp provided power. Armament was two 7.7mm Browning machine guns
mounted in the top deck of the fuselage to fire through the propeller.
Provisions were made for two more such weapons, one under each wing.
Wingspan: 27’ (8.23 m)
Length: 23’ 11” (7.3 m)
MTOGW: 3,410 lb (1,550 kg)
Max. Speed: 301 mph (483 km/h)
Range: 503 mi (805 km)
The Kit
 The
kit is bagged, as are most CMR kits. The resealable polyvinyl bag contains:
A cover sheet with “box art” shown here.
Two A-4 size sheets of instructions. These give you a typically neat
and clean CMR exploded, isometric drawing graphically showing assembly
of the parts. Also shown are the three sets of markings covered by the
decals – Latvian, Soviet and German. Only the first of the three
references cited below mentions the plane in Soviet markings, whilst the
second specifically says it never wore red stars and the third is silent
on the subject. I suggest you forget the red stars. CMR give no advice
regarding the color of the airplane other than the CGI color rendering
on the cover sheet showing it in a medium neutral gray. The Latvian aviation
web site, referenced below, notes that records indicate the airplane was
painted “bronze aluminum”. Just fooling around, I got a nice
looking color by mixing Testors Model Master Jet Exhaust enamel with Floquil
Old Silver and Flat White lacquer – proportions are up to you; mess
with it till it looks good but keep it light.
 A
very nice decal sheet with everything in perfect register. The VEF logos
are, however, missing. I’ve illustrated the logo and its placement
here for your convenience. This is such a plain little airplane that we
need all the decoration we can get.
21 parts cast in pale cream, rather brittle, resin. The two small scoops
atop the engine cowling are too small when compared with photos; this
is easily corrected.
The propeller-cum-spinner needs some work to properly represent the
wooden, German-made Schwarz propeller fitted by VEF. The prominent Schwarz
logos are included on the decal sheet. The propeller is, appropriately,
painted black. Photos show the tips to be a contrasting color –
probably yellow.
Cockpit detail is a bit sparse so Imagineering and installing some more
detail would be a good idea.
I believe, judging from photos, the cooling air intake in the cowl bowl
should be much larger than it is, as cast by CMR; it should be wider and
wrap under the bottom of the cowl a bit. Study the photos on the Latvian
aviation web site to see what I mean. If you are afflicted with AMS, you’ll
want to do something to indicate the air-cooled V-12 behind that big hole.
The balance of the parts look good as is.
Two clear, vac-formed canopies. When painting the model don’t forget
the seam on the top centerline of the canopy where the halves of the original
were glued together.
Conclusion
It’s a pretty airplane but I wonder about the market viability
of a kit of an obscure, short lived, one-off prototype. Whatever CMR’s
business thinking was behind their choice of subject, it has been well
executed and looks like an easy build, right out of the bag, for the average
modeler.
Many thanks to CMR for providing the review sample.
References
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Air International, Vol. 24, No. 4, April 1983; Fighters A to Z Description
and three view.
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latvianaviation.com
Description and 12 B & W photos & two color profiles.
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