Red cowlings on I-16?

[ChristianK]

Gentlemen,

I am wondering about the light coloured cowlings of some of the I-16 visible in the attached photos. Are they painted red or just some other light colour? Any thoughts on this from our VVS experts?






All images expired ebay auctions, taken from avia-n-aero website.

Cheers,
Christian

[Graham Boak]

I suspect simply weathering and light reflecting at different angles. Note that others look darker. However, for a better response try looking on http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Forum/index.php.

[Pilot]

Different basic material of the surface cause this effect. As I know they use different paints for metal and wood surfaces.

Nice images anyway

[ChristianK]

Thanks for your replies, guys. Srecko's thought on different colours for wood and metal surfaces sounds interesting. The very strong differences in hue are nevertheless remarkable, especially in the second photo. It seems that no measures were taken to unify the outward appearance of the cowling and the rest of the plane. This would be a strange habit for a peacetime air force...maybe it was less obvious when seen in (coloured) reality or the respective unit commander deliberately viewed this effect as some kind of two-tone camouflage..seems we will never know

[Pilot]

Note that basic difference could be in biding medium, different for metal then for fabric and the pigments could be the same. There is excellent article made by Valhlamov and Orlov about the camouflage and paints of Soviet airplanes. Note that in regards to wher the part is, there is different way to fade or to get dirt. Area over the engine is exposed from higher heat from engine and this section could change hue during time more rapidly then on the erst of airplane. maybe not to much notable on WW2 planes but this is very notable on WW1 planes.

Are you plan to do something? Kit, painting or just curiosity?

Cheers

[ChristianK]

In fact I am planning to built a model of the I-16 "Outlined 5" from the first pic (Any additional pics of this a/c would be welcome, of course!). The light coloured cowlings are just an observation I made during photo research. If I recall correctly, I only saw this cowling phenomenon on I-16s from what I think is always the same unit (Red fin tip with thin white line + small number on rudder, which is either white, red outlined white, or outlined only. Did I mention that unit ID's of the VVS lack proper research?). This is also the reason why I thought the light coloured cowling might be a special feature of this unknown unit in the first place..

Where I might find this article you mentioned?

Cheers,
Christian

[Pilot]

Contact somebody from Russia for magazine

[Kari Lumppio]

Originally Posted by ChristianK

Where I might find this article you mentioned?

Cheers,
Christian

Hello!

The article (series) can be found here:
http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/...pic_t_954.html

I don't know if with permission. I have most of the article parts as M-Hobby magazine issues too.


Kari

[ChristianK]

Ok, thank you Guys!

Cheers,
Christian