ICM 72053 Polikarpov I-5 Soviet Biplane Fighter — 1:72 Plastic model aircraft kit

Manufacturer: ICM
Kit number: 72053
Aircraft: Polikarpov I-5
Scale: 1:72
Barcode / EAN: 4823044400027
Kit type: Injection-moulded plastic aircraft kit
Release: 15 January 2017
Status: Current/reissued kit
Manufacturer and kit background

ICM is a Ukrainian model manufacturer established in Kyiv and is particularly well regarded for its extensive range of 1:72 and 1:48 aircraft, including many Soviet subjects.

The 72053 is a relatively modern ICM tooling rather than an old reboxed kit. ICM dates it to 15 January 2017 and lists it as a 1:72 Soviet Biplane Fighter. The company's specifications give 53 parts, a box measuring 247 × 183 × 33 mm, and a finished model measuring 95 × 134 mm (length × wingspan).

The kit is still included in ICM's recent catalogue, so it has not become a genuinely scarce discontinued kit.
Kit contents and detail

This is a nicely detailed little kit for its size. ICM's instructions show the parts distributed across the main plastic sprues, with the aircraft's fuselage, wings, engine, propeller, landing gear and numerous small fittings represented individually.

The documented contents include:

53 plastic parts

Fuselage halves

Upper and lower wings

Detailed interplane and cabane struts

Tailplane and rudder

Open cockpit

Cockpit interior

Pilot's position

Radial engine

Engine cylinders/details

Townend-ring engine cowling

Propeller

Fixed landing gear

Wheels

Windscreen

Small external fittings

Clear parts

Decal sheet

Assembly instructions

A kit review identifies 47 green injection-moulded parts on two sprues, plus a separate clear sprue containing six transparent parts. The decals provide two marking options.

The kit has some particularly nice surface treatment for a 1:72 biplane. The fuselage has engraved panel features, while the fabric-covered areas have a subtle representation of the underlying framework. The open cockpit and radial engine are also represented in considerably more detail than would be expected from an inexpensive older kit.
Decal options

ICM provides two Soviet aircraft:

I-5 personal aircraft of I.U. Pavlov, Chief of Moscow District Air Defence, 1932

An I-5 serial aircraft from summer 1941

The second option is particularly interesting because surviving I-5s were pressed into secondary combat duties when the Soviet Union went to war with Germany.
Modelling considerations

Although this is a relatively small kit, the biplane configuration means the modeller needs to take care with:

Alignment of the upper and lower wings

Interplane struts

Cabane struts

Landing gear

Engine/cowling alignment

Final rigging

Fine rigging wire or thread will greatly improve the finished model.

The open cockpit and exposed radial engine are worthwhile detailing areas. Because the aircraft is small, even modest improvements to the cockpit, engine cylinders and exhausts can be quite noticeable.

For a second-hand example, check the struts, clear windscreen, propeller and landing gear particularly carefully.
The full-size Polikarpov I-5

The Polikarpov I-5 was one of the first Soviet fighters to be produced in significant numbers.

Designed by Nikolai Polikarpov, the prototype VT-11 first flew on 29 April 1930. Production began shortly afterwards, and approximately 800 aircraft were produced between 1931 and 1934.

The aircraft was a conventional single-seat biplane with a fixed undercarriage and radial engine.

It became the principal fighter of the Soviet Air Force during the early 1930s, but rapid advances in fighter design soon made it obsolete.

By the beginning of WWII, the I-5 was no longer competitive as a front-line fighter. Nevertheless, some surviving aircraft were returned to useful work as ground-attack aircraft during the desperate early period of the German-Soviet war in 1941–42.
Aircraft specifications

The later I-5 production aircraft represented by this kit used the Shvetsov M-22 radial engine, with the characteristic Townend-ring cowling.

Broadly:

Crew: 1

Engine: Shvetsov M-22 radial

Power: approximately 480 hp

Role: fighter / advanced trainer

Configuration: single-engine biplane

Landing gear: fixed

Armament: machine guns

Production: approximately 800 aircraft

At 1:72 scale, ICM's finished dimensions are approximately 95 mm long × 134 mm wingspan.

That makes it a compact but visually interesting model, particularly when displayed alongside other early Soviet fighters such as the I-15 or I-16.