Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1
| Kit: | mostly scratch-built, 1/72 (see description below); completed in 1997, repaired on 2026-04-xx. |
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| Aircraft: | "3", 3rd prototype, May 1942; this was the first Russian rocket-powered fighter, and first flew under its own power on May 15, 1942. |
Construction Notes
I mostly scratch-built this model, but took some parts from an obscure Russian kit that was highly inaccurate and - in my opinion - unbuildable as such. I described this project in an article that was published in the IPMS/USA Journal vol 11 no 3 March/April 1999, p.49, as a response to an earlier article in the same publication that I felt mischaracterized the kit.
References Used
- Air Enthusiast April 1973, December 1973
- Aviation News 11 (7), 27 October 1978, pp.14-15
- Les avions de chasse russes et soviétiques 1915-1950 (Léonard); Editions Heimdal 1995
- Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875-1995 (Gunston); Motorbooks/Osprey 1995
- IPMS/USA Journal July/August 1997
- Rocket Fighter (Green); Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II 20; Ballantine Books 1971
- Scale Aviation Modeller 7 (2), July 1996, pp.393-394
- Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War - Single-Engined Fighters (Gordon & Khazanov); Midland Publishing 1998
- Soviet X-planes (Gordon & Sweetman); Motorbooks International 1992
Scale plans prepared for the project
Accolades
- 2nd place (category: "Vacuforms and major conversions - all scales"), IPMS Patriot PatCon 97 (Lowell, MA) in 1997.
- 2nd place (category: "Single-engined jets"), IPMS Bay Colony BayCon 97 (South Attleboro, MA) in 1997.
- 3rd place (category: "Scratch-built aircraft, 1/72nd scale or smaller"), IPMS/USA Nationals (Orlado, FL) in 1999.
More About the Model
- My model's entry at the Finnish scale model Web site pienoismallit.net
- Scalemates' entry for the kit I took some parts from
Repair
This model was rebuilt as part of my Grand Repair Project of 2026 and finished on 2026-04-17.
Wings attached, some puttying and sanding was needed. Part of the left wingtip had broken off (and disappeared), and had to be rebuilt using styrene sheet and putty. A new antenna mast was cut from styrene sheet as well (with the wire from EZ-line), a new pitot tube from steel wire, and new gun barrels from nickel-silver tube (from Albion Alloys). Landing gear struts were reattached, and new actuating rods were fashioned from thin styrene rod.
I did not have any notes about paints, so some effort went into matching the colors for touchup. The light blue-gray for undersides ended up being a mixture of Tamiya XF-19 and XF-23. The brown was "close enough" to Mr.Color #22 (RAF Dark Earth), and the green is now a mixture of Mr.Color #123 (RLM 83) and #60 (RLM 02). Final finish was achieved using Alclad II Klear Kote Flat.
Repairs completed, waiting for paint. Note the new antenna, new wingtip, new pitot tube, and holes drilled for machine guns.
Finished after all repairs and paint work.