Any modellers near Riga? Yak-28 questions

[Rob de Bie]

I'm slowly building the Amodel 1/72 Yak-28R. The Yak-28 series is one of Amodel's worst, very rough, requiring a lot of work. I'm getting to the point where I need to decide what specific aircraft I want to portray. Since I cannot find enough colour and colour scheme information of operational aircraft, I started thinking about doing a museum aircraft. Then I found the Riga Yak-28R, and that looks like a good candidate.

The internet provided quite a few good photos of this aircraft, that show most of the camo pattern. I'm sketching the pattern over a line drawing of a generic Yak-28, but there are big gaps on the rear of the aircraft, and the upper wing. I found out that I can almost see the camo pattern on Google Earth, amazingly!

 

My question is whether there's a modeller in the neighbourhood of Riga, who can fill in some gaps. Ideally a he would shoot some photos of the rear of the aircraft, or draw the pattern, and maybe find a higher vantage point to see the top of the wing. Colour matches would be another question. And maybe you can find out more about the history of this aircraft? I would love to more about it.

There's no big hurry with these questions. As compensation for your time, I can design and print Alps custom decals.

Rob

[Apex]

I was there just last year and photographed this beauty. Can't help much with the blank areas - from the areas you are permitted to, the rear fuselage is hidden behind the engine pods and wing tanks. There was a nice platform to climb on close to the Yak - too bad I was more intrigued by the Mi-6 at the moment. Would these pictures be of any help? At least the rudder is clearly visible.

 

Not so sure about the authenticity of the colors, though. This equipment has been rotting there for years under merciless Latvian sun (hehe) and is very, very dirty. But guessing is the fun part in modelling Soviet stuff, right? Here are couple bonus shots to get you crazy superdetailing the navigators office:

 

[Rob de Bie]

15 hours ago, Apex said:

I was there just last year and photographed this beauty. Can't help much with the blank areas - from the areas you are permitted to, the rear fuselage is hidden behind the engine pods and wing tanks. There was a nice platform to climb on close to the Yak - too bad I was more intrigued by the Mi-6 at the moment. Would these pictures be of any help? At least the rudder is clearly visible.

 

Not so sure about the authenticity of the colors, though. This equipment has been rotting there for years under merciless Latvian sun (hehe) and is very, very dirty. But guessing is the fun part in modelling Soviet stuff, right? Here are couple bonus shots to get you crazy superdetailing the navigators office:

 

Apex, a huge thanks for your great photos!! It allows me to fill in some big gaps of the camouflage scheme: rudder as you said, left rear fuselage, left upper wing. Super!

 

My feeling is that the colours are original. I just doesn't look like it was repainted, with the exception of the wing tanks. And that impression was reinfored today when a similar question on the ARC forum yielded a photo set on Prime Portal. It is (or was) a Yak-28R at 'Roncs-Ranch' in Hungary, a former Debrecen-based aircraft, and it looks like the sister of the Riga aircraft! It has the same color combination, and the camouflage patterns on the rear fuselage and tail are roughly identical.

 

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/arpad_pinter/jak-28_walk_1.htm

 

Thanks again for the help!

 

Rob

[128fiddler]

If you look at this picture of 2 Brewer-D's ready for take off...

 

Could that be an equal color scheme to the Riga Yak-28R? To me it looks to be similar as you see how the paint faded and the general lines of the camo resembles a bit the right side of Riga's Yak's. And for the last argument, the Bort numbers are equal as well...

 

This picture is really breathing the thought "I wish I was born 30 years earlier, to hear what symphonic jet sound would support this amazing sight"

 

Greetings!

Edited December 30, 2016 by 128fiddler
made my explanation a bit clearer (I hope)

[Rob de Bie]

13 hours ago, 128fiddler said:

If you look at this picture of 2 Brewer-D's ready for take off...

 

Could that be an equal color scheme to the Riga Yak-28R? To me it looks to be similar as you see how the paint faded and the general lines of the camo resembles a bit the right side of Riga's Yak's. And for the last argument, the Bort numbers are equal as well...

 

This picture is really breathing the thought "I wish I was born 30 years earlier, to hear what symphonic jet sound would support this amazing sight"

 

128diddler, that is a very interesting observation! I saved this picture and a bunch of others in 2014, in a folder that I named 'Igor Andreevitch Efimov 1984-89 at 328ograp as squadron co'. I also saved the original URL, but it is no longer active. I hadn't realised the connection until now, but 328 OGRAP is the unit from which the Hungarian 'Roncs Ranch' Yak-28R came from, and also the unit I suspect that the Riga Yak-28R is from! Here's a brief unit history:

 

http://www.ww2.dk/new/air force/regiment/orap/328ograp.htm

 

And I even found some information on my own site

 

https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/vvs-ddr/kunmadar.htm

 

The camouflage pattern of bort number 20, 26 and 29 is indeed roughly similar to that of the Riga 22 and Roncs 20 (listed as formerly 14 blue), but with a dark green instead of brown as the main colour (I see two dark greens actually). However the Igor Efimov photo set does not show aircraft in the 'desert' camouflage of the Riga 22 and Roncs 20.

 

Thanks again for the interesting observation!

 

Rob

[Flankerman]

Rob,

 

I took the attached some time ago (pre-digital) - on a visit to Budapest - after the collection had been moved from near Ferigegy airport to a parkland further away,

 

They are quite small - hope they might be useful?..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been to the museum at Riga - but I can't find any of my pics - I'll keep looking

 

Happy New Year

 

Ken

[Rob de Bie]

24 minutes ago, Flankerman said:

Rob,

 

I took the attached some time ago (pre-digital) - on a visit to Budapest - after the collection had been moved from near Ferigegy airport to a parkland further away,

 

They are quite small - hope they might be useful?..........

 

I've been to the museum at Riga - but I can't find any of my pics - I'll keep looking

 

Happy New Year

 

Ken

 

Thanks Ken, every bit of information helps!

 

Judging from the row of aircraft in the background, standing in a great curve, you visited the Alsonemedi site, 'Roncs Ranch'. Is that correct? On Google Earth it's at 47°17'32.26"N 19°11'3.17"E. You have to look at 2007 satellite pictures to see the last remaining aircraft. Currently it looks like a dog race-track maybe?

 

It's new to me that the collection came from Budapest-Ferihegy airport. Do you know more details? It was quite a big collection, although a bit dilapidated..

 

Did you get to chat with the owner of the Riga museum? Does he know more about the aircraft on display? I believe he's a former Black Sea fleet pilot, so I would guess it's a work of love.

 

Rob

Edited December 31, 2016 by Rob de Bie

[128fiddler]

Well, it's maybe my way of perception, but if you look at the colorscheme of "this Greek TF-102" I think the dark color could quite possibly be a dark green...

[Kari Lumppio]

Hello!

 

Sorry Rob, cannot help with the Riga Yak. I can ask a friend living there if you do not get answer. Let me know.

 

You and ohters may be interested that there is another Yak-28 museum piece in the neighboroughing country Estonia.

 

Tartu lennundusmuuseum (http://www.lennundusmuuseum.ee/ , choose language from upper right corner) has Yak-28PP under restoration.

Short introduction of the aircraft here (http://www.lennundusmuuseum.ee/pildigalerii/havitus-rundelennukid/jak-28pp/ I.

 

As far as I know, the Yak-28PP "52" actually served at Pärnu. 655 IAP flew MiG-23s there, and some internet sources say the unit flew Yak-28 until 70's. Cannot verify, though.

 

When I saw the Yak-28 hulk first time at the Tartu museum it was some dirty pieces where weather had washed all camo paint away. IIRC no paint was left, but some remains which could have been dirt or grass, too.

 

If anyone can add any data or photos of these 655(?) IAP Yak-28 at least I would be interested.

 

 

Happy New Year!

Kari

[Rob de Bie]

2 hours ago, 128fiddler said:

Well, it's maybe my way of perception, but if you look at the colorscheme of "this Greek TF-102" I think the dark color could quite possibly be a dark green...

 

128fiddler, that's great out-of-the-box thinking  And that Greek TF-102 is a very nice example. I would expect some sun-side / shadow side effects, and some bleaching type blotchiness, but it's almost perfectly even discoloured.

 

Having said that, it won't be real problem for my model, since I want to portray the aircraft in the museum.

 

Rob

[Rob de Bie]

1 hour ago, Kari Lumppio said:

Hello!

 

Sorry Rob, cannot help with the Riga Yak. I can ask a friend living there if you do not get answer. Let me know.

 

You and ohters may be interested that there is another Yak-28 museum piece in the neighboroughing country Estonia.

 

Tartu lennundusmuuseum (http://www.lennundusmuuseum.ee/ , choose language from upper right corner) has Yak-28PP under restoration.

Short introduction of the aircraft here (http://www.lennundusmuuseum.ee/pildigalerii/havitus-rundelennukid/jak-28pp/ I.

 

Kari, thanks for the offer, I might take it up. I can send paint samples of my best guesses from the photos, and some variations, if it's possible to do paint matching on the aircraft itself. And the drawing of the camouflage pattern, as far as I could determine it. And for compensation of time maybe some custom Alps decals?

 

I didn't know of a Yak-28PP at Tartu. The PP would be my second choice if I hadn't bought the R model.

 

Rob

[128fiddler]

Hi Rob,

 

I've contacted my friend who paid a visit to Latvia this year, but when he knew the museum was there, he only had the chance to go there in the weekends, but then it's closed...

 

However he did a search and came up with a photothread at Scramble. There are a few pictures with a bit clearer view what's on top of the plane's right wing. Also through the input he used in Google I found a couple of pictures, one from wikipedia about the museum and one from Deviantart, giving a view on the museum while taking off from Riga I guess.

 

Here they are:

 

The Scramble's thread

 

The DevaintArt take off view

 

The Wikipedia (Wikimedia) picture from the Riga Aviation Museum page

 

Greetings!

[Rob de Bie]

13 hours ago, 128fiddler said:

Hi Rob,

 

I've contacted my friend who paid a visit to Latvia this year, but when he knew the museum was there, he only had the chance to go there in the weekends, but then it's closed...

 

However he did a search and came up with a photothread at Scramble. There are a few pictures with a bit clearer view what's on top of the plane's right wing. Also through the input he used in Google I found a couple of pictures, one from wikipedia about the museum and one from Deviantart, giving a view on the museum while taking off from Riga I guess.

 

Here they are:

The Scramble's thread

The DevaintArt take off view

 

Hello 128fiddler, that aerial shot is an excellent find! It gives a decent view of the right wing, and although it's just a few pixels in size, I was able to draw a rough pattern from it. Happily it connected to the pattern on the leading edge that I established from other photos.

 

The Yak-28 looks pretty good compared to some of the other aircraft ..

 

Rob

[128fiddler]

Hi Rob,

 

I found some interesting views from the Riga Brewer and a few (less interesting ones) while searching through Flickr.

 

Here is a link to are some alternative views, but maybe you've seen them allready.

 

I'm still thinking of extrapolating the Riga color scheme into the Red 26 which is holding for take off with it's sibling Red 29, If only I could find a suitable Red 26 twice... Anyone who knows a decalsheet which can serve as a source?

 

Greetings!

 

 

[Rob de Bie]

22 hours ago, 128fiddler said:

Hi Rob,

 

I found some interesting views from the Riga Brewer and a few (less interesting ones) while searching through Flickr.

 

Here is a link to are some alternative views, but maybe you've seen them allready.

 

I'm still thinking of extrapolating the Riga color scheme into the Red 26 which is holding for take off with it's sibling Red 29, If only I could find a suitable Red 26 twice... Anyone who knows a decalsheet which can serve as a source?

 

Greetings!

 

 

 

128fiddler, thanks again for new material! I'm not 'programmed' yet to check out Flickr when I'm looking for photos. I've got most of the Riga color scheme figured out, except for the rear half of the right wing, and the horizontal tails.

 

I will print a set of 'Red 26' for you, as a thanks for all the help in this thread, and to promote Yak-28 modeling in general  I haven't established the exact size and design of 'Red 22' of the Riga aircraft yet, still working on it. In the take-off photo 'Red 26' and 'Red 29' seem to have a wider white border. But in the 'over-the-wing' shot of '26' it seems thinner.

 

Here's a set I printed for a Turkish 104, and the last two are maybe close in terms of the width of the white border in the first-mentioned photo.

 

Rob

 

[128fiddler]

Hi Rob,

 

Thanks for the very kind offer. I found a few other pictures this time of operational Brewers here at a Spanish site 'El hangar de TJ'. As these are all red with white outline I can assume the 26 would be painted equal in style. The idea of having wider outline is maybe due to the pixels of the picture of the two 28's.

 

With the picture of red 27, not quite every aspect of the colorscheme is right, but the wingtip is resembling the style of the Hungarian Brewer. 

 

Talking about the Hungarian '20', in the walkaround at primeportal you can see the elevators on top of the right wingtip, regretfully one upside down... As the stabilizers are not that big, you can't go that much wrong for drawing up the right one... 😉

 

Greetings and thanks again for the offer!

 

 

Edited January 18, 2017 by 128fiddler

[71chally]

Of course we will be able to build a very fine Brewer in 1:48th soon, so watching this thread with interest!

 

[Rob de Bie]

On 1/15/2017 at 2:11 PM, 128fiddler said:

Hi Rob,

 

Thanks for the very kind offer. I found a few other pictures this time of operational Brewers here at a Spanish site 'El hangar de TJ'. As these are all red with white outline I can assume the 26 would be painted equal in style. The idea of having wider outline is maybe due to the pixels of the picture of the two 28's.

 

With the picture of red 27, not quite every aspect of the colorscheme is right, but the wingtip is resembling the style of the Hungarian Brewer. 

 

Talking about the Hungarian '20', in the walkaround at primeportal you can see the elevators on top of the right wingtip, regretfully one upside down... As the stabilizers are not that big, you can't go that much wrong forcdrawing up the right one... 😉

 

Greetings and thanks again for the offer!

 

I will have to design part of the camouflage scheme myself, I already figured that. But at least I've done my utmost best :-)

 

Here's what I drew after staring at the Igor Efimov photos for too long. I can't decide on the outline width, so I did four versions. Which do you like best? Comments on the basic outline of the '26' are also welcome. I think the numbers should be a bit closer to each other too.

 

Rob

[128fiddler]

Aha,

 

I went for searching into Red Bort numbers but came out with nothing. However, looking at Begemot's Mig-29 sheet, I noticed the Red numbers on the right middle are quite looking like the ones used on the Yaks.

 

However, when looking at this picture, I'd say the outline of the 3rd option, but with a thinner red portion.

 

Thanks for the effort allready!

 

Greetings from the South

[spfparker]

https://www.360cities.net/image/yakovlev-yak-28-soviet-military-aircraft-at-the-riga-aviation-museum?utm_source=google_earth&utm_medium=all_images

 

it's not what you are after but it may help..

[Rob de Bie]

11 hours ago, 128fiddler said:

Aha,

 

I went for searching into Red Bort numbers but came out with nothing. However, looking at Begemot's Mig-29 sheet, I noticed the Red numbers on the right middle are quite looking like the ones used on the Yaks.

 

However, when looking at this picture, I'd say the outline of the 3rd option, but with a thinner red portion.

 

I agree, the red part is too thick compared to that photo. Here are four variants with a slimmed-down red part:

 

 

With the thinner red part, the white should be thinned a bit too, probably. But let's first agree on the red part. Opinions please! :-)

 

Rob

[Rob de Bie]

10 hours ago, spfparker said:

https://www.360cities.net/image/yakovlev-yak-28-soviet-military-aircraft-at-the-riga-aviation-museum?utm_source=google_earth&utm_medium=all_images

 

it's not what you are after but it may help..

 

Nice, thanks! I think it's interesting that this photographer picked the Yak-28 as the center piece of his photo. I think it says something about the weird attractiveness of the design.

Rob

[128fiddler]

Hi Rob,

 

About the Red 26, I don't want to be nitpicking but if you look at the picture I added yesterday evening, the red part of the number looks a bit more slender as the individual lengths of the number are longer compared to yours, so to conclude I suggest an even thinner red, and actually I don't see much difference in the white outline... but looking at it, it doesn't change between the last four does it? But to see it like this, maybe option 2 is more correct like you actually said at the beginning.

 

A quick found of 34 red in afghan ops camo which you probably have, to use for the paint matching maybe?

 

Ahum... Never mind, it was seemingly an enlarged thumbnail...

Edited January 18, 2017 by 128fiddler
the picture was too small for being reference

[Rob de Bie]

17 hours ago, 128fiddler said:

Hi Rob,

 

About the Red 26, I don't want to be nitpicking but if you look at the picture I added yesterday evening, the red part of the number looks a bit more slender as the individual lengths of the number are longer compared to yours, so to conclude I suggest an even thinner red, and actually I don't see much difference in the white outline... but looking at it, it doesn't change between the last four does it? But to see it like this, maybe option 2 is more correct like you actually said at the beginning.

 

A quick found of 34 red in afghan ops camo which you probably have, to use for the paint matching maybe?

 

Ahum... Never mind, it was seemingly an enlarged thumbnail...

 

Here's an overview of all versions I drew so far, with some comments. I drew the '2' again from the photo you posted, and designed a '6' to go with it (same stroke width and white border). But the resulting '26' does not match the photo of the real '26' (right) well, it looks to skinny.

 

I also tried drawing fresh geometric designs on 8x5, 7x4 and 7x5 matrices, starting with either the red part or the white part, but none gives a good result. I'm out of ideas at this point. To my eye, the sixth or seventh design looks like the best compromise. But it's your call, it's your model..

 

 

Rob

[Hook]

On 17-1-2017 at 5:23 PM, Rob de Bie said:

 

Comments on the basic outline of the '26' are also welcome. 

 

 

The left upper part of the 2 looks a bit short compared to the pics.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre (who visited the Riga museum about five  years back)