Yak-28P Firebar

[zebra]

I'm going to build the new Bobcat 1/48 Yak-28P Firebar. I'll be using one of the marking options in the kit, for an aircraft of the 174th GvIAP (Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment) at Monchegorsk on the Kola Peninsula - so it meets the criterion of being in Europe, in this case a very, very cold part of Europe! This is one of those slightly odd Soviet designs that has always fascinated me, so I snapped up the kit as soon as it was available. Will definitely be getting a Brewer when it comes out.

 

This is going to be straight from the box (not much choice there - there doesn't seem to be any aftermarket for this kit yet, and I'm not much of a detailer anyway). I'll be carrying on with the Tu-134 alongside this, so it might be a bit slow.

 

First impressions are of a nice kit but whilst the surface detail seems to be excellent, a resin cockpit or some Eduard PE wouldn't go amiss.

 

So here's a photo of the box and sprues to kick things off. I've started on the cockpit, but not made enough progress to make sharing photos worthwhile yet:

 

[Col.]

Excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on this one.

[Hewy]

Great stuff zebra, im doing this kit too, I've trawled the internet looking for any thing markings wise i know the ukranians had some of these ,but im hoping some decal options are available soon,it does look like its going to be  a very popular kit though doesn't it,if i can find any info for markings I'll let you know ,might have to have them printed then,good luck with yours

Glynn

[Valkyrie]

It's a cracking paint scheme in the pic, looking forward to this

[IanHx]

Great looking subject.....

[modelling minion]

Ooh! Very nice choice.

Really interesting aircraft and I'm very interested to see how the kit builds up.

 

Craig.

[zebra]

9 hours ago, Hewy said:

i know the ukranians had some of these

 

The only Ukrainian Yak-28s I've seen photos of have been Brewers and Maestros. If Wikipedia is right (I know...) the Yak-28P was withdrawn from service in 1982 which would mean it's red stars or nothing. From the photos available online (at least from a google search) there doesn't seem to have been much variety in the markings of these aircraft. Normally that would put me off, but it's such a distinctive shape that I don't think it needs interesting markings to make it stand out. So I'm sticking with the kit decals I think.

[Hewy]

Zebra i dont disagree there beautiful aircraft,and im trying to find out about the ejection seats at the moment,but i believe airframe manufacturers produced ther own seats at this time ,the kit ones look a bit sparse dont you think,

[zebra]

11 minutes ago, Hewy said:

the kit ones look a bit sparse dont you think

 

They do, certainly by 2017 standards, although there are many worse out there. I've decided to go with the kit seat - I want this to be a fairly quick build, as I've got something else on the go that I want to keep up the momentum with, and there are other group builds coming up that I want to join in too. Plus everything takes ages to reach me in Australia and I don't want to be delayed by the mail. So I'm going to crack on with what I have.

 

Try Neomega. The KK-2 was fitted to the Yak-25 so might be the right seat - or not far off it: http://www.neomega-resin.com/russian-seats-73-c.asp

 

[Hewy]

2 minutes ago, zebra said:

 

They do, certainly by 2017 standards, although there are many worse out there. I've decided to go with the kit seat - I want this to be a fairly quick build, as I've got something else on the go that I want to keep up the momentum with, and there are other group builds coming up that I want to join in too. Plus everything takes ages to reach me in Australia and I don't want to be delayed by the mail. So I'm going to crack on with what I have.

 

Try Neomega. The KK-2 was fitted to the Yak-25 so might be the right seat - or not far off it: http://www.neomega-resin.com/russian-seats-73-c.asp

 

Yes thanks for the heads up on the seat zebra,im in the same boat,got a harrier on the bench 90% done and I'm enjoying it ,so that has to take precedense til its done,thanks again. glynn

[exdraken]

GREAT!

 

you are the first to tackle one I guess, here at BM at least!

will watch and take notes! 

have mine inbound, but I guess not in time to promisingly participate here!

 

 

[Hewy]

Posted a reply to you in my own thread, (doh) i did something similar using the undercarriage halfs as a jig, but the locating pins on the landing gear itself seemed a bit short and kept popping out, so i drilled the locating pins and superglued some firm wire in allowing slight adjustment when i came to glue the two halfs together, worked out ok but a bit of a strange method out of the box,like you im bound to break it ,I'm just counting the days till i break that fin on top of the fuselage too, good luck with yours

Glynn

[zebra]

16 hours ago, Hewy said:

Posted a reply to you in my own thread, (doh) i did something similar using the undercarriage halfs as a jig, but the locating pins on the landing gear itself seemed a bit short and kept popping out, so i drilled the locating pins and superglued some firm wire in allowing slight adjustment when i came to glue the two halfs together, worked out ok but a bit of a strange method out of the box,like you im bound to break it ,I'm just counting the days till i break that fin on top of the fuselage too, good luck with yours

Glynn

 

I was a bit surprised at the undercarriage design. On the one hand it's an intricate and presumably accurate representation of the undercarriage. But the engineering isn't so great - in particular the comparatively huge holes the locating pins sit in! I didn't have a problem with them popping out, but they were certainly loose (until I applied some superglue that is!).

 

I'm enjoying following your build Glynn, looks like you're going to a bit more effort over the detailing than me - yours is going to be great. For now mine is playing second fiddle to the Tu-134 which is my main project at the moment.

 

So far I've got the main cockpit components assembled, but a bit more paint is needed to pick out some details, and the undercarriage assembled and given a base coat of paint. 

 

One thing about this kit - I don't think the colour call-outs in the instructions can be trusted. They give us Gunze, Tamiya and Model Master colours for everything, but they don't match - for example one colour is quoted as Tamiya XF-63 (German Grey) or Gunze's FS 36375 - very different colours!

 

Here's how it's looking so far:

 

[Hewy]

40 minutes ago, zebra said:

 

I was a bit surprised at the undercarriage design. On the one hand it's an intricate and presumably accurate representation of the undercarriage. But the engineering isn't so great - in particular the comparatively huge holes the locating pins sit in! I didn't have a problem with them popping out, but they were certainly loose (until I applied some superglue that is!).

 

I'm enjoying following your build Glynn, looks like you're going to a bit more effort over the detailing than me - yours is going to be great. For now mine is playing second fiddle to the Tu-134 which is my main project at the moment.

 

So far I've got the main cockpit components assembled, but a bit more paint is needed to pick out some details, and the undercarriage assembled and given a base coat of paint. 

 

One thing about this kit - I don't think the colour call-outs in the instructions can be trusted. They give us Gunze, Tamiya and Model Master colours for everything, but they don't match - for example one colour is quoted as Tamiya XF-63 (German Grey) or Gunze's FS 36375 - very different colours!

 

Here's how it's looking so far:

 

  I agree i didnt go with the tamiya german grey,too dark,there's a couple of pictures on the web of a walkaruond 28p ,that isn't tamiya german grey in the wheel wells,and hang on about effort,i usually commit some form of blunder to completly blow it sooner or later,alclad being the odds on,and it seems most of that detail painting wont be seen ,you can hardly see down the nacelles, so the laws of diminishing returns can apply here best of luck,still looking good,

Glynn

[SleeperService]

I collected mine yesterday but there's no way I'm tackling this beast until I can follow and learn. That's a nice start zebra and it is certainly a very distinctive aircraft.

[Hewy]

Zebra, that rear landing gear shouldn't be glued until the end,it makes no mention of it in the instuctions it should pivot on it locating pins once the fuselage halves are together it completes the location  to be set when the wing lg is on like a harrier , if you haven't glued it ok, i only tacked it suspecting somthing like this as I had a harrier in progress at the same time,

[Jabba]

Looks like the start of an interesting build.

[zebra]

On 3/18/2017 at 7:08 PM, Hewy said:

Zebra, that rear landing gear shouldn't be glued until the end,it makes no mention of it in the instuctions it should pivot on it locating pins once the fuselage halves are together it completes the location  to be set when the wing lg is on like a harrier , if you haven't glued it ok, i only tacked it suspecting somthing like this as I had a harrier in progress at the same time,

Oops. It's well and truly glued. I really should have thought of this. Will just have to deal with getting all four sets of wheels on the ground when I get to that stage.

 

I've made some fairly rapid progress. Fuselage is together and wings are on. It's all going pretty smoothly and most of it fits pretty well, although there are some small gaps to fill and there are some parts which, whilst they fit along a panel line, leave a gap that's too big to treat as a panel line. Mr Surfacer has helped get these under control.

 

There are a few too many sink marks for my liking - particularly given this is going to be in natural metal so they'll need to be filled and smoothed out well.

 

Here's how it's looking today:

 

 

[Col.]

Looks to be coming together well 

[zebra]

Progress has been slow as we have an overseas visitor and, however much I'd like to, I can't really be disappearing into the garage very much! But with a few half hour stints here and there I've got the airframe assembled, primed, and first coat of Alclad white aluminium on.

 

No photographs to share this time, for two reasons: 1. I forgot to take any and 2. I'll take some when I've rectified tonight's stuff-up. The Alclad was going on very nicely until I allowed a large dollop of paint to spill from the paint cup onto the rear fuselage. I'm putting it down to a combination of a cavalier attitude I've had to putting the lid on the paint cup lately (that'll learn me) and having had a couple of glasses of wine beforehand (that'll learn me too!).

 

Should be able to sand it back and repaint it, so just a minor setback. 

 

Also, have I mentioned that this thing's big? Bigger than I expected. Not sure where it's going when it's done.

[Col.]

On 26/03/2017 at 10:34 AM, zebra said:

...The Alclad was going on very nicely until I allowed a large dollop of paint to spill from the paint cup onto the rear fuselage. I'm putting it down to a combination of a cavalier attitude I've had to putting the lid on the paint cup lately (that'll learn me) and having had a couple of glasses of wine beforehand (that'll learn me too!).

Oops   The lessons we learn the hard way are the ones we learn best. Have that wine as a reward after you've got progress made on the model  

[zebra]

So I've sanded it back and repainted it, alcohol free this time, and it's looking much better. Something strange happened with the Alclad though. I had two bottles of white aluminium - both part used - and after I'd finished the first moved on to the second, I think older, bottle. Strange metallic cobwebs started appearing on the far edge of every surface I was spraying. I tried it on a bit of scrap plastic and got the same result. Something very odd going on with that old bottle of Alclad. I'd heard it has a short shelf life, now I know why!

[Col.]

Ouch  Hope you are able to get rid of the cobwebs and the old Alclad behaves itself otherwise.

[Hewy]

Were they both alclad 2,as i understand the formula changed from the early alclad to the alclad 2 ,at least the wine wasn't to blame,

Bad luck though, how did your wing lances fit,mine were terrible,and so far  you seem to have kept the  spine fin on  ,,, , it still looks to have gone together well though ,,all the best

Glynn

[zebra]

12 hours ago, Hewy said:

Were they both alclad 2,as i understand the formula changed from the early alclad to the alclad 2 ,at least the wine wasn't to blame,

Bad luck though, how did your wing lances fit,mine were terrible,and so far  you seem to have kept the  spine fin on  ,,, , it still looks to have gone together well though ,,all the best

Glynn

 

Both alclad 2... the cobweb thing was just plain weird. Never seen anything like it.

 

The wing lances didn't fit well - had to file them down quite a bit to get them in. To be fair this was the only really poorly fitting part of the whole kit.

 

As for the spine fin - I'm surprised it's still there - plenty of time for me to break it off yet! Not a big fan of having these parts moulded on to the fuselage, way too easy to break off, I've been careful and been ok so far although one of the odd rods on the nose is looking a bit wobbly.