Basilisk Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 I decided a while ago to build the new 1/32 scale Special Hobby Yak-3 kit in this GB as I have a bit of a soft spot for the Yakovlev piston fighters. But I was undecided in what colour scheme to paint the model. I didn't like to make a Normandie-Niemen Yak-3 in this scale as I prefer to make one in 1/48 as a companion to my Yak-1 build which still needs to be completed. When I downloaded the PDF instructions for the new Begemot decals of the Yak-3 in 1/32 scale (still waiting for its arrival), it contained all the favored markings seen on models in the past, but one scheme was new and it looks stunning My thanks go to Dimmy who located these sensational pictures. This plane was flown by Senior Lieutenant Ermohin Valentin Grigorievich of the 402nd Fighter Regiment (265th Fighter Air Division, 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps, 16th Air Army, 1st Belorussian Front). He shot down 9 enemy aircraft between July 1944 and April 1945 and several of them on this aircraft. There is an excellent page where I got this information from This will be my first 1/32 scale build and I am exited having a go at it. The kit looks great in the box - maybe a bit simple with not too many parts for the scale. Will be interesting to see how it goes together. I will use some aftermarket parts, Eduard PE and HGW fabric seatbelts which hopefully arrive shortly too. Cheers, Peter 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 I have this kit in the stash those decal look very nice, I'll watch this one with great interest, Glynn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Nice scheme that Peter, looking forward to this Cheers, Stew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Looking forward to this as I have the same kit in the stash. Cheers Dennis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 (edited) Thank you all. I spent the last month researching the type and the kit - an activity I enjoy as much as building the kit I read lots of reviews and build reports. Specially some French forums are a treasure trough (but need registration to see the contents). Reviews: Britmodeller Large Scale Planes Hyperscale Aeroscale Brexit Modeller Modellingmadness Detail Scale Review Scalemodel (French) Scalemodels.ru (Russian) Build Reports: Large Scale Planes Large Scale Modeller Brexit Modeller Scalemodel (French) - needs registration, but 16 pages of lots of detail! Nothing on Russian forums ... Walkarounds: Vadim Zadorozhnyi Technical Museum at Arkhangelsk (Russia) Museum of Military Equipment Battle Glory of the Urals at Verkhnyaya Pyshma (Russia) Orenburg (Russia) Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget (France) Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget (France) - shown also under restauration Aeronautical Museum at Belgrade (Serbia) - some great detail pictures Museum of Flying at Santa Monica (US of A) Museum of Flying at Santa Monica (US of A) Scalemodels.ru - not a walkaround as such, but some great info. Unfortunatel most pictures are gone in the earlier posts Certainly no shortage of information, but If you know any other links, please share them here. In general the feedback is favorable, but it is far from the perfect kit (which kit is). Yes a great looking Yak-3 can be build straight out of the box as some of the build reports illustrate. But a lot of the detail is simplified and so much more could be shown in this scale. I am aware that people build large models for various reasons, but for me as a Mega rivet counter, it is the extra detail possible in the larger scale Yes I know of the "rivet counter syndrome", trying to replicate and correct every little detail and thereby not finishing a model ever. I will try to find a compromise and accepting some of the inaccuracies and keep moving - maybe easier said than done. The general outline and shape looks good, but there is scope for improvement with some details which I feel will enhance the look of the model. It looks to me that some of the detail in the kit is based on the Yak-3M reproduction build which unfortunately isn't a representation of the wartime aircraft. Also restored aircraft contain parts from other Yak types, making it difficult to draw conclusions - so I guess Special Hobby had a hard time too finding the correct information. Looking forward to get started in two weeks time. Cheers, Peter Edited April 18, 2017 by Basilisk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 My goodies arrived today - the decals from the Russian Federation and the Harness and PE from Hannants. I ordered all at the same day and they arrived together The decals look very good indeed. It will be the first time I am using Begemot decals. Anything special about them helpful to know? Nothing stopping me now Except I have to wait another week Cheers, Peter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted April 26, 2017 Share Posted April 26, 2017 On 4/18/2017 at 4:30 AM, Basilisk said: Thank you all. I spent the last month researching the type and the kit - an activity I enjoy as much as building the kit I read lots of reviews and build reports. Specially some French forums are a treasure trough (but need registration to see the contents). Reviews: Britmodeller Large Scale Planes Hyperscale Aeroscale Brexit Modeller Modellingmadness Detail Scale Review Scalemodel (French) Scalemodels.ru (Russian) Build Reports: Large Scale Planes Large Scale Modeller Brexit Modeller Scalemodel (French) - needs registration, but 16 pages of lots of detail! Nothing on Russian forums ... Walkarounds: Vadim Zadorozhnyi Technical Museum at Arkhangelsk (Russia) Museum of Military Equipment Battle Glory of the Urals at Verkhnyaya Pyshma (Russia) Orenburg (Russia) Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget (France) Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget (France) - shown also under restauration Aeronautical Museum at Belgrade (Serbia) - some great detail pictures Museum of Flying at Santa Monica (US of A) Museum of Flying at Santa Monica (US of A) Scalemodels.ru - not a walkaround as such, but some great info. Unfortunatel most pictures are gone in the earlier posts Certainly no shortage of information, but If you know any other links, please share them here. In general the feedback is favorable, but it is far from the perfect kit (which kit is). Yes a great looking Yak-3 can be build straight out of the box as some of the build reports illustrate. But a lot of the detail is simplified and so much more could be shown in this scale. I am aware that people build large models for various reasons, but for me as a Mega rivet counter, it is the extra detail possible in the larger scale Yes I know of the "rivet counter syndrome", trying to replicate and correct every little detail and thereby not finishing a model ever. I will try to find a compromise and accepting some of the inaccuracies and keep moving - maybe easier said than done. The general outline and shape looks good, but there is scope for improvement with some details which I feel will enhance the look of the model. It looks to me that some of the detail in the kit is based on the Yak-3M reproduction build which unfortunately isn't a representation of the wartime aircraft. Also restored aircraft contain parts from other Yak types, making it difficult to draw conclusions - so I guess Special Hobby had a hard time too finding the correct information. Looking forward to get started in two weeks time. Cheers, Peter Now that is research! Looks like a great plane. Strapped in ready to go 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted April 30, 2017 Author Share Posted April 30, 2017 On 27/04/2017 at 4:03 AM, Valkyrie said: Now that is research! Looks like a great plane. Strapped in ready to go I hope you enjoy the ride. I did some work on the kit this weekend. The Yak-3 hasn't a very busy cockpit, but the kit's representation is a bit too simple for my taste. Like the knobs on the side console. The turning wheels are solid parts due to casting limitation. So I cut them off with a razor saw and glued the console tops to the relevant consoles. Next was the IP. I purchased the Edwards PE set for the Yak. But I don't like the IP in the set at all. The banding from the digital printing looks awful and the PE just hasn't enough depth to parts. I therefore decided to use the kit IP. But I smoothed the joins between the top and bottom part as it is one part on the original. This picture is from the aircraft at Le Bourget. Here the kit IP with the parts attached. And the side consoles with knobs and wheels in place. Most of the cockpit detail is now in place. Also started butting the wheel bays together. Not the best fit here unfortunately. I am glad to be out of the starting blocks with this build. Cheers, Peter 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 I like what you've done with the knobs and dials peter, i agree that the kits ip is preferable over etch in 1/32 ,you may get have got away with it with the cockpit closed though, will you be using airscale decals on it, Glynn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 Highly detailed thorough work there, this will be good... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 1, 2017 Author Share Posted May 1, 2017 8 hours ago, Hewy said: I like what you've done with the knobs and dials peter, i agree that the kits ip is preferable over etch in 1/32 ,you may get have got away with it with the cockpit closed though, will you be using airscale decals on it, Glynn Thanks Glynn. The dial decals are provided on the kit's decal sheet which is fortunate as airscale doesn't make any Russian WW2 dials yet. But I may use some airscale placards to spice things up a bit in the pit. 5 hours ago, Valkyrie said: Highly detailed thorough work there, this will be good... I hope so too Valkyrie. Cheers, Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 Made some progress during the week. Got the cockpit frames assembled. The cockpit framing is now ready to spice it up with some wires. Then it was back to the wheel wells. The fit was rather poor, specially when adding the bottom half of the wing. But at the end only a tiny amount of filler was needed. The weakest point in my view is the shape of the wing root radiator openings which unfortunately have little in common with the real thing. The kit has a lot of the curvature wrong. I corrected some. But the shape of these openings does vary a fair bit on the real aircraft as well. The kit has them blended into the curve of the leading edge whereby there should be a bit of a step. Here the result I was happy with. This re-shaping needed the metal panel step to be re-done. And the openings needed some fine-tuning as well. The shape is still not 100% correct but much closer now to the real aircraft. I like to finish the wheel wells next before adding some parts to the cockpit floor. Some parts still need to be added and I also like to add some of the plumbing. Thanks for watching. Cheers, Peter 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 This is making me want to start mine peter,i took it out of the box today to gaze upon the sprues Great work on yours i like what you've done in the cockpit a lot,it really makes a difference with the controls. Glynn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 7, 2017 Author Share Posted May 7, 2017 Thanks Glynn. I think so too and I can't wait seeing it all with some paint on - maybe in a week or two. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Air Hockey Propellers Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 This is like travelling to the future and watching a History channel archaeological reconstruction of planes. What a detailed kit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 7, 2017 Author Share Posted May 7, 2017 (edited) 6 hours ago, AlbertoYagi said: This is like travelling to the future and watching a History channel archaeological reconstruction of planes. What a detailed kit! Thanks Alberto. The kit is actually on the simple side for a large scale kit with a rather small parts count. Certainly no Tamiya, but still a nice model can be made from it. Didn't had planed to work on the Yak this weekend, but there was a kind of a spell on the cockpit and I just had to get it ready for painting. So I placed all the wires and some other small details. TheYak-3 cockpit was actually a tidy affair (compared to the Yak-1) mainly due to the side panels on the consoles. There were some wires I could see in pictures I replicated, but the wires from the radio are a gestimate as I couldn't find any information how they were routed. The gun loading pulley is supplied in resin (it is the handle underneath the IP) - two of them. Either they had been missing or I put them at such a secure location I can't find them any more. Fortunately the part is also done in plastic. But it needed a bit of work to make it look in scale. Wheel wells are definitely next. Cheers, Peter Edited May 7, 2017 by Basilisk 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Very inspiring Peter, have you used lead wire there in the cockpit, very tidy work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 7, 2017 Author Share Posted May 7, 2017 1 hour ago, Hewy said: Very inspiring Peter, have you used lead wire there in the cockpit, very tidy work Thanks Glynn. The cabling to the radio are led wires. All the others are copper wire (some nickle plated). If the wire hasn't too many bends I prefer copper wire as led wires are a bit tricky to work with as they are very delicate and soft and get easily dented or damaged. Cheers, Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 13, 2017 Author Share Posted May 13, 2017 Got a bit further during the week finishing the wheel wells. First I had to add the internal ribs which are extra parts in the kit But they are a bit wider than the ribs they should be a part of so I thinned them by cutting them in half and then gluing them back together I also had to drill the holes into the receptacles for the wiring. Next was adding the 0.2mm lead wires into the receptacles. The Image is from the Belgrade walk around Most is now done now with still one or two wires needed when the undercarriage is in place. And then I finally could use my Sherline. To make this. A kind of airflow device at the rear of the radiator exit as seen here on the French aircraft. Also had a go at refining the seat pan as the rim was way too wide. It was a bit tricky as I had to reduce the rim from the inside as the overhang on the sides was correct. I think it looks now much better when compared to the real seat. I am pleased with the progress I made and I should have finished the cockpit all the cockpit parts next week. Thanks for watching. Cheers, Peter 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Such detail it's a good watch this I like how you include the research in your progress too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 14, 2017 Author Share Posted May 14, 2017 20 hours ago, Valkyrie said: Such detail it's a good watch this I like how you include the research in your progress too Thanks Valkyrie. I am finding always helpful when reference pictures are included in a build. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Great attention to detail, as always, Peter. Looking excellent! Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basuroy Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 The level of detail in this kit is amazing , but what really brings it to life is your fantastic wiring ! Looks great so far 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 On 14/05/2017 at 8:08 PM, PlaStix said: Great attention to detail, as always, Peter. Looking excellent! Kind regards, Stix Thanks Stix. I do have to say that I do develop a liking for the large scale. 23 hours ago, Basuroy said: The level of detail in this kit is amazing , but what really brings it to life is your fantastic wiring ! Looks great so far Thanks Basuroy. The detail is certainly in abundance compared to a 1/72 kit, but compared to some other 1/32 scale kits, the detail in this kit is unfortunately a bit simplified for the scale. But id does give you the opportunity to add your own detail and I am currently having a ball doing so Cheers, Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Also liking your usual attention to detail . John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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