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Yakovlev Yak-9D Soviet Fighter (4809) 1:48


Mike

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Yakovlev Yak-9D Soviet Fighter (4809)

1:48 Modelsvit

 

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The Yak-9 was an evolution of the successful Yak-7 fighter, and was intended to retake the initiative from the Nazis new Fw.190 and improved Bf.109s, which it successfully did.  Production started in late 1942, and by summer 1943 there were enough in service to make a difference, playing a part in the crucial Kursk battle, thanks to its agility in the thicker air at lower altitudes and the heavy armament it carried.  It was made in a number of different variants with different intended uses, with the D fitted with additional fuel tanks for longer range, and the DD for longer range still.  There were also other versions with a larger 37mm cannon in the nose, and even a 45mm cannon in one variant that had to be installed with a muzzle brake.

 

Post war saw the continued development of the type, which involved the installation of a more powerful engine, and these were later hived off to Soviet-friendly satellite states at the end of the 40s, where they served into the 50s, although their unusual lubrication system saw accidents caused by engines seizing due to forgetful pilots neglecting the hand-cranked lubrication lever in the cockpit.  Something that might not be top of your agenda during a hectic dog fight or tricky manoeuvre.

 

 

The Kit

This is a new tooling from our friends at Modelsvit, although they do have a DD in their catalogue that dates back to 2015.  I can confirm that this boxing shares no sprues with that kit however, having perused both up close.  It arrives in a modestly sized top-opening box, and inside you’ll find five rectangular sprues in grey styrene in a Ziploc bag, a clear sprue in its own bag, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), vinyl masking material and a small piece of pre-cut acetate sheet in its own bag, decal sheet in another Ziploc bag, and a glossy A4 instruction booklet with colour profiles to the back pages, plus a set of stencil diagrams on the rearmost page.  The sprues give the initial impression of being shorter run, but when you look past the runners at the parts themselves, there’s absolutely nothing short-run about it.  There is excellent detail throughout, and a good number of parts to make a realistic-looking model of this Soviet fighter.

 

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Construction begins with the cockpit, which is suspended within a framework so it’s built within the fuselage halves rather than as a tub.  The seat is made of two parts and has four-point PE belts attached, the side frames are detailed with extra styrene and PE parts, with comprehensive painting instructions called out along the way, which is the case all the way through, incidentally.  The underside of the nose is fitted out with the two sides of the oil-cooling radiator, a front cockpit bulkhead is put together, and the rear deck behind the pilot is glued together with a thick chunk of clear head armour, for which a mask is included for each side.  Another small section with the gunsight attached is built, where one of the three punched-out acetate parts are glued in to represent the glass, then the instrument panel is fabricated on a rear panel, with decals and PE parts supplied to bring the detail up to a high standard.  All these sub-assemblies are brought together in the fuselage halves, which have moulded-in ribs and had the frames glued in beforehand, after which you can close up the fuselage with a choice of small coamings depending on whether you are modelling an early or late version.  The top cowling is separate, and this closes up the front fuselage along with the chin intake that was made up earlier.  A scrap diagram helps with the layout of the cockpit.

 

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The wings are next, with the main radiator faces inserted into the gondola in the full-width lower half, then boxing it in with an insert and two small struts.  The front half of the interior of the lower wing is then painted, and the main bays are boxed in with a long spar that has nice detail moulded-in, and several additional sections around the periphery.  In the leading edge of the wing root, two small intakes with PE mesh screens are made up and inserted, after which the cockpit floor is assembled on a C-shaped raised platform, with rudder pedals, flare gun, a choice of early or late control column, and PE straps for the rudder pedals.  The wings have separate ailerons that are made up from two halves each, and the elevator fins are made from two halves with additional control surfaces, allowing you to set them at any reasonable offset you like.  The lower wing with integrated cockpit floor are mated, the upper wings are glued in with the ailerons, and again you have the option to offset them.  The elevators are put in place, and under the fuselage another insert with detailed interior ribbing is added, with the tail wheel assembly fixed to the insert before it is put in place.  Incidentally, the rudder is moulded into the fuselage halves, so if you want to mobilise that, you’ll need to cut it out yourself.

 

Flipping over the almost complete airframe, a trio of ribs are added in each main gear bay, and a cooling flap is slotted into the rear of the oil-cooler, with a PE actuator fixed to the centre.  The main gear legs are made from the strut, a captive bay door, and a retraction jack that fits between the bay roof and the leg, then each one is given a wheel that’s made from halves with radial tread moulded-in.  The smaller inner bay doors are glued to the inside edges of the main bays, and each one has a PE actuator fitted, with scrap diagrams showing the completed structure.  At the rear, a pair of clamshell doors are added to the tail wheel bay to complete that section.  The prop is a three-blade unit that is provided as a single part, but has a spinner with hollow(ish) gun barrel moulded into the tip, a back plate, and behind that the front frame of the fuselage and a washer that is glued to the axle to allow it to continue spinning if you don’t flood it with glue.  This assembly is glued to the front of the fuselage, and again you’ll need to be frugal with the glue to prevent it locking the prop in place forever.

 

The final tasks are masking and fitting the single piece canopy, using the vinyl masks supplied, plus a little scrap tape or liquid mask to fill in the compound curves, and an antenna post that you will need to rig with two lengths from your own supplies.  The wing tops have very little detail moulded-in by design because they were wooden skinned, but in the inner centre there are recesses for fuel gauges for the pilot to squint at, which are supplied as decals, clear lenses, and a vinyl mask to keep them covered during painting.  At the end of the instructions, you’ll find a scrap diagram of the aerial lines, and the correct angle for the main gear legs with regard to the airframe.

 

Markings

There are five options in the instructions and on the decal sheet, two of them in green camo, and three in grey.  As mentioned already, a separate set of drawings show the location of all the stencils to prevent cluttered drawings and repetition of effort.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

  • 4 Fighter Regiment, piloted by I N Stepanenko, Orel area, July 1943
  • 118 Detached Gunfire Spotting & Reconnaissance Regiment, piloted by A A Barsht, 1st Ukrainian Front, Autumn 1944
  • 6 Guards Fighter Regiment, Black Sea Fleet Air Force, piloted by M I Grib, Crimea, May 1944
  • 1st Detached Fighter Regiment “Normandy”, piloted by Leon Cuffaut, 1944
  • 1st Detached Fighter Regiment “Normandy”, piloted by Marcel LeFevre, 1943

 

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Decals are by Decograph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas.  The colours are called out in Mr Color and AK Real Color shades, with the name or code of the colour within a rectangular swatch to help you choose your colours.

 

If you’ve been to the Modelsvit site you may see that the fifth decal option is shown in grey, but on the box and in the instruction it is green.

 

 

Conclusion

Modelsvit have done a really nice job of this Soviet fighter, and as there is a spare spinner on one of the sprues, there’s probably going to be another variant down the line.

 

Highly recommended.

 

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Review sample courtesy of

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I like the level of cockpit detail, especially the radio equipment shelf and the control consoles on the cockpit walls. Interesting to see early and late exhaust stacks, too. I'm still waiting on shipment of mine.

 

"Detached Fighter Regiment"? Ah, that wonderful Gallic je ne sais quoi, that sang-froid, that calmness in the face of adversity...

 

Jean

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It's certainly a step up in the level and quality of the detail. Though I'm surprised there's only a closed canopy option, the same as their earlier Yak-9's, disappointing on a 1/48th scale kit with such a high quality cockpit . Their Yak-1 had a separate open and closed canopy options.

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1 hour ago, Tbolt said:

I'm surprised there's only a closed canopy option, the same as their earlier Yak-9's, disappointing on a 1/48th scale kit with such a high quality cockpit . Their Yak-1 had a separate open and closed canopy options.

Completely agree.....

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