atvd1020 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 (edited) My next entry for the group build is the 1/72 Yak-15 from Amodel, bought at the list price from Hannants (6.50 pounds): The instructions (not shown) proudly proclaim it to be the first Soviet aircraft with a turbojet. On to the sprues and decals: This will be the third Amodel kit I've built, and hopefully the third I finish. This is a warm-up for the Yak-28PP I have in the stash, and I also want to build a Yak-1 (Amodel) to examine the family resemblance. There are two schemes: one overall red, and one green-over-blue, which is the scheme I plan to do. As the photos show (or not!), there's a fair amount of cleaning, sanding and what I call therapeutic fettling to be done. My Scandinavian Spitfires will have to wait... Edited May 9, 2014 by snapper_city 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 I've built quite a few Amodel kits (and have lots more to build!) and they're not difficult but do need a bit of effort. As you've probably found from the kits you've built already some of the parts are best replaced rather than trying to clean them up. I've been on a bit of a Yak family mission over the last couple of years and have got nearly all of them done up to the Yak-40, with the Amodel Yak-50/52/53/54/55s still to do. The Amodel Yak-28 didn't give me any problems that I remember but it was 3 or 4 years ago so not that fresh in my mind! Have fun building it. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Excellent choice. I'll be looking forward to this.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 Thanks for the encouragment, guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Very nice choice indeed! Not an aeroplane you see built up that often. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 An update without pictures, as things still look too rough as they are. I've started cleaning up the larger parts of the kit and putting the wings and cockpit together, using the wrong seat/headrest as the carpet monster claimed the one recommended for the kit. The detail on the engine parts is soft and it's often hard to tell where a part ends and where flash begins, but this is expected with Amodel. The plastic is cuts and sands easily. I started building the wings and undercarriage early since I prefer to have to mix the 'interior' colour only once (to avoid minor inconsistencies in mixes). I also made a serious error yesterday-in getting the wing halves to fit, I had to sand down the wheel well a bit and clamped down the wings and undercarriage (trapped between the wing halves-an interesting system) without checking them to the root wings on the fuselage halves. End result: the wings are thinner than the wing roots, and I will have to sand down the latter to make things look OK. Oh well , it will look like a Yak-15. As a final remark, it's already quite interesting to compare the wings to a Yak-3's. The family resemblance is striking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 Another non-pictorial update, I'm afraid. The Klimov RD-10 is together after much fettling and sanding though I still need to clean it up and fill some seams. The cockpit has been put together, and a dry fit of the two in the fuselage suggests no serious problems (knock wood). The paint should go on today or tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Without pictures it never happened. :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commontsar Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Great choice. Funnily enough I was looking at this kit today. I'll see how this turns out then decide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 And so-a small update though a lot of 'therapeutic fettling' went into it. I've got the wings, engine and cockpit together: The wings and engine needed quite a bit of clean-up, putty and sanding to go together. Even though it will end up hidden, I painted the engine Humbrol 56 (well, Wikipedia says its relative the Jumo 004 was coated in aluminium). To fit correctly, the engine went in at an angle; apparently this was how the engine went in on the real thing (according to plans found by Google Image Search). There is some kind of mounting on top of the engine to help it go in at the right place with some slots on the fuselage side; but these were useless so I sanded them off. A close-up of the cockpit and instrument panel: Most of the detail here and the colour call-outs in the kit instructions are dodgy according to a walkaround of the Yak-15 available on the Internet, but no corrective (or complementary) scratchbuilding. I may build a gunsight, though. Tomorrow I should have the fuselage together and the nozzle for the jet attached; dry fits suggest the fuselage join should be pretty clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 The Yak-15 would most likely have been A-14 Steel Gray inside, the gray you used looks a reasonable match from the photos. the external colours? http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/colors/1945-1950-newtypes/1945-1950-newtypes.html Yak-15 section has links to an excellent walkround, and colours chips at the bottom of the page also http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/colors/color-table.html and http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/colors/colors.html HTH T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Hi Troy, the kit instructions recommend Humbrol 114 over 65 for the option I'm interested in, which may stand in for AGT-4/A-24g over A36-g based on the colour tables at sovietwarplanes. I think I will use 226 or 80 over 65 with some grey mixed in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 The fuselage is closed, the jet nozzle attached and the wings have finally gone on (at the cost of losing the dihedral). Will put the pictures up tomorrow as I'm a bit soused right now. But no, the wings didn't go on when I was soused. I may have to adjust the camber and rake of the undercarriage, though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 I've done some of my best modelling whilst soused. Or so it seemed at the time! Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) So, a few days ago I got the fuselage together: The fit was a bit tight near the engine, but was otherwise straightforward (with four clothespins). Fitting the rear nozzle to the jet was the most painful part of the build so far, as the engine made the fuselage too wide for the nozzle, and the nozzle was too narrow (or short?) as a result. After much puttying and sanding and painting over to look for imperfections, I decided the nozzle's fit to the fuselage was good enough and attacked the wings: Notwithstanding the fact that I glued the wings together badly, the locating tabs needed to be sawed off to line up the wings with the fuselage. The port wing was glued on without much fuss, but the starboard wing was a nuisance. To correct for the wing being too thin, I had to sand down the wing stub on the fuselage, while making sure that I didn't sand through it. The wheel wells needed some cosmetic surgery too. I got the job done, but had to sacrifice the slight dihedral the actual plane has: The other plane in the background is an Amodel Polikarpov I-190. The nose has a nasty seam inside the air intake which I will deal with using Mr. Dissolved Putty. I filled in coarser gaps and sink marks with Tamiya putty and sanded them down before gluing the tailplanes on: They are meant to be slotted into the fuselage, but both tailplanes and slots needed to be cleaned up before getting a decent fit. The Yak-15's lineage is quite clear when lined up with a (Zvezda) Yak-3. I should finish cleaning up and gluing on the remaining bits over the weekend (knock wood). @Learstang: as long as it doesn't involve hobby knives and painting stripes, I agree with you Edited April 4, 2014 by atvd1020 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 That's looking great. Such a weird looking a/c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 (edited) I can finally call it done regarding gluing and sanding (except for the canopy-cue ironic fist pump): I spent more time than expected going over fingerprint marks, dents and sink marks with putty and sandpaper before fitting the undercarriage; this needed clean-up and some trimming to fit. In the end, I should have followed the advice above and simply replaced some of those parts. The first coat of Humbrol 80 has gone on-hopefully revealing no unpleasant bumps to clean up after it dries. I may go over this colour with something duller after looking at it in sunlight, though. Edited April 8, 2014 by atvd1020 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawel Szczudlyk Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 It coming together very nicley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 The paint has gone on, and I should be applying the decals shortly: The topside is Humbrol 80, which turned out to be less yellow than 226, and brushed out remarkably well without thinning. Once the varnish went on, it looked yellower, though. The underside (not quite visible) is a mixture of Humbrol 65, the 'old' 157, and Revell light blue. Fortunately, there were no real fixable faults visible. I hope the decals work... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 That's looking good with paint on.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 (edited) DING! DING! DING! It's done! Huzzah! More pictures in the gallery. In brief, the decals went on OK but had a lot of carrier film that remained slivered after decal softener and gloss coat. Overzealous trimming of the carrier film led me to damage half the stars as well. I gave the uppers are panel wash of black and the underside one with Humbrol 66. I tried to add an exhaust stain too, but it ended up looking more like really bad mildew than an exhaust stain. Furthermore, after taking a picture of the underside, I realized that the flaps were not dropped to the same angle, so no pictures of the underside as I don't feel confident about correcting that Next Amodel kit to build: the Yak-1, to have a proper Yak family. Edited April 17, 2014 by atvd1020 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Shame about the decals but it is looking wonderful. Great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvd1020 Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) Thanks! Just for fun, here are some side-by-side pictures of the Yak-3 and Yak-15: Edited April 18, 2014 by atvd1020 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis Alfonso Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 You have done a wonderful job with this one. When I will try mine in the PM Brand, I'll be back here to learn more of your work to give a little detail in the kit. Thank you very much for sharing!!! Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Nice job on a nifty-looking little Soviet jet. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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