Yak-9D Airfix 1/72 old issue

[Gaia1984]

Hi everyone!

I am bringing you a project I have been working on for a while on and off. The model is a 1/72 Yak-9D from Airfix.

This model has been sitting at the back of a drawer since I was a kid so I thought it would be a good way to reintroduce me again into scale modelling. I haven't done anything in ages and I have to relearn everything again. Regarding this project... uhmmmm required more work than I imagined as I didn't want just a quick build. Right from the start when I started to do the research on the plane I notice that the air intakes in front of the wings were just absent..... There were plenty of fitting issues and gaps to be filled. This was good and bad at the same time, good because I had just to buck up and deal with it and help me to practice, bad because there was plenty of work. Any comment/suggestion would be much appreciated!

One of the first things I did was to make the air intakes out of Milliput. This kit has raised panel lines and because I also wanted to practice panel scribbling I sanded it down and scribed the panel lines using Tamiya's scriber and Hasegawa scribbling stencils.

Here are some general pics:

The undercarriage central section wasn't the greatest. There were several big issues with the injection marks and imperfections, so I had to remake part of it using Milliput, you can still see the Milliput colour where applied. As you can see I also cut out the tips of the wings in order to put clear parts where the position lights go, still have to finish this off.

Here is a frontal view of the plane. I am planning to add a brass mesh to the frontal main intake.

I also wanted to do some detailing work this the wheel bays. You can see here I added some bits and bobs of plasticard and lead wire. You can also see some of the detail of the scribbling, I did the bolts using a microdrill. I sadly lost some of the detail on the ailerons when sanding. Do you know how to bring back lost raised panel lines? Any suggestion? I have found a tutorial in the forums of how to bring them back using layers of airbrushed paint and masking tape but haven't tried this...

I also did some work on the exhaust frames using Tamiya's grey putty and plasticard, although I am not very happy with the results of the putty. So I am thinking to scrap it off and make a custom mould of Milliput. You can see some more detail on the panel lines and the scribbling.

I also did some work on detailing the landing gear using lead wire and plasticard. I did the rings round the wheel by flattening some soldering wire with a metallic bar and rolling it over wire.

Anyway this all for now! All this was made over a month on very sporadic work on the model. I think it's coming to the point when it is ready for painting. I think it's just a matter of spending a few more hours on it.

Hope you enjoy it! All the best!

Alex

[Martian]

Nice work! You certainly picked a stinker of a kit for your re-entry to the hobby though.

Martin

[Jessica]

Don't worry about the "lost" aileron detail; they were fabric, and Airfix horribly overstated the rib tapes. They look much better now You could stand to do some sanding on the rudder as well.

I'm not sure whether your research uncovered the fact that Airfix got the camouflage scheme very wrong, but that box top is completely fictional. Real Yaks were dark and light grey instead of green and brown. I'll second Martin's comment: This kit is less than lavishly detailed. If you can do well with it, I'd love to see you tackle a modern Tamiya or Hasegawa kit!

[Gaia1984]

Nice work! You certainly picked a stinker of a kit for your re-entry to the hobby though.

Martin

Don't worry about the "lost" aileron detail; they were fabric, and Airfix horribly overstated the rib tapes. They look much better now You could stand to do some sanding on the rudder as well.

I'm not sure whether your research uncovered the fact that Airfix got the camouflage scheme very wrong, but that box top is completely fictional. Real Yaks were dark and light grey instead of green and brown. I'll second Martin's comment: This kit is less than lavishly detailed. If you can do well with it, I'd love to see you tackle a modern Tamiya or Hasegawa kit!

Dear Martin and Jessica,

Thanks four you reply and comments! Certainly it's proven a much more difficult kit than I expected but just for the reason that I wanted to build at least a more realistic plane than the one out of the box. I am actually working on another 2 old issues: a L-29 Delfin 1/72 from KP and a F-16 1/72 from Heller and to be honest they are a bit disheartening to work with because there's sooooo muuuch work to do on them..... but the thought behind of choosing those kits was just better to mess with them than with a valuable nice looking new kit.

Jessica - I actually haven't had a look yet to the painting schemes on the Yak but from what I've seen in the pics, many were painted with that Russian light blue/grey. Also thank for the comment on the ailerons and the rudder! I will put it definitely to good use!