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1/48 ModelSvit VVS Yakovlev Yak-1B white 6 from GC 3 Normandie-Niemen


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My second build is of the VVS Yakovlev Yak-1B white 6 from the GC 3 Normandie-Niemen apparently flown by Albert Durand from Mosalsk during April 1943.

VVS-Yak-1-01b.jpg

VVS-Yak-1-02.jpg

VVS-Yak-1-03.jpg

The question is if the Yak-1 on the above two pictures is of the same aircraft as there are other profiles of this aircraft showing it as white 11. Unfortunately most if not all pictures of Normandie-Niemen Yak-1 with sharkmouth don't show the fuselage numbers. A great site for information on the Yak-1 is this Russian site.

Originally I wanted to build the recently released Eduard Yak-1 kit which contains the Accurate Miniature plastic. There are many favorable reviews of this kit. But when you check reviews on Russian forums (google translate is such a great tool) things don't look so good anymore as the Accurate Miniature Yak-1 has apparently some shape issues difficult to correct.

So I ordered a ModelSvit kit of the Yak-1 which is seen as more accurate together with - yes you guessed it - some resin goodies :thumbsup: .

I hope I get the kit in a week or two, so I can't get started immediately on this build. But I am sure I have enough to do with the P-40K and the other GBs I didn't finish.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Arnold. The scheme is a bit different and it will be a challenge to get the nose looking as on the picture.

The good news is that the kit with some additional goodies arrived from the Ukraine today :thumbsup:
So I am set to get started.

VVS-Yak-1-04.jpg

In addition to the kit, I will use following extra parts:

- Armory PE set

- Armory Resin Wheels

- Quickboost exhaust

- DMM decals

It is a shortrun kit, but very well made.

VVS-Yak-1-05.jpg

VVS-Yak-1-06.jpg

And no rivets to add for me :weep:

VVS-Yak-1-07.jpg

Still, It will not fall together and needs a bit of work. But there is lots of detail included.

VVS-Yak-1-08.jpg

The Armory PE set looks very nice too.

VVS-Yak-1-09.jpg

The resin wheels and exhaust will complement the PE nicely.

Nice stuff.

Cheers, Peter

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I hope I won't disappoint. The kit does have all the hallmarks of a shortrun kit, so the parts need a lot of preparation and fitting them can be a bit of a challenge.

VVS-Yak-1-10.jpg

But after the clean up is done, the fit so far is surprisingly good.

Cheers, Peter

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This will be a slow build as all the parts need to be extensively cleaned up. But surprisingly the fit is very good after the clean-up.

VVS-Yak-1-12.jpg

And it is amazing how well the small parts are defined. And with the addition of some PE, it will look great.

I also learned that PE parts can be worse than the plastic part they replace.

VVS-Yak-1-11.jpg

Armory PE compared to the kit part.

And on the original.

w_yak1_6.jpg

I have to say, I enjoy building this kit a lot.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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  • 2 weeks later...

When I see how fast some build their models, I start to get a bit concerned about my snail speed. But I did manage to add some more bits to the Yak.

The wing trailing edges are rather thick, so the obligatory thinning was in order.

VVS-Yak-1-15.jpg

The next step was to add the oil radiator intake mesh. Actually I didn't replace the mesh as it was again too coarse, but I added the PE showing the solder joints.

VVS-Yak-1-16.jpg

Had to make a groove in front of the mesh as the PE part was a bit too large.

Then it was time to add some wires after the Armory PE part side consoles had been fitted.

VVS-Yak-1-17.jpg

And in place.

VVS-Yak-1-18.jpg

The other side looks a bit more busy.

VVS-Yak-1-19.jpg

VVS-Yak-1-20.jpg

Still have to tidy up and add some additional small parts before I can start with painting.

Cheers, Peter

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No need to worry about speed when you have that level of quality. I'm throwing together a lot of easy build kits because the one I intended to do has about 2 million parts and some PE that doesn't have IM equivalents - it is beyond my skill level and I simply can't do what you are.

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Definitely don't worry about speed...my build is oob so will move a lot faster than yours, you will be spending a lot of time on detailed PE and other addons which some of us aren't - plus the quality of this build is looking stunning :)

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Thank you all for the kind comments.

I got a bit further, by adding some missing parts.

VVS-Yak-1-21.jpg

I also created some depth on the flat PE parts with white glue on the wheels and knobs, followed by Mr. Surfacer resin primer as a first coat as it sticks well to metal parts too.

I am always surprised how the look is improving having all the various parts in the same colour.

VVS-Yak-1-22.jpg

And the remaining parts making up the cockpit.

VVS-Yak-1-23.jpg

I noticed some spots to clean up. After that I can prime it all black and commence the painting :thumbsup:

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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Thanks Sgt. I think it even looks better with a bit of colour :winkgrin:

VVS-Yak-1-24.jpg

VVS-Yak-1-25.jpg

But the work on the IP didn't go as planed.

VVS-Yak-1-27.jpg

The white paint I painted the back of the clear film with came loose when I glued the film to the PE part, staying on the post it note piece :banghead:

To get the rest of the cockpit together, I need the wings assembled, but I wanted to add a bit of detail in the wheel wells first.

VVS-Yak-1-28.jpg

This part can then go onto the wing.

VVS-Yak-1-26.jpg

I do have some issues with the seat and the harness. Armory has a harness for the Yak-1 which I think is wrong. Apparently the Yak-1 had a Sutton style harness which can be seen in the picture below.

VVS-Yak-1-29.jpg

The harness Armory provides I have only seen in older Soviet aircraft like the Rata.

In addition, I have seen several builds where a slot was added to the seat backrest for the harness to go through. The Modelsvit seat back doesn't have the slot and I wonder if it the harness goes through a slot or over the top of the seat back. Unfortunately I can't find any pictures showing this.

Any help with this is much appreciated.

Cheers, Peter

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Sgt. Finally the cockpit is done - well 99% done. Spent a bit of time re-modelling and adding extra detail. Attaching the seat was a bit a challenge too.

VVS-Yak-1-30.jpg

And now all is in place and weathered. I redone some of the wiring and added the pipes from the radiator to the engine

VVS-Yak-1-31.jpg

This pipe seems to be the "hot" pipe and was insulated.

VVS-Yak-1-32.jpg

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And here together.

VVS-Yak-1-34.jpg

I attached the seat pan lower as it was way too high in the kit. I also ended up adding a slot for the harness as I found some drawings having it. But I am still not sure if it is correct that way.

VVS-Yak-1-35.jpg

As soon as the Eduard harness arrives I can close her up.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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  • 2 weeks later...

Cockpit is finally done - but it was a bit of a journey to get there.

The fuselage came together with a bit persuasion.

VVS-Yak-1-36.jpg

I fitted a new Eduard Russian steel harness which has harnesses for LaGGs and Yaks. But something just didn't look right :weep:

Well it seems Eduard is not only having scale issues when making kits, but also with PE parts :fuyou_2:

VVS-Yak-1-37.jpg

Left Eduard, right GoNzA - what did I say about scale, about 1/3rd too small so close to 1/72. And yes, I checked if they sent me the wrong scale PE, but it is the 1/48 set.

here the comparison on the seat.

VVS-Yak-1-38.jpg

What a difference. Sorry I had already removed the back harness before I took the picture. Now the GoNzA harness is maybe a tad over scale. But as the ModelSvit seat is a bit too large, they work well together.

I used Gunze Mr. Metal Primer for the first time (applied by brush) on the GoNzA harness and I am impressed - no paint pealed off when handling, folding and attaching the harness - a rather tricky venture in the closed cockpit.

Finally the Fuselage and wing with the cockpit floor was ready to go together :thumbsup:

VVS-Yak-1-39.jpg

As with the fuselage assembly, this needed a bit of pressure to make it fit.

VVS-Yak-1-40.jpg

And here the finished cockpit.

VVS-Yak-1-41.jpg

I am glad I added the coolant pipes as they can be seen rather well.

VVS-Yak-1-42.jpg

VVS-Yak-1-43.jpg

I will fit the gunsight with mounting bar later in the build when attaching all the other small parts.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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Thanks everyone for the comments.

Looks really good Peter, this answers a lot of questions I have about the Yak-1 'pit

Glad that this build is of some help, but The cockpit does represent a late model Yak-1b (only information I could find) and I think there are differences on a early Yak-1b as the Soviets implemented changes all the time.

Unfortunately the feedback to my questions from the expert was a bit lacking here. But fortunately my thread at Sovietwarplanes.com did answer many of the question with some interesting discussions, which unfortunately never materialized here.

I just received the Kagero Yak-1 book today.

110974-15526-59.jpg?nr=5&company=kagero&

Flicking through the 190 plus pages, only one word comes to mind WOW. Lots of pictures I haven't seen before and many detail drawings. But no scale drawings in this volume at all (maybe they are reserved for Volume 2), which I don't mind as I have some good drawings already and I found the detail information in this volume much more valuable.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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