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The path of redemption...Special Hobby Yak-23 "Flora", Bulgarian Army Air Force, 1950s...


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As I am finishing up the two Spifires in another thread, I feel it is only right that I try my best to rectify my earlier attempt at this aircraft.  Thank the gods that there is a better kit and the Special Hobby Flora looks very promising indeed.  Nice looking plastic, clean and well registered decals, some resin bits and instructions that match what's inside the box!

 

I'll be building the Bulgarian Army Air force from the '1950s'...it's all rather mysterious, I guess!

 

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Lovely decals.  The Bulgarian is Yellow 23, overpainted the Red 33...The Bulgarian stars will look good on the Warsaw Pact shelf...nice stencils too!

 

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Plastic bits...

 

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I'll get into this tomorrow evening...😊

 

 

 

 

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A bit of building.  Much better detail than the MisterCraft kit...nice PE...some overly fiddly bits, but that's ok.  Well-moulded, hardly a hint of flash.  Subtle panel lines.

 

Cockpit, seat, etc...

 

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Nice looking resin interior pieces...motor bits, wheel wells and the exhaust nozzle.  Note: the instructions have you trying to get the motor resin piece upside down.  It's pretty easy.  One way it fits, the other it doesn't.  

 

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Ground down the moulding lugs...

 

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-John

 

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Nice start John. Looks to be plenty room for essential nose weight behind the engine face piece.

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Thanks you and indeed there is Col.  A nice piece of fishing weight nestled in just fine.  

 

Here is the progress so far.  The nose landing gear has some nice pieces, a bit of PE and a clear part (not pictured) for the landing light.  It came together easily.

 

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The fuselage (before closing it up) was also easily assembled.  Note that I have painted the seat a grey-green with black and left the rest of the cockpit grey, as per the instructions.   The weight is in, the nose wheel component is in, the exhaust is painted my special burnt iron.  The canopy is masked and ready.  I have also masked the landing light visible in the second image.

 

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And when I closed it up there was some joy, but mostly gaps.  This will be a job for Milliput as soon as the seams dry and set.  I know you will think the nose-wheel well is out of kilter, but it is not.  That is a trick of the camera angle.  Never fear!  

 

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--John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by John D.C. Masters
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I have been able to fill in the gaps along the fuselage seams b have encountered the only flash I have seen so far.  Easily fixed.

 

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While the wings and stabilizers were setting up on the fuselage, I took care of the bits of landing gear and landing gear bay doors that also had PE attached...

 

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I tell you, this thing looks more ,like a Japanese 'Ohka'.  I am wondering how much of that tech they used when they designed it.  

 

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--John

 

 

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3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Thats a quick build.

It is and thank you Dennis.  That is why I am taking so many photos of the PE.  That seems to be the most detailed aspect of this kit.  All the nice resin innards are out of sight.

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Figure I would get some smaller pieces ready.  I have removed the PE pieces from the landing gear and will replace them when the gear is in place thus insuring proper angel, placement, etc...

 

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With only 4 days left in this wonderful GB (Thank you Mods!) I figured I should out it in gear and get a move on...😉  After having primed, I chose some rattle can aluminum and then thought maybe some chrome would make it shinier!  It did and I regretted it immediately, so I did a quick dulling down with silver rattle can...phew! Thats seems to be alright.  I have since touched up some areas with Vallejo Air aluminum and have also hand-painted the areas that called for 'dark iron', 'iron', etc...Vallejo Air Gunmetal  This includes the exhaust nozzle.  The landing gear went on without too many curses and as it stands (or sits) now, all I have to do is decals, the radio wires and some weathering, not in that order.  Decals, weathering, radio wires...Here is what I have now and I am very pleased so far.

 

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Decals tonight!

--John

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Good progress John. I'm sure we'll see this one in the gallery and looking great within the next four days :D 

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She is finished!  Thus has been another "enjoyable build", i.e. the parts fit together with little or no fuss, the decals were accurate and 'wafer thin' and the subject matter was well-moulded and nicely detailed.  SH offers a couple other of these Yak-23 kits...I might look into it someday.  I recommend this kit for anyone wishing to round out their early Cold War jet collection as this is a clear indication of that bridge between one set of aeronautic designs and another.  Here are some teasers for the gallery...I have weathered with a bit of exhaust spray here and there and some oil paint pin-washing.

 

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Thank you so very much for this GB.  Let's do it again sometime, shall we?

--John

 

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