Hobby Boss Yak-28PP Brewer-E (81768) 1:48

[Mike]

Yak-28PP Brewer-E (81768)

1:48 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd.

 

 

First flying in the late 50s, the Yak-28 was an early Soviet swept wing design that began life as a bomber but was adapted to fulfil other roles such as interceptor, reconnaissance and electronic warfare.  The PP was the electronic warfare variant and carried no weapons, instead the bomb bay was filled to the brim with electronic countermeasures, making it the first Soviet EW aircraft.  The radome was replaced by a greenhouse nose cone, and an operator’s position was added in the nose with a canopy that opened up in front of the main cockpit.  To dump the heat created by the electronics, there were lumps and bumps on the underside of the aircraft to help dissipate the excess and prevent overheating.

 

There were numerous attempts to improve on the basic airframe, but none proceeded past prototype, although the PM did achieve a speed record while the Yak-28-64 had wing root mounted engines giving it a more modern look, but again was cancelled before it reached production.  It was eventually replaced by the Su-24 in many of its roles, including the Electronic Warfare role of the Brewer-E.

 

The Kit

This is a fairly major retool of the original Yak-28P Firebar that we reviewed here late last year.  It arrives in a similar box with painting of the type on the lid, and inside are ten sprues in grey styrene, two of clear parts and a small decal sheet.  The instruction booklet and separate colour painting guide complete the package, with only wings, engines and landing gear sprues carried over from the P.  Complete new fuselage, tail and cockpit sprues have been tooled for this variant, along with a beautifully detailed greenhouse for the nose cone, which has been slide-moulded to obtain maximum detail on the framing.  Two of the smaller sprues contain rocket pods that are mounted under the outer wing in the instruction, but as this variant usually flew without armament, it is unlikely they were actually carried, so check your references before making holes in the wings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the pilot’s solo cockpit, which revolves around the long tub with instrument panels (with decals), bulkheads, control column and seat added before the sidewalls are installed.  The seat has good detail and consists of seven parts but no lap-belts visible on the cushions, although can easily add those from tape or foil.  Like the Harrier, the Firebar had bicycle undercarriage with a nose wheel and one main gear leg toward the aft of the fuselage with each bay boxed in with good detail, and struts with retraction jacks added along the way.  While they can be left off until later the supporting jack on the nose wheel could be difficult to fit retrospectively, so check this in advance of applying too much glue.  The front cockpit is formed by adding a detail insert and window into each side of the front fuselage, then while closing up the fuselage, a bulkhead and an additional ejection seat is inserted along with an ancillary instrument panel visible from the lip of the compartment.  All the assemblies have good supports and tabs within the fuselage to assist with positioning.

 

Once you have dealt with the seams, there are numerous cooling lumps and antennae to be added along the bottom of the fuselage, some of which covers the seam and reduces the amount of making good needed there.  A louvered panel is inserted in front of the rear gear well, and the instructions would have you adding the bay doors at this stage, which is fine if you won’t be masking and painting, but otherwise they’re best left off until later.  Flipping the fuselage over the airbrake in either open or closed configuration is added, the nose glazing, top cover for the EW officer with clear window, coaming and rear deck are installed along with a few more ill-advised antennae, with the pilot’s canopy left off until later.  The engine pods bear a passing resemblance to extended Me.262 pods and each one has two main cowlings with a rear blanking plate, stator blades and nose cone enhancing that feeling.  The intake is close enough to the cone that more detail isn't really visible to anyone with normal levels of inquisitiveness especially when the intake lip is added to the assembly, so there aren't any blades depicted on the plate.  At the rear a four-part exhaust is provided with blades visible at the end of the trunking, and a nice tapered exhaust tip.  Tons of small slide-moulded intakes are added to each side along with clear vision ports toward the front, and of course this assembly is repeated in mirror image for the other nacelle.  Additional fuel tanks are joined at this stage, with each one being handed for its own wing due to its close-fitting nature.

 

The wings are simple assemblies of two parts with holes needing drilling depending on whether you plan to fit the supplied pods, and they incorporate the tops of the engine pods that the main sections are added to during their construction.  The short wingtip mounted stabiliser wheels that fit into their bays with two doors, retraction jacks, wheels and yoke are fitted, as are the fuel tanks and those rocket pods if you really must.  There are also wing-fences and more intakes on the engine cowling, plus a small flap between the fuselage and engine pods and a pointed fairing near each wingtip that attaches to a small cut-out in the wing surface.  The new tail is separate from the fuselage and consists of two parts for the fin with another for the rudder, then two single part elevators half-way up the fin are fitted on two pins each, and a couple of blade antennae swept in the direction of flight.  Adding the wings to their slots in the fuselage, gluing in the two canopy parts and fitting the pointy probe on the nose completes the build.

 

 

Markings

Hobby Boss aren’t renowned for their verbose informative decal instructions, and this kit is no different, although it does have two quite different options depicted on the little decal sheet that accompanies the kit.  From the box you can build either a three-colour camouflaged aircraft with grey/blue lower, or a silver machine, about which we know very little from studying the large and colourful painting guide, which shows four views that will be particularly useful for the camouflaged option.

 

 

 

The decals are printed to HB’s usual standard and are workmanlike in their sharpness and colour density.  The majority are plain red or red and white, so registration isn’t an issue, but the instrument decals are worth pointing out because they are very well done with crisp details and colour where necessary.

 

 

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for a Brewer-E, this will be a nice addition to the stash, and with Hobby Boss’s penetration into the market, it’s also fairly easy to get hold of.  Detail is very good throughout, and it should build up into a nice model.  Do the camo one – you know you want to!

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[marky sparky]

I'm building this right now (44 silver) and it's got to be one of Hobby Boss's best fitting kits so far. The decals are super thin and as good as any after market ones, I cocked one up so there's an odd decal now on the tail but that's my fault. The only negative thing I can think of is there's zero stencilling, whether this is correct I don't know as maybe the real thing didn't have any anyway but the IP decal fits perfectly. I would slightly deviate from the instructions and leave off the undercarriage door arms (B13 and C37) until after assembly as these WILL get knocked off. I did think about doing the camo version, but I chickened out lol.

[sig226]

Nice review Mike !....One thing these birds did usually fly with the rocket pods as I believe they contained chaff rockets rather than the usual HE ones

 

Regards, Simon

[Julien]

2 hours ago, sig226 said:

Nice review Mike !....One thing these birds did usually fly with the rocket pods as I believe they contained chaff rockets rather than the usual HE ones

 

Regards, Simon

Myself and @Mike we wondering about the rocket pods. Thanks for the info.

 

Julien

[djbramble]

Thanks for the very informative review Mike. I'm in the finishing stages with this and it has been an interesting build. Great parts fit and more lumps bumps and sticky outy things than I've ever out on a model before! I chose the camo option, which was quite daunting for a newbie. Decals on, got some weathering to do and I'll try and get an image up somehow. Fingers crossed 😂.

[Dudikoff]

Two of the smaller sprues contain rocket pods that are mounted under the outer wing in the instruction, but as this variant usually flew without armament, it is unlikely they were actually carried, so check your references before making holes in the wings.

 

They were unarmed, but these pods were used to fire off rockets loaded with chaff to blind enemy radars.

[Eivind Lunde]

Is the silver version painted silver, or unpainted metal?

[Julien]

58 minutes ago, Eivind Lunde said:

Is the silver version painted silver, or unpainted metal?

Soviet Aircraft of the era were painted with a clear lacquer with aluminium powder in it. This did allow some variation of different coloured metal to show through.

[71chally]

Has anyone here had the chance to view or build this and the Bobcat example?

Just wondering about the advantages and pitfalls of each kit?

[Shorty84]

Hi @71chally,

 

I have both kits (Bobcat and Hobby Boss) started so I can give you some feedback on them.

In short, you have to decide between accuracy and build-ability.

 

First, you can’t build an accurate Yak-28PP from the Hobby Boss kit. Reason is that HB provides you the wrong windscreen for this variant (Bobcat provides the correct one). The PP-variant (and the “R”) has a windscreen with a central bar (like the F-102/F-106) but HB gives you a windscreen with a flat front panel that is only applicable to the bomber variants.

 

In addition, the HB kit has the following issues:

 

Main canopy:

For whatever reason, HB has molded the main canopy in 2 parts (clear front and metal rear part). So if you want to display the cockpit open you have to deviate from the instructions and glue the 2 parts together in a separate step (instead of gluing the rear part to the fuselage as instructed)

 

Intakes:

In order to provide a good attachment for the central inlet bullet HB simplified the construction to the point that they omitted the whole intake trunking which end far to early on a flat bulkhead. Better hide this mess with an intake cover.

 

Engine pods:

The transition between the upper wing and the engine pod should be a lot smoother and HB omitted the panel line which separates this fairing from the rest of the wing surface.

 

Wing/fuselage joint:

Oversimplified as HB omitted the transition fairing between the wing and fuselage completely.

 

Exhaust nozzle:

HB puts the exhaust flush with the back of the engine pod but the nozzle should be recessed back inside the pod by quite a bit.

 

Belly radar fairing:

This fairing should be raised, HB represent it just with some engraved lines.

 

 

While the Bobcat kit has the clear edge in accuracy in these points it builds more like a short run kit (you will require some test fitting and you can’t mount the engine pods to the wings without some gaps which need to be filled) and some components are broken down into a lot of parts which make construction unnecessarily complicated (e.g. engine pods).

The HB kit is much simpler and better fitting all around.

 

As the HB kit provides the windscreen for the bomber I bought the kit to convert it into a Yak-28I (last bomber variant).

 

Hope this helps you in your decision.

 

 

Cheers

Markus

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Shorty84

[71chally]

Thank you Markus, excellent information and just what I was after.

I can't justify buying two Brewers, and I would much rather have accuracy over ease of buildability.

[warreni]

I just finished the Bobcat Yak-28P and this parts breakdown looks far less complicated, and therefore probably better fitting, than the Bobcat version.