Andrews's 1/48 Eduard ProfiPACK Yak-3

[adt70hk]

Good evening all

Andy aka deafpanzer asked what I was doing now my Raiden is finished, well this is it.

So myself and another member of the other forum I am on are running a Soviet Plane GB, with the following rules:

• From the start of Russian hostilities in World War II on 17th September until its end i.e. Japanese unconditional surrender. So from Russia’s invasion of Poland and including the Russo-Finnish Winter War too, as well as the obvious 1941-1945 period. It does though exclude the pre-existing Russo-Japan conflicts i.e. Khalkin Gol.

• All Soviet designed and built planes that saw active frontline service during the war e.g. Yaks, LaGGs, PE-3s, IL-2s, Tupolevs etc.

• Also, any Lend-Lease aircraft that saw active frontline service with the Soviet air force during the war e.g. P-39 Airacobra, P40s, A20 Havocs etc.

• No Soviet protypes or small numbers that saw combat for testing, or indeed single lend-lease aircraft sent for testing....us Brits sent one Mossie...it didn't go well!

So this is the first Eduard kit I have ever built, which of course makes it the first ProfiPACK kit too.

I had intended to a Weekend edition as my first Eduard kit but all the planes in the stash that fitted the bill were ProfiPACKs, so this will be a baptism of fire with all that nice PE!!

The kit itself is a 2011 reboxing of a 1998 tooling and aside from no locator pins (I understand this was a mark of early Eduard kits), it has gone together well so far.  A loose dry fit of the taped up fuselage shows it is a MUCH better fit than the Raiden, although the instructions are not clear on a couple of points

Luckily it only has 53 parts, so PE aside it should hopefully be reasonably straight forward.  It's obviously not up there with their latest offerings but it looks ok to my eyes on the sprue.

ATB

Andrew


------------------------------------------------------


The obligatory box art and other shots!





















So this was as far as I got at model club on Tuesday night.

[deafpanzer]

How cool! You can't really go wrong with an Eduard kit and you definitely have my attention! You are off to a great start, ANDY!

[kyledehart5]

Excellent stuff. Good looking old Soviet airplane. I will watch along.

[Joe Rix]

Excellent choice Andrew. Although it might be an older Eduard mold it should build up quite nicely. The PE set will add to it. I'm looking forward to your WIP on this. Have decided on a scheme yet?

[handiabled]

Sweet! Following this one.

[adt70hk]

Oct 7, 2023 2:47:32 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Sweet! Following this one.

Oct 6, 2023 18:28:31 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

How cool! You can't really go wrong with an Eduard kit and you definitely have my attention! You are off to a great start, ANDY!

Oct 6, 2023 21:41:39 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Excellent stuff. Good looking old Soviet airplane. I will watch along.

Oct 6, 2023 23:10:23 GMT -5 Joe Rix said:

Excellent choice Andrew. Although it might be an older Eduard mold it should build up quite nicely. The PE set will add to it. I'm looking forward to your WIP on this. Have decided on a scheme yet?

Good have you along gents!  This is actually my first Soviet/Russian plane I have ever built as far as I can recall from youth....certainly not done one since coming back to the hobby

Andy - I hope I cannot go wrong but I have never done their PE before......

Joe - it looks pretty good so far.  As for the colour scheme, no not yet.  There a couple of options that appeal but I'm still in two minds.


Thanks again chaps!

[jeaton01]

I built one of these recently and had a hard time fitting everything into the cockpit. Luckily you really can't see in there. It sure was a small airplane.

[adt70hk]

Oct 7, 2023 23:06:40 GMT -5 jeaton01 said:

I built one of these recently and had a hard time fitting everything into the cockpit. Luckily you really can't see in there. It sure was a small airplane.

Thanks for dropping in John.

I was wondering that too...It's very cramped and some of the small styrene rods I'm supposed to cut are going to be tiny...I might just forego them.

It's funny what you say about the size......my 15 years old son was looking at it yesterday after the Raiden and said "So you're going back to 1/72 then?".....when I told him it was 1/48 he looked at me and said "Really!?!?!?".

Andrew

[406 Silverado]

Missed the start up of this yesterday Andrew. Will be bookmarking this one .......

[Medicman71]

Can't wait to see your build!

[stikpusher]

I want to see how this builds up, since I have a pair in my stash.

[TJ]

Definitely watching this one

[adt70hk]

Good morning all

So I managed to get some primer on for the cockpit areas at the weekend and then got the base coat down - albeit I did it twice as I wasn't quite happy with the colour.

In terms of the 'correct' colour, knowing nothing about Soviet colours my initial research discovered Yak-3 cockpits "should" be AKAN A-14, a mid-grey.  A couple of website suggest Humbrol 27 or 140 as close-ish matches.  Vallejo 70.992 Neutral Grey is not that far off Humbrol 27.

However, the instructions call for a yellow colour, which I discovered was the primer which should but was not always used - apparently - see here.

In the the end I plumped for a mix of Vallejo 70.992 Neutral Grey and Vallejo 71.259 Violet Grey RLM 75....it looks ok to my eye

For bare PE I have used car rattle can primer....Vallejo primer can be a bit iffy.  The air intake grills got a coat of Vallejo's Metal Colour 77.712 Steel.  If anyone is after a water based metallic paint, these are simply outstanding and spray beautifully!

All comments welcome as usual!

Andrew



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For some reason the way the light catches the cockpit area has wiped out all the detail but it is there.

[TJ]

Great start

[406 Silverado]

You're off to a good start with this one Andrew. It's interesting about the interior color being called out for the yellow primer color and in fact being what looks like a darker grey in reality. One of the pictures in the link you provided clearly shows this and I wonder why Eduard didn't catch that. Good catch for you though and a great resource link as well. 



You also mentioned the Vallejo metal colors and you do speak the truth indeed on how well they shoot out of the airbrush. I use these almost exclusively now.

[handiabled]

Oct 13, 2023 6:30:59 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

You also mentioned the Vallejo metal colors and you do speak the truth indeed on how well they shoot out of the airbrush. I use these almost exclusively now.

Looks great so far! Thanks for the tip on the Vallejo metal colors guys

[406 Silverado]

Oct 13, 2023 8:08:25 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Oct 13, 2023 6:30:59 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

You also mentioned the Vallejo metal colors and you do speak the truth indeed on how well they shoot out of the airbrush. I use these almost exclusively now.

Looks great so far! Thanks for the tip on the Vallejo metal colors guys

That stuff lays down smooth as silk.

[ogrejohn]

Looking mighty fine Andrew!

[adt70hk]

Oct 13, 2023 9:02:58 GMT -5 ogrejohn said:

Looking mighty fine Andrew!

Oct 13, 2023 5:20:24 GMT -5 TJ said:

Great start

Oct 13, 2023 6:30:59 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

You're off to a good start with this one Andrew. It's interesting about the interior color being called out for the yellow primer color and in fact being what looks like a darker grey in reality. One of the pictures in the link you provided clearly shows this and I wonder why Eduard didn't catch that. Good catch for you though and a great resource link as well. 



You also mentioned the Vallejo metal colors and you do speak the truth indeed on how well they shoot out of the airbrush. I use these almost exclusively now.

Oct 13, 2023 8:08:25 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Oct 13, 2023 6:30:59 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

You also mentioned the Vallejo metal colors and you do speak the truth indeed on how well they shoot out of the airbrush. I use these almost exclusively now.

Looks great so far! Thanks for the tip on the Vallejo metal colors guys

Oct 13, 2023 8:20:43 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Oct 13, 2023 8:08:25 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Looks great so far! Thanks for the tip on the Vallejo metal colors guys

That stuff lays down smooth as silk.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.  Next up is the PE.....not dreading that at all, never having done it at this scale.....


Joe - to be honest I got lucky.  I have the AK 3rd Gen paint set for 1943-45 but it only does the exterior and so I had done my research before checking the instructions but I did treble check just to make sure!


Brent - I have to be honest and tried Metal Colours after a recommendation.  I know most people swear by lacquer metallic paints but because I model in our kitchen I have to use water based paints due to the smell.

I had heard bad things about the Model Air metallics but a friend I trust on the other forum I am on recommended these and shortly afterwards I saw a test by the YouTuber Barbatos Rex and he really liked them.  I therefore, bought one pot and was hooked and so acquired a 'few' more pots (here).

I have been told by my friend that the the non-'silver' colours like copper and bronze colours are a bit off to his eye....I've not seen them in person but I trust his judgement.

I cannot hand on heart say what these are like compared to lacquer based metallics as I've not tried them but Joe is right...they spray soooooo beautifully.....oh and they brush very nicely too, at least in small areas.  My only complaint is that Vallejo Model Air paint doesn't spray so nicely!  

Thanks again chaps!

[stikpusher]

I don’t know if you’ve been on this site before, but it might be helpful for this or other WWII VVS subject projects of yours.

Soviet Warplanes

[TJ]

Andrew. I too like the Vallejo metal. I can't stand their regular line of paint but the Metallica are great

[adt70hk]

Oct 13, 2023 14:20:45 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

I don’t know if you’ve been on this site before, but it might be helpful for this or other WWII VVS subject projects of yours.

Soviet Warplanes

Thanks Carlos!  I was about to reply saying "no" but then realised it was the site I posed the link from, although I had only found that page and done no further wandering.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[adt70hk]

Oct 13, 2023 19:51:01 GMT -5 TJ said:

Andrew. I too like the Vallejo metal. I can't stand their regular line of paint but the Metallica are great

Hi TJ

It does spray very nicely indeed.

As for their other paints, I now have them worked out but I know what you mean....at the time I started with an AB, they were what most people were using if they were using water based paints.  I can't afford to do a mass change given the stock I have but I have bought some AK 3rd Gen recently, although it's first outing will be on this Yak!

[kyledehart5]

Oct 13, 2023 19:51:01 GMT -5 TJ said:

Andrew. I too like the Vallejo metal. I can't stand their regular line of paint but the Metallica are great

Man, I feel exactly the same way. It's like a totally different company makes it or something.

[adt70hk]

Greetings all

Firstly, apologies for not being around much recently, it has been hard to find decent forum time recently, plus I’m currently under the weather, so apologies for missing soooooooo much great work!!

Any way enough waffle……this build has been plodding on and is finally buttoned up and primed but not without some issues:

• Ambiguous instructions caused a few issues;
• Having cut the rudder pedals off the sprue at Club night, I could not find them ANYWHERE when it came time to fit them but at least they’re not visible;
• One of the undercarriage parts was missing from the sprue when I went to cut it off…..no idea what happened….fortunately, it’s not a major structural piece and I was able to fashion a reasonable looking replacement from thin styrene rod;
• The PE first aid box cover pinged off without me noticing when I tried my first test dry fit of the taped together fuselage;
• Another test dry fit also broke the rest that the rear glass screen (I assume bullet proof) sits on, fortunately some judicious use of TET sorted that out;
• Above dry test fits damaged some of the PE that I had fitted to the cockpit, which was looking quite nice;
• As a result of the damage to the PE during the dry-fits, I decided that trying to join up the two fuselage halves and fit them over the cockpit as per the instructions was not worth the risk. Therefore, I slid each half from the side but that made it harder to get a nicely aligned and clean fuselage join and so some filling and sanding was required.

BUT…………………..

By far and away the worst issue was the PE IP panel:

• Front part = nice fold lines giving nice sharp creases;
• Back part = no fold lines, leaving small curves making it tricky to line up and join the two parts properly;
• BUT the worst part was that it was 1-2mm too tall……..making it impossible to fit into the cockpit as per the instructions.
• I thought I was going mad I really did. But I spotted the issued when I lined it up against the plastic one…after a LOT of faff, including trying to cut a bit off the bottom of the PE IP, I just went with the plastic one and the decal IP.

Clearly some of the issues above were my fault but the IP panel fit was truly awful and no matter what way I look at it, I don’t think I did anything wrong.

It also dented my enthusiasm a bit and so rather than plough on an screw it up completely, I put it to once side until I had calmed down a bit.

That said in having to repair some of the above problems, it allowed me to correct some issues of my own making!

ACW welcome as usual.

Andrew

PS….there were some things the cockpit instructions called for that I could not be faffed with, as they will never have been seen and/or were virtually impossible to achieve!

-----------------------------


The cockpit and IP before it started to go wrong….


























All buttoned up….still not sure quite how much you will see!














New undercarriage part…..
I traced the outline in pen from the remaining one to help….it’s not perfect but given where it is, it’s not going to be on show much!












Primed and ready to go, once it has fully cured!
Prop is obviously just pushed in place for the photos

[deafpanzer]

Very smooth primer job! The cockpit harness looks great too. Did it come with the kit or it is aftermarket item?

[handiabled]

Given the problems you had it looks like you pulled it from the fire just fine! That primer job looks like glass!

[adt70hk]

Nov 26, 2023 11:30:28 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Very smooth primer job! The cockpit harness looks great too. Did it come with the kit or it is aftermarket item?

Nov 26, 2023 11:35:31 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Given the problems you had it looks like you pulled it from the fire just fine! That primer job looks like glass!

Thanks guys!  Glad you're liking it!!!  The primer has turned out nicely


Andy - technically both .....as it's a ProfiPack kit, Eduard include the AM photoetch sheet as standard!

Brent - It does look like glass doesn't it!  I use Vallejo primer as that's all I have at the moment and it has a slight sheen to it, so when you put under a bright light it reflects far more than a matt one does!!  Will have to remember that trick for next time!! 


Thanks again chaps!

ATB

Andrew

[deafpanzer]

Thanks buddy! Another solid reason why I am always a big fan of Eduard kits...

[stikpusher]

Great to see how this one is shaping up. The cockpit and looks great, and now that it's all together and black primed, it's looking ready for warpaint.