Special Hobby 1/32 Yak 3

[dave]

Getting there now, great lesson in how to handle a less than perfect kit.

[rickoshea52]

I had some real issues with that poor fitting canopy, filling the gaps and getting it smoothed onto the model. I had to re-fit the canopy a few times and in the end had to resort to using cement, not a good idea with canopies. I have some concerns about what it may be like under the masking in case capillery action has drawn cement under the mask and damaged the surface. I did lift a corner or two and did not see any damage but I will only be able to be sure when all the masking is removed.

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Anyway.....
I decided to fit the u/c legs before painting. These are tricky as the lack of positive fit make it fairly difficult.
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As you can see from the top picture I glued a piece of sprue to the front to act as a hanger while drying. Its a bit of overkill because MRP dries so fast....

Anyway - I applied MRP Black Surface Primer
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Overall, not too bad. Some of the areas where I expected to see flaws are fine but those seams are really stubborn. Already I have spent hours of sanding and yet they are still showing through. I will need to apply Mr Dissolved Putty along the seams, sand some more and then see how it is with another primer coat. I really do not know why the seams on this kit are not responding to treatment like others do, every single fuselage seam needs treating along its full length!...

Get some speed tape on those seams, just like in the modern world!

[BarryW]

I have been working the seams.
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Above you can see how the underside fuselage was concave. I filled the middle and sanded it down level.
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Above you can see all the areas on top after sanding and get a feel of just how difficult these seams are. Remember these have been filled and sanded a few times before I applied the primer.
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However it is looking up. After respraying primer I went over the areas still in need of treatment and reapplied Mr Dissolved Putty.

[BarryW]

Finally I got to paint the wheel wells and legs A14 Faded Grey.
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Next up was masking these areas off
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Then I painted the underside AMT7 Grey-Blue.
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The MRP Paint simply enables me to easily produce the kind of colour modulation that was more difficult with other paints. Then of course the finish is perfect for washes and decals though most of the markings will be painted using a Montex set.

[BarryW]

I went on to mask up and apply AMT 11 for top camo.

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[papa 695]

Looking very good Barry

[tr1ckey66]

The Yak looks much better now. The worst seems to be over now and hopefully it should be plain sailing to the finish now.
Cheers
Paul

[yak face]

Looking good now Barry , its been a bit of a trial but youve bettered it now , cheers tony

[BarryW]

Been getting on with the camo and markings
Clever Putty masking
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AMT 12 sprayed and mask removed.
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Masking for the red and some white.
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As you can see I will need to do a bit of localised masking here and there for touch ups but all in all it worked out welll.

[stillp]

That paint finish is superb Barry. I'm going to have to try those MRP paints.

Pete

[flyjoe180]

Nice Barry, that's looking very attractive in that scheme too

[BarryW]

I am in the last stages of this pig of a kit and it has not given up fighting.

Here she is after touch ups and the final matt coat
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I unmasked the canopy and found something of a problem. First as I feared with the amount of work needed on poor fitting part some cement got under the mask and left a mark on the rear of the canopy. Worse than that, something broke loose inside and I was hoping it would not be something visible but it’s a side panel and is very visible.
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The back harness has come away from the seat as well, probably knocked out of position by the loose side panel.

There is nothing that can be done as removing the canopy for a repair is not viable.

I decided to press on and finish to get some photos from selected angles before binning the model. I won’t keep one like this on my display shelves.

However the bad engineering, poor fit and lack of a positive locations provided more problems. Fitting the inner wheel doors. How on earth you are meant to get the pieces in the right angles and cemented into position is beyond me. I decided to leave off the parts as a result, just attaching the inner doors without these supports. One of the parts broke in the process anyway having already been repaired once.
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I will post some more pics once the rest of the u/c is done probably in a couple of days.

[stillp]

That's a shame Barry, but I feel better knowing it's not just me that has bad luck at the end of a build!

Pete

[colin m]

A pig of a kit seems a fair description. The nightmare of re-occurring seams, when this happens to me, I resort to CA glue, you have to be a bit careful, but it does the trick.
I can't help thinking, this must be more of a pig than the 190 you suffered ?

[BarryW]

In some ways Colin but this is the only Yak 3 in 1/32 available while there are better 1/32 FW190's with a ZM one also soon to be released so it is/was worth persevering with. But there are limits!!!

I will get it done, at least after a fashion....

Then I will get started on a 'goody'....