Baranov's Yak-1 "Red 1" 1/48 completed

[Seawinder]

[imghttps://photos.smugmug.com/2013-Models/Yak1/i-g5pfMM8/0/f2c1038a/L/Baranov%20Left-L.jpg[/img]http://





This is the Accurate Miniatures kit with the Alpha Flight correction set. The correction set consists of a resin top fuselage, resin horizontal stabilizers and separate elevators (shorter than the kit parts), resin rudder (which I didn't use), and vacuformed canopy parts. I added canopy rails (made from strip styrene) and landing gear indicators (made from stretched sprue). I painted with the new Akan acrylic lacquers: AMT-4, AMT-6 and AMT-7. The A-14 is my own mix using Model Master enamels. Decals, for the plane with which Mikhail Baranov was photographed in summer 1942, are a mix of South Front kit decals and AML aftermarket sheet. The spacing of the victory stars is better on the South Front decals, as is the printing of the Red 1's.

Cheers,
Pip

[66misos]

Hi Pip,

very nice kit. Plus good photo - your AMT-4 on my monitor looks like that one I have on my planes.
Victory stars look a bit off set. What is that part on the fuel tank cover on the upperwings. Decals?
My one, although already glued OOB, is still of white plastic

      66misos

[Seawinder]

Hi Pip,

very nice kit. Plus good photo - your AMT-4 on my monitor looks like that one I have on my planes.
Victory stars look a bit off set. What is that part on the fuel tank cover on the upperwings. Decals?
My one, although already glued OOB, is still of white plastic

      66misos

Hi Misos. The victory stars are slightly off register. As I said above, I used the South Front stars because the AML ones were spaced too far apart, and the South Front decals are red and white combined, so no adjustment was possible.

For the fuel gauges, I took the jpegs for the early style that I downloaded from the old VVS modeling site years ago, sized them in PhotoShop, and printed them on white decal paper. I applied the decals upside down to the kit clear lenses using Future/Klear for adhesion, then installed the lenses in the wings with white glue.

Cheers,
Pip

[B_Realistic]

Pip,

Which canopy did you use? I'm looking for a replacement for the canopy from the Yak-1b from Modelsvit because it's molded in one piece and I'm not eager to split it in 2.
Or is the canopy different in shape between the Yak-1 and Yak-1b?

[learstang]

Very nice model, Pip!  That AMT-4 looks similar to the MM Interior Green I'm now using for AMT-4.  I have to say I like the look of the AKAN acrylic lacquers; as has been mentioned elsewhere, they're not as dark as the enamels or the water-based acrylics.  Whether they're more accurate I don't know, but I like the appearance.

Regards,

Jason

[Seawinder]

Pip,

Which canopy did you use? I'm looking for a replacement for the canopy from the Yak-1b from Modelsvit because it's molded in one piece and I'm not eager to split it in 2.
Or is the canopy different in shape between the Yak-1 and Yak-1b?

Hi B.
I used the vacuform canopy pieces that came with the Alpha Flight correction set. I'm not a big fan of vacuform canopies, but these didn't work too badly and were molded as three separate pieces (wind screen, rear section with quarter panels, and sliding canopy). They also supplied two, so I was able to use the sliding section on the South Front Yak-1, whose sliding section was too thick to pose open. AFAIK, the sliding sections are the same on the -1 and the -1B. Would it work to cut apart the Modelsvit canopy preserving the wind screen and rear section, and use a Squadron vacuform for the sliding section?

Cheers,
Pip

[Seawinder]

Very nice model, Pip!  That AMT-4 looks similar to the MM Interior Green I'm now using for AMT-4.  I have to say I like the look of the AKAN acrylic lacquers; as has been mentioned elsewhere, they're not as dark as the enamels or the water-based acrylics.  Whether they're more accurate I don't know, but I like the appearance.

Regards,

Jason

Thanks for the comment, Jason. The Akan AMT-4 is indeed similar to MM Interior Green, but somewhat darker and slightly more olive. Here's a photo of a jar of MM IG posed with the Akan AMT-4 on the left and the Akan 4BO on the right, just for comparison.



Cheers,
Pip

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Pip, hi all,
very beautiful model indeed.
Were the lenses for fuel gauges already included in the MM kit?
Regards
Massimo

[Seawinder]

Hi Pip, hi all,
very beautiful model indeed.
Were the lenses for fuel gauges already included in the MM kit?
Regards
Massimo

Hi Massimo.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, the AM kit supplies no fewer than 6 clear circular lenses for the gauges, and they fit well. The indentations on the wings have crude raised gauge details (more or less in the later style, so probably not appropriate for the Yak-1). Incidentally, the gauge drawings are still available at the VVS site:

http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Research/Yakovlev/FuelGauges/index.php

I erased the thick white outlines in PhotoShop and re-sized what was left to 1/8 inch, the diameter of the wing openings.

Cheers,
Pip

[KL]

Those gauge drawings are made by Pilawskii...  i would not take them very seriously...  probably coppied from unreliable sources...

Real Yak-1 fuel gauge looks very different:





There is more about Yak fuel gauges and fuel tanks at scalemodels.ru forum - somebody has to search more.

[learstang]

Thank you for the comparison of colours, Pip!  It will go into my VVS colours folder on my computer.

Regards,

Jason

[Seawinder]

Those gauge drawings are made by Pilawskii...  i would not take them very seriously...  probably copied from unreliable sources...

Real Yak-1 fuel gauge looks very different:

There is more about Yak fuel gauges and fuel tanks at scalemodels.ru forum - somebody has to search more.

Well, that won't be a difficult change to make, plus I'll be able to print them on the laser printer. Do you have a link to the discussion at sm.ru? I've just tried to sign up -- can't tell whether or not I was successful.

Cheers,
Pip

[B_Realistic]

Hi B.
I used the vacuform canopy pieces that came with the Alpha Flight correction set. I'm not a big fan of vacuform canopies, but these didn't work too badly and were molded as three separate pieces (wind screen, rear section with quarter panels, and sliding canopy). They also supplied two, so I was able to use the sliding section on the South Front Yak-1, whose sliding section was too thick to pose open. AFAIK, the sliding sections are the same on the -1 and the -1B. Would it work to cut apart the Modelsvit canopy preserving the wind screen and rear section, and use a Squadron vacuform for the sliding section?

Cheers,
Pip

I think so.

[66misos]

Hi,

was that Yak-1 fuel gauge red outlined?



Regards,
     66misos

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
but... what is all that brown paint around the gauge?

Regards
Massimo