Special Hobby Yakovlev Yak-3 1:32 – build review

Full Build (Basic kit)
With Ashley Dunn

Just before we get into the build, here’s a couple of photos of how it all turned out – hope you like it!?

Aftermarket parts:
o HGW Seatbelts (132583)
o Eduard Canopy mask (JX195)

Paints Used:
o Gunze H306 (Cockpit)
o Hataka Orange Line Set Late WWII Soviet
o Revell Aqua Colour (for detail)
o Vallejo Metal Color (Aluminium for Prop back plate & Dull Aluminium for chipping)

Overview

I picked this kit up from the Abingdon model show in the UK last year from Antics at a very reasonable price. It’s the basic kit boxing with 3 schemes for the ‘Onwards to Berlin’ motto so heading towards the later part of the war. This is a slightly older tooling than my last build Tempest (here in SMN’s Aircraft-Finished Now-Special Hobby) from the same company and I’d say it shows how Special Hobby are coming along. Not that this is a bad kit, far from it, it just shows how they are improving with each new subject they release.

The plastic is a halfway house again – not too soft but not too hard. Easily cut, sanded and not brittle at all. There aren’t too many parts to this kit and you can see from the major components that it should build up fairly quickly. A dry test fit of the fuselage halves and wings etc did make me think it wouldn’t be as easy as the Tempest! There may be some comparisons to the Tempest quite a few times along the way but I think it will help to give an informative view and something to gauge against as well as showing just how far, in my opinion, Special Hobby are coming along.

Read on…