Yak-26 "Firedrake"

[TheChronicOne]

Those little lenses are neat, a little pricey too but very handy. And thanks for that profile !

Funny thing, that... I was at the store today and found what looked to be *almost* identical little stick on "jewels" but they were in the craft isle. There were about 50 of 'em for $2 at Wal Mart. Why I didn't go ahead and pick them up is beyond me....  (well, yeah, I do know.. I'm short on money and eBay is eating me alive. )    Good thing is... I REMEMBERED to look for them.    One difference being is that these I saw were faceted....    could be a deal breaker.

[Captain Canada]

Thanks for the tip ! Be somat to look into, maybe could be filed down and cleaned up as well. But then again, how often you'd need them the price isn't really a factor.

[JayBee]

Well there has been a bit of a break in modelling activity, caused by one of our Canadian nieces and her daughter staying with us for a short while. It was not just that but one of them had to sleep in my modelling room so it had to be cleared. Not just tidied but cleared !
Anyway, they are now gone so here is the Firedrake in overall Tamiya Grey Primer.





Now though I have a problem. Should I leave it in the grey scheme or go for NM which is my original plan.
Decisions, decisions.   

[PR19_Kit]

Ay high altitudes the grey would maybe stand out more than NMF, and the Soviets were much more attached to their NMF schemes back in that time frame too, so I'd go without paint.

Love the look of it Jim, even though it's quite different to my own part-build of the same NATO code name.

[Tophe]

Looking good!

[TheChronicOne]

I like it a lot!! I've been on an NMF kick lately myself so that get's my vote.

[JayBee]

As it has been rather cold and wet around here of late, I have had to wait for a day when the relative humidity has gone down and the temp. has gone up a bit ( I do my airbrushing out in the garage. However at last the Firedrake is done in NMF. Colour used is Vallejo Model Air metallic Aluminium 71.062. This is from the original airbrushing range and not the new range that they have released.
Having looked at photos of the Yak-25 "Mandrake" they have an overall NMF with no apparent differences in any panels, and is also very pale in colour.
This paint does it perfectly.





Jim

[PR19_Kit]

Hmmm, those wings are almost long enough. 

[JayBee]

In this case one has to confess that they have not been extended, at least as far as we know.
The larger engines with there greater power and fuel efficiency made up for that, at least in the mind set of the Soviet designers at that time.
The fact that the missile armament could gain a few thousand feet in an engagement may have had something to do with it.

[TheChronicOne]

    Looks really nice!! 

[DogfighterZen]

Looking very good indeed!

[JayBee]

OK two problems have occured.
Firstly I brushed some Klear onto the areas that were to receive the transfers. A few seconds later I looked at it and ir was pooling as if the Klear was refusing to adhere to the paint surface. Now I do not know why this has happened, and I have never experienced this before, . Could the surface be somewhat greasy? That is highly unlikely as they were only painted the day before and have been under protective covering since.
Anyway, I removed the Klear, and let it sit for a couple of days while I tried to get my sanity back. (You will be glad to know that I did not manage, otherwise how could I continue on this forum!).
Then this evening I decided to just apply the transfers straight on to the paint surface.
Second problem. As soon as you try and take the AModel transfers off the backing paper they disintegrate.
So now I am hunting in my stash for better, usable, Soviet transfers.
SIGH!

[PR19_Kit]

I've had that happen on an NMF finish before Jim, on the underside of my B-35 Northampton if I remember correctly.

My solution was to wash the NMF areas in warm water, with one drop of washing-up liquid added, and let it air dry.

I can't remember where I read that but it was in a magazine article somewhere.

[zenrat]

Ah yes, A Model decals.
They will need liquid decal film brushed over them.

[JayBee]

This model has fought me all the way to the end.
The final insult was when I was fitting the wheels, the nose U/C just collapsed into lots of little bits that could not be rebuilt. A search in the spares box turned up the nose U/C from a Hasegawa A-4 Skyhawk, which had roughly the same geometry as the Yak. The wheel/tyre is slightly smaller than the Yak's but at least it is a single integral moulding.

Now the "truth" is out.
In 1955 Soviet intelligence agencies became aware of the first flight in the USA of a new aircraft in the Utility category, the U-2. They were in no doubt about it's true purpose.
Immediately a solution to this potential threat was sought.
In 1955/56 Yakovlev had been working on an interceptor version of the Yak25 series, as well as the Yak26 (a tactical supersonic bomber) of which only nine were built.
At the same time they were looking at how to give the aircraft a really high altitude capability, "for peaceful purposes".
A variant of the Yak25 series with a high aspect ratio, non-swept, wing was the chosen answer, and the first experimental prototype flew in 1957.
It soon became apparent that the design was not achieving the required altitude and a new, more powerful engine was sought.
Round about this time, an as yet unidentified Soviet propulsion engineer, came up with the idea for a new variant on the traditional jet engine. He postulated that if the front fan was enlarged then the extra thrust derived from this would give a great increase in overall performance. He also suggested that if this extra air mass was routed outside the main engine core, being cooler air, it would help to shield the hot air thrust of the central core from IR detection.
He had come up with the idea for what we now know as the High Bypass Turbo-Fan engine.

The first re-engined prototype made it's first flight in 1958 and the altitude performance was even better than hoped for.

Weight was kept to a minimum with no radar being fitted just a long-range IR sensor, and armament of only two short-range IR missiles. These were early versions of the AA-2 missile.

The fully operational version of the aircraft, now designated as the Yak26M (this being to deceive Western intelligence into thinking it was just another version of the aborted tactical bomber) entered service, amidst great secrecy, in late 1959.
They were stationed all round the borders of the Soviet Union.

Given the NATO reporting name of Firedrake ( a medieval name for a fire breathing dragon) it is believed that it was one of these aircraft that was responsible for the shooting down of "Gary" Powers U-2 in 1960, and not the Soviet Union's "superior" Surface to Air Missiles.

The last Yak26M "Firedrake" is believed to have been retired in 1979.