United States Military Yak-9

[TheChronicOne]

Hey, it's me again!! You're favorite (or not) amateur novice modeler!   

I've been working on something neat for you all but I can't seem to settle just yet on what it actually is. All I know is this: it's a Yak-9 and will have American markings. Whether it's Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coasties, reserves, I don't know..  I'm starting to think that I may just dispense with my own back story or explanation and just get it together and say, "here it is, it's whatever YOU want it to be!" 

I've also started working on a Beechcraft Bonanza that isn't -quite- a whif. Thing is, though, I'm completely making up the livery, numbers, etc all on my own. It will be a 100% unique aircraft as far as paint scheme and markings so I figure you all will be interested in that, too. (UPDATE: I came up with a neat story for it to make it definitely within whif!) I'll post stuff for it in time but for now the reason I mention it is because I was taking pictures of some of the seats and stuff for THAT one when I decided to put the Yak in with the beechcraft stuff just to show the people on facebook what I was up to.  That works so I can go ahead and let you all in on what I've been doing for What if Modelers!!

Without further ado:



There she is. The instrument panel, seats, and propeller are for the Beechcraft (and boy,does the camera really bring out the mistakes in my work, but... it all looks good from an arms distance away) but the Yak 9 is the focus of this post.

I may have another picture or two of it in much earlier stages that I will try to post, as well.  For now, that's it. I'd say I'm done trying to refine this one as the base material (the kit itself) was the worst pile of styrene Ive ever seen.  I took a picture of another one just like it all still on the sprues and I'll get that posted, too, to show just how lousy the quality is. Talk about flash??  Like.... centimeters wide coming off the parts.... thicknesses of fuselages off by crazy amounts.. fitment issues, you name it.  It'll be interesting to see just because of how out of whack everything it.

Any how..  I'm getting long winded so I'll stop here.  Enjoy!

Brad

[Captain Canada]

Looks good ! It sure is tiny !

[TheChronicOne]

Cool.

Looking forward to the Bonanza, V/butterfly or conventional tail?

V-tail Doctor Killer!   It's actually coming together really well despite all attempts at being a novice. It's obvious from my extreme close ups that I have work to do but over all it's looking good. From a distance the stuff looks really nice and the interior parts will be hard to see anyway. That said, main construction is still yet to occur so... hopefully I learned from the last one how to fill seams and mask better. 

Thank you for the interest. I'm going to try my best to make it nice and I even plan on doing some scratch building and alterations to make it closer to accurate than it is. A lot of that type building is new territory for me, but I want to learn so.. no better way than to just get after it.

[TheChronicOne]

Looks good ! It sure is tiny !

Itty bitty!  My "control" has been improving working on this. The Beechcraft is certainly the smallest thing I've ever attempted, so this Yak is/was good prep for it.

[TheChronicOne]

I found another picture of the Yak early on back when I was still building the Terran Empire P51D (that I posted here elsewhere). 

[TheChronicOne]

Cool.

Looking forward to the Bonanza, V/butterfly or conventional tail?

V-tail Doctor Killer!

I prefer the look of the V despite any problems.

Same here! I was so happy to get this.  And... in my opinion? The decals being completely unusable??? .. .. WAS A BONUS!      

[Old Wombat]

I was envisioning a Yak-9 with a P-40 or similar engine grafted on!

Oh, well, the alternate scheme looks like it'll be good!

[TheChronicOne]

I was envisioning a Yak-9 with a P-40 or similar engine grafted on!

Oh, well, the alternate scheme looks like it'll be good!

That would be killer but my skills aren't up to that yet!  In lieu, a reverse lend-lease maybe?  haha! 

Thank you! I want to refine it some more to try to clean it up some.. but.. not much. It's about time for a coat of floor polish then decals. Then I'll glue on all the little bits I always break otherwise. 

[Old Wombat]

Then I'll glue on all the little bits I always break otherwise. 

You mean like the guns I've broken off at least 4 times each on my Hellcat build!?

[TheChronicOne]

Then I'll glue on all the little bits I always break otherwise. 

You mean like the guns I've broken off at least 4 times each on my Hellcat build!?

Ha! I feel your pain.  After the third snap off of the rudder I decided to leave it off until I did most of the work but as I look over on my table I see I glued it back on last night I guess. It needs to be on for a decal but I still could have waited. I suppose it'll be flying to the carpet at some point in the near future.

[TheChronicOne]

Update!!!! I finishes the Yak 9 and will be attempting "glamour shots" later.   

[TheChronicOne]

Here goes nothing!

It's a radar plane. Forward Air Warning Wing FC-11  (FC - Forward Control)  (yak 9) of the United States Navy(or air force or whatever!).

Let your imagination go wild. I was thinking all sorts of things.. maybe we(U.S.) discovered something in the Antarctic when we sent that big fleet down there after WWII that scared us so badly we forgot about "red scare" and teamed up with the Soviets to take on the new threat. Reverse lend lease and bam! American Yak-9. But who knows.. make up your own story.

I scratch built the radar array (obviously) out of differeing guage sprue and paper clip. For some reason the wing had some weird piece on it with a gouge missing (might show up in pics I post below of sprues to another kit from the same place that is virtually identical) so I decided rather than filing and filling I'd just do this contraption.. The radar array had to be extended far enough forward as to be ahead of the rest of the plane for good coverage. On the left side to help counter clockwise spin of the engine during take off. Also, a small bit of ballast in the form of some Acme bricks are lodged somewheres in the starbord wing.  (hehe)

Generic spray paint and and some testors acrylic red and black in places. Uhh.. I "tinted" the cockpit because the interior is non existent in this kit which was billed as "unknown manufacturer Russia" on ebay. EDIT: Zenrat found it on scalemates, it's an RM models using KP molds.


Sitting on my bookcase next to a die cast toy and other crap I have sitting around. I put it here after the "glamour shots" and decided to grab one more photo.


The sprues. Look at the flash.

Underside. I did an alternating flat/gloss black stripped look. PRETTY COOL I just wished it turned out better but there's potential to this design I think. It looks neat I just wish I knew how to paint better...


With flash for emphasis of my stripes.


Hey, here's the neat little box it came in.


Back of the box with painting and markings guide. NOTE: The art on the front of the box, the decals, and the paint guide don't even REMOTELY match up. That little transfer sheet was identical between the two kits I have; this one built being the Yak 9 and the other one I've yet to begin (the picture of the sprues that I mentioned were the same, really). These are quite literally the lowest quality kits I've ever seen...


Head On, apply directly to the enemy...


Last but not least, what I concluded was the best shot/angle/whatever of my whif plane:





As usual, my disclaimer that I'm a novice modeller and am not that good at this stuff. That said.... it turned out better than I thought it would and I'm happy with it! I like it sitting on the shelf and I think it's really neat so I hope you all enjoy it.

Thanks!

Brad

[TheChronicOne]

 

Thanks!

As an aside: I might put it on something other than black for a couple shots because of all the black colored hardware on it. Didn't occur to me at the time.

[zenrat]

According to Scalemates it's by RM Models using the KP Moulds and dates from the 1990's.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/964551-rm-models-yak-9

[Captain Canada]

That sure changes the look of the machine ! I like it ! Great job on the colours and markings, really suits her. The radar bits give it an interesting look as well. Cheers !