Skinny_Mike
Well-known member
Hi everyone! Time to get you all up to date on my current project. This is going to be the 1/48 scale Zvezda Yak-130. I’ve never built a kit from Zvezda, but all the reviews I could find seemed to indicate that this is a pretty good kit, so I thought I would give it a try. The only other option is quarter scale is a Kitty Hawk offering, but I have enough of their kits in the pipeline right now, so here we are.
For those that don’t know, and I was one of them, the Yak-130, NATO call sign Mitten, is the latest generation training aircraft for the Russian Air Force. It is capable of mimicking the latest Russian fighter, including the Su-35. The aircraft is also a competent air to ground platform being capable of carrying rockets bombs and the AA-11 short range air to air missiles. Here are some pictures I pulled from the web, for discussion purposes.
Here’s a quick shot of the box contents
Followed by the aftermarket I plan to use.
Nothing too exciting, Reskit wheels and the B-8M1 and B-13L, Montex Masks for the inside and the outside of the canopy, and the Quinta Studio cockpit set. For those that do not know about the Qunita Studio sets, these are 3D printed resin sets that are full color. I was interested in seeing how they worked and this was as good a kit as any. It does need to be stated, there are not decals. The Edward rocket launchers are not as good in my opinion as the Reskit, so they went to the spares box.
My plan is to do the blue and gray camo scheme using MRP paints.
Alright, like every airplane kit, we started with the cockpit. There is a one piece tub with the side wall details molded on, a front and rear bulkhead and the front and rear instrument panels.
To install the Quinta parts, you need to remove all of the cockpit details which I did prior to painting. I decided to not replace the display screens, because they are in a bit of a difficult spot and I figured it was easy enough to paint and gloss coat them. Once all the detail was removed, I painted the pit in MRP Sukhoi Cockpit Blue-Grey. Then it was given a wash in a dirty gray color before adding all the resin parts. Here’s the finished product.
The blue’s of course don’t match but I have seen reference photos of the Yak with mis-matched colors so I am ok with it. The underside of the cockpit tub makes up the roof of the nose gear bay. I painted all the parts in MRP Light Grey-Blue, which is for Russian cockpits and wheel bays, then did all the detail painting before assembling the walls into the gear bay. I’m not sure why I bothered as most of the gear doors are closed when this plane is sitting on the ground but its good practice anyway.
Then the finished pit was sandwiched between the front fuselage halves. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a tail sitter, so I put some weight in the nose just in case.
Next up is the intakes. For the record – I HATE INTAKES. I will spend the money to replace them every time I can. I hate trying to get them to be seamless, and these were no different. In fact they were worse the most. Zvezda made these up of five different parts in an effort to match the very complex shape. They nailed the shape, but these are a giant paint to get all the seams out of. Luckily they can be built in a U shape so that you can have access to the seams.
I used Tamiya putty in the hopes it wouldn’t shrink too much as it dried like an acrylic putty would. After a little bit of elbow grease I got the intakes done and ready for paint.
I primered the intakes with Mr Finish Surfacer 1500 and after about 4 dozen rounds of putty/sand/primer (did I mention I hate intakes) I finally got them smoothed out and painted them in Tamiya Gloss White and the compressor blades in Ammo Flat Aluminum. At the same time I painted the top piece for the intakes.
Then everything got assembled. There are a bunch of parts that make up the main landing gear bays and a bulkhead where the forward fuselage will attach.
And then we found disaster. Unfortunately, the seam in one of the intakes split. It just can’t be easy. There is another piece that makes part of the front lip, so I get it all cleaned up together.
Well, there we are. I’ve gotten past the parts I despise the most so should be clear sailing from here.
See you all soon!
Mike
For those that don’t know, and I was one of them, the Yak-130, NATO call sign Mitten, is the latest generation training aircraft for the Russian Air Force. It is capable of mimicking the latest Russian fighter, including the Su-35. The aircraft is also a competent air to ground platform being capable of carrying rockets bombs and the AA-11 short range air to air missiles. Here are some pictures I pulled from the web, for discussion purposes.
Here’s a quick shot of the box contents
Followed by the aftermarket I plan to use.
Nothing too exciting, Reskit wheels and the B-8M1 and B-13L, Montex Masks for the inside and the outside of the canopy, and the Quinta Studio cockpit set. For those that do not know about the Qunita Studio sets, these are 3D printed resin sets that are full color. I was interested in seeing how they worked and this was as good a kit as any. It does need to be stated, there are not decals. The Edward rocket launchers are not as good in my opinion as the Reskit, so they went to the spares box.
My plan is to do the blue and gray camo scheme using MRP paints.
Alright, like every airplane kit, we started with the cockpit. There is a one piece tub with the side wall details molded on, a front and rear bulkhead and the front and rear instrument panels.
To install the Quinta parts, you need to remove all of the cockpit details which I did prior to painting. I decided to not replace the display screens, because they are in a bit of a difficult spot and I figured it was easy enough to paint and gloss coat them. Once all the detail was removed, I painted the pit in MRP Sukhoi Cockpit Blue-Grey. Then it was given a wash in a dirty gray color before adding all the resin parts. Here’s the finished product.
The blue’s of course don’t match but I have seen reference photos of the Yak with mis-matched colors so I am ok with it. The underside of the cockpit tub makes up the roof of the nose gear bay. I painted all the parts in MRP Light Grey-Blue, which is for Russian cockpits and wheel bays, then did all the detail painting before assembling the walls into the gear bay. I’m not sure why I bothered as most of the gear doors are closed when this plane is sitting on the ground but its good practice anyway.
Then the finished pit was sandwiched between the front fuselage halves. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a tail sitter, so I put some weight in the nose just in case.
Next up is the intakes. For the record – I HATE INTAKES. I will spend the money to replace them every time I can. I hate trying to get them to be seamless, and these were no different. In fact they were worse the most. Zvezda made these up of five different parts in an effort to match the very complex shape. They nailed the shape, but these are a giant paint to get all the seams out of. Luckily they can be built in a U shape so that you can have access to the seams.
I used Tamiya putty in the hopes it wouldn’t shrink too much as it dried like an acrylic putty would. After a little bit of elbow grease I got the intakes done and ready for paint.
I primered the intakes with Mr Finish Surfacer 1500 and after about 4 dozen rounds of putty/sand/primer (did I mention I hate intakes) I finally got them smoothed out and painted them in Tamiya Gloss White and the compressor blades in Ammo Flat Aluminum. At the same time I painted the top piece for the intakes.
Then everything got assembled. There are a bunch of parts that make up the main landing gear bays and a bulkhead where the forward fuselage will attach.
And then we found disaster. Unfortunately, the seam in one of the intakes split. It just can’t be easy. There is another piece that makes part of the front lip, so I get it all cleaned up together.
Well, there we are. I’ve gotten past the parts I despise the most so should be clear sailing from here.
See you all soon!
Mike
So far so good! I have found that fixing the "disasters" sometimes makes a better model and makes me a better model maker.
