Yak-3 "Marcel Albert"

Steffen Arndt
It was time to start a nother soviet project (yes I still have a few started, but anyway). I just got the update set from Komplekt ZiP so I wanted to give it a try.
I started with the wings and a bit of cutting and grinding. This is necessary to fit in the Vector wheel bay and Komplekt ZiP belly panel.
Then I had to do one of my pet hates ... the cockpit. For this like the Eduard instrument panels. Though some of the switches are not useable for me .. just too small to fold and glue them on (for myself). As you can hardly see them inside the fuselage I left the smallest off.
After the cockpit was done, I proceeded with construction. Everything went together well. Just a few things tricky because I deviated from the instructions, no big deal though. Not it is time to get rid of the seam.
This is one of the most stupid things Zvezda did. The seam is very very (very!) close to the panel line so it is most difficult not to damage it. And fit would have been good enough to just leave teh seam as a panel line. Did I mention that this is a stupid design?

Steffen Arndt
I have added the main u/c legs and much of the Eduard exterior details (leaving off the fuel gauges until after painting). I also used the radiator flap from the eduard set because it has nicer detail than the Komplekt ZiP. It is a bit smaller but should be o.k. after some paint.

I also added the radio (Akan "Stalnii" matches the eduard colour pretty well) and the missing part on the instrument panel.

Then I masked off the canopy area and gave the model a nice coat of Alclad grey primer.

Steffen Arndt
Now I proceeded with the cockpit. The rear canopy for the opened option was installed and masked. The head armour was masked but left off for now. Then I added the gun sight with the PE provisional gun sight and control wheel added. For protection I glued on the wind shield. sorry for the mediocre pix of this area, but this is hard to photograph.

Steffen Arndt
Lots of trouble with the Zvezda decals this time. Bought a new kit for the decals and had to repaint twice. The project rested for a while. Now I am back at it and working on the PE wheel well covers

Martien Lourens
So far .....so good...... 👍

Steffen Arndt
Cheers Martien! as you say: so far so good but a lot to do. BTW: Great Sturmowik !

Martien Lourens
Thanks ....Sturmo But.......also a lot to do 🙂

Christian Bruer
Very nice paint work. Looking forward to the final finish. Cheers Christian

Steffen Arndt
Danke! Ich auch...

Jens R.
Looks very nice!

Steffen Arndt
Thanks Jens!

Holger Kranich
Happy new year, Steffen!
Das ist ja mal ein super Bau! Bitte verzeih mir die Frage, aber wer ist Marcel Albert?

Steffen Arndt
Vielen Dank, Holger!

Man gut, dass du nicht auf französisch geschrieben hast 😉 War einer der erfolgreichsten französischen Piloten im Zweiten WK. Albert ist einer von nur 3 (IIRC) "Helden der Sowjetunion" des Normandie Niemen Regiments. Insgesamt ca. 23 Luftsiege ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Albert )

Holger Kranich
haha, 23 läppische Luftsiege? Das hatten ja schon Anfänger an der Ostfront in 10 Tagen!😢😢

Steffen Arndt
oder sie waren tot...

Holger Kranich
Da hast Du Recht...

Holger Kranich
Passen die eduard Teile gut? Will sagen, sind sie wirklich eine sinnvolle Eränzung? Sieht auf jeden fall so aus!

Steffen Arndt
In diesem Falle wirklich guter Satz (besonders weil das Zeug nicht auf 3 Sätze aufgeteilt ist), auch wenn ich eine ganze Reihe von Teilen nicht verwendet habe (der Vector Fahrwerksschacht ist wirklich gut detailliert). Bin gerade bei den Fahrwerksklappen.

Steffen Arndt
BTW ich klebe die PE-Teile jetzt meistens mit Gators Glue, daher auch die Kroko-Klemme

Steffen Arndt
Two more pix added with break lines and main u/c covers on. The wheels are BarracudaCast 48086.

Ken Kolenovsky
Nice job! Great looking U/C. I know what you mean about the fiddly parts of an Eduard set.

Steffen Arndt
Cheers Ken! Well, this time the main problem was to find out where the break line goes, Everything else was very good. I must have made a mistake with the u/c as one side the covers fit like a glove and the other side was kind of a battle.. so probably my fault.

Steffen Arndt
Finally I found some motivation to cope with the missing u/c door actuator. It is not fully correct as it should not be attached to the tips of the door, but as this was ery fiddly to glue on I left it that way. Still better than nothing. I also added the antennat wire the pitot and some more PE at the canopy. Still need to check if I forgot something but i guess it is done.