Yakovlev Yak-38 (WIP)

1
June 13, 2020
2
June 14, 2020
Cockpit seems oversimplistic and main panel difficult: decal goes behind the clear part, and front of the part is painted to reveal only the dials behind the glass
3
June 14, 2020
Front landing gear
4
June 14, 2020
Nasty seams to sand in these parts... maybe I should have bought the Quickboost parts... :/
5
June 21, 2020
Using the fuselage as a jig to glue the rear exhausts correctly
6
July 3, 2020
Pavla seat primed and painted black
7
July 3, 2020
Exhausts painted with AK Xtreme Metal steel and background painted with black
8
July 3, 2020
Cabling done with 0,2mm and 0,4mm lead wire
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July 16, 2020
Some weight added to the front and Eduard PE glued
10
July 22, 2020
Glued the two fuselage halves
11
July 22, 2020
Some pressure required, but not too troublesome
12
July 22, 2020
13
July 23, 2020
Very difficult seams to work on and some complicated rescribing waiting to happen 🙁
14
July 23, 2020
Very difficult seams to work on and some complicated rescribing waiting to happen 🙁
15
July 23, 2020
Very difficult seams to work on and some complicated rescribing waiting to happen 🙁
16
July 23, 2020
Very difficult seams to work on and some complicated rescribing waiting to happen 🙁
17
August 19, 2020
Dry fitting the windshield
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August 19, 2020
Dry fitting the windshield
19
August 31, 2020
Front part ready for the windshield
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August 31, 2020
Front part ready for the windshield
21
September 3, 2020
Glueing the canopy with PVA glue to act as mask for cockpit - later will be removed
22
September 5, 2020
Dry fit of the plastic intakes - bad fit
23
September 5, 2020
Dry fit of the plastic intakes - awful fit!!!
24
September 5, 2020
Will use the plastic intakes
25
September 5, 2020
Opening the top holes in the plastic intakes, as per reference photos
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September 5, 2020
Opening the top holes in the plastic intakes, as per reference photos
27
September 11, 2020
One of the intakes kind of lines up well...
28
September 11, 2020
This intake line up terribly!!! 🙁
29
September 11, 2020
Ready for another primer bath
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September 11, 2020
Ready for another primer bath
31
September 17, 2020
Used Tamiya Royal Blue (X-3)
32
September 17, 2020
Testing colors - will go with Tamiya XF-5 instead of the sugested Gunze H-303 (it's greener and darker)
33
September 25, 2020
Bottom color applied and varnished with Tamiya X-22 - some touch ups to be made
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September 25, 2020
Top color applied and varnished with Tamiya X-22 - some touch ups to be made
35
September 27, 2020
First decals applied
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September 29, 2020
Some oils applied below and X-22 Tamiya varnish applied, ready for the stencils
37
September 29, 2020
Some oils applied on the wings and fuselage and X-22 Tamiya varnish applied, ready for the stencils
38
October 20, 2020
Pin wash made with Marine Blue Oilbrusher (A.MIG 3527) on top and PLWbGreen Brown (A.MIG 1612) below; used PLW Blue Black (A.MIG 1617) for the metal parts and for the wheel wells... too blue?
39
October 21, 2020
Now with a Tan Grey PLW wash applied (A.MIG 1610), to tone down the blue... I think I like it better this way...
40
October 26, 2020
Legs going up
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October 26, 2020
Legs going up
42
October 26, 2020
She stands!
43
October 27, 2020
Managed to re-open the canopy without breaking it
44
October 28, 2020
The pilot is painted and ready to go
45
October 28, 2020
Finished!

Slavo Hazucha
Cool topic indeed! 👍 Will gladly take a seat watching this little fleet fighter, truly embracing the "within visual range" aerial combat concept (If the Yak was actually carrying weapons, any combat had to happen within visual range of the Carrier/Heavy aircraft carrying cruiser😉 )

Hope you overcome the challenges of the kit - looks very promising so far & the collection of aftermarket parts should provide a shiny detail or two!

19 August 2020, 13:26

Maciej Bellos
Count me in!

19 August 2020, 13:44

Ricardo Reis
Thank you Slavo and Maciej. Indeed, @Slavo, the kit is a bit tricky (dificult assembly, vague instructions, soft engraving on the top of the fuselage, incorrect panels, etc) and only too late I discovered there is an excellent resin set for the vertical exhausts. Oh well, let's see what comes out of this...

19 August 2020, 15:55

David Taylor
Im in

11 September 2020, 19:42

Ricardo Reis
Thanks guys; the fit of the kit is difficult to get right, many of the parts don't have positive guides; also had to discard the resin intakes because the fit was simply awful!

11 September 2020, 19:57

Ricardo Reis
Moving forward with the colors, my patience with the putty has run off!

17 September 2020, 09:40

Slavo Hazucha
The blue surely looks the role, very nice 👍

17 September 2020, 09:52

Ricardo Reis
Thanks, I believe this is because HobbyBoss did not go out of the Gunze range; the Tamiya is a much better match

17 September 2020, 13:03

Ricardo Reis
First decals going down; I think the blue came out too dark, will try a lighter panel lines wash

27 September 2020, 20:57

Clifford Keesler
Looking very nice Ricardo. How is the kit? I have been wanting to build that one.

30 September 2020, 00:48

Ricardo Reis
Thanks Clifford; the kit's fit is bad, and the texture of the plastic is very rough at points; engraving is also irregular and detail lacking on the front engines and cockpit; it is, however, the only game in town if you want to build a Yak-38 and it's becoming to look like a Yak-38, so... go for it! 🙂

30 September 2020, 09:42

Clifford Keesler
I think I shall sir. You confirmed what I had heard about lack of detail, but not the fit. But that is why they call it modeling right.

30 September 2020, 15:25

Ricardo Reis
Mates, need your help. I'm trying to finish the Yak-38 and I have a question regarding loadout. I would like to hang a couple of UB-16 rocket launchers on the outside pylons, and then a UPK-23 gun pod on the inside of the right wing and a UB-32M on the inside of the left wing. Would this be a probable loadout for a service Yak-38?

20 October 2020, 13:45

Nathan Dempsey
I've seen a picture somewhere that has that load except instead of the UB-32M there was an Aphid AAM on one of the inboard pylons.

21 October 2020, 23:04

Ricardo Reis
Thanks Nathan; due to lack of solid evidence, I chose the safe path and will use the UB-16 and UB-32 on both wings; another common loadout I seriousloy considered was no weapons at all, as seen in most photos, but in the end I prefer to have something hanging.

22 October 2020, 08:09

Ricardo Reis
Mates, calling this one finished, thank you for your comments during the build; the final photos are in a separate album under this project, link here: Yakovlev Yak-38 | Album by RReis (1:48)

28 October 2020, 22:43