Yak 3 in 1/72 Revell (Zvezda)

After spending way too long on the last couple of builds (mostly do to self-inflicted problems and mistakes) I wanted something quick and easy, so scanning the stash, the Yak jumped out at me.

Apparently you can do it as a snap-together kit, which I would be tempted to try, but I used glue since I wasn't sure I trusted the snap fit method. Once built, though, I think it would mostly be fine. The snap engineering seems really well thought out. Considering the simple nature of the kit, the level of detail, for example in the cockpit is quite good.

Paints: Tamiya dark grey and light grey upper over Vallejo AV71317 blue from their VVS 1941-43 set.
Instrument panel was dry brushed (the decal version was very cartoonish) with drops of Krystal Klear for the instrument lenses. Tamiya smoke was used for exhaust stains (I didn't realize it was a gloss finish, and it took way too many coats of flat clear to dull it down. Don't know if I would use it again.) Other weathering was done with ground up chalk pastels.

Only aftermarket in the cockpit are pedal straps and trim wheels from a random fret of generic cockpit bits of unknown manufacture. Plus, I used the paper images of seatbelts from the packaging of the Eduard Luftwaffe set, as the paper images looked pretty good, and I'm saving the photo-etch for actual Luftwaffe subjects. Struts for inner landing gear doors were made from wire. Canopy needed to be cut to slide open. Drilled out fuselage gun-ports and exhaust pipes. Added some wire to the radio.

Overall, it was a fun, trouble free build and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a quick yet satisfying build (possibly as relief from shelf-of-doom projects.)

13 additional images. Click to enlarge.