Waku's 1/72 Yak-17 (Vacu-form build)
This is my 4th vacu-form build and an interesting subject, the Yak-17. Waku is a company from Poland which has released other vacu-form kits in the past, their Yak-17 kit was released in 1984. This kit consists of one styrene sheet with most of the main parts vacu-formed. One vacu-form canopy which was ultra thin and flimsy. And a decal sheet that I only used the number but did go on very nicely. This was a build that I enjoyed very much but it was not an easy build. The cockpit, wheel wells, main gears, and the engine inlet and exhaust all needed to get scratch built. The fuselage was too thin and needed to be widened and corrections had to be made on how the wings get attached to the fuselage.
Still with all this, it was an enjoyable build. It took 5 weeks to build. I took my time and now I have a Yak-17 sitting on my shelf. I am pretty happy with the end results.
This build is part of a dual Yak jet fighter build. I still have a Yak-15 in work and hopefully I will have that build done in the not too distance future. If you want to read the build progress, you can see it here:
https://imodeler.com/groups/aviation-jet-age/forum/topic/yak-15-and-17-dual-builds-1/
Thank you!
This is another WINNER. I like seeing these old kits that still require lots of proverbial blood, sweat and tears built to such high standards that it can stand next to any new tooled kit and still look fantastic. Well done Bob!
Thank you, Morne @Morgen. I am glad that I was able to follow through with this build. I currently have a few on the shelf of doom because of lack of interest or it was harder than expected. It is good to have this Yak-17 completed.
I am in awe Bob. You manage to take these old kits that are so often very rough diamonds and you make them sparkle in all the right places. Modelers are often spoilt for choice with the new tooled kits that falls together with little effort. We enhance details with super expensive aftermarket goodies whilst some modelers like yourself make use of scratchbuilding to elevate these rough diamonds to the next level.
Thank you, Morne. I get a lot of joy by tweaking these old kits. I also love seeing someone else's builds of an old kit. Seeing these old kit put together with the knowledge that modeler's have today makes these kit shine in a way that was not able to back when they were first released.
Absolutely amazing result, Bob @v1pro
Getting such a result out of a vacuum form kit clearly demonstrates your skills.
Looks great in this Polish scheme.
Thank you, John @johnb. It has been a while since I have build a model with a Polish scheme. This one turned out to be a right fit for it.
Fantastic job and really awesome result, Bob!
Loved following your build thread!
Thank you, Spiros @fiveten and thank you for following this build. Now to continue on the Yak-15.
Well done, Bob. Like your perseverance working through the vac build.
Gary @gasket, thank you. This one I enjoyed very much.
This small model required a large amount of work to turn out so well !
You’ve done a fantastic job on this model and the many others you’ve posted here on imodeler, Bob @v1pro
Thank you, Jay @ssgt. This kit demanded some extra work but it was worth it. And thank you on your comments on my other builds. I have also enjoyed your builds very much and our many talks on this hobby these past few years. It has been great and thank you!
Excellent work! I still haven't gotten up the nerve to attempt a vac-formed kit...not sure I want to try!
Thank you Greg @gkittinger. I think you will do a great job if you build one. To be honest with you the hardest part for me is to cut the pieces from the sheet, and then figuring out how much material needs to be removed or added to make the shape come close to looking like the actual plane. After that the scratch building is no different than what is done to injected mold kits that are lacking details. The larger vacu-form kits still intimidate me.
That's my issue - cutting away from the styrene sheet. I've seen tips on how to do it but it still seems more art than technique! I do have a vac-form conversion set to make a Neptune into a Vietnam-era gun ship, and I'm intimidated just by those components!
You got to dive right into it, ignore the screams.
👍 you've got that right Robert. I have to do the same when ever I start on a larger vacuform kit.
I've done a few vac kits and some conversions, did not do as well as your build. Nice work.
Thank you Robert @roofrat!