Monsieur Yak

Historical Background

In 1941, the Yakovlev Design Bureau presented their I-30 proposal as an alternative to the Yak-1 fighter. It was to be powered by a Klimov M-105P producing 1,050hp and armed with three 20mm ShVAK cannons and two 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns. Construction was all-metal although the second prototype had a wooden wing. Operation Barbarossa however caused the project to be abandoned in fall 1941. In 1943, Yakovlev designed the Yak-1M which was a smaller, lighter variant of the Yak-1. The second -1M prototype had plywood instead of fabric covering of the rear fuselage, mastless radio aerial, reflector gunsight and improved engine cooling and armour. Yakovlev's test pilot was so impressed with its the aircraft's performance that he recommended that it should completely replace Yak-1 and Yak-7 in service, leaving only the Yak-9 to proceed. The new aircraft, now designated Yak-3 entered service in 1944, later than the Yak-9 despite the lower designation number. Armament was however reduced to a single 20mm ShVAK firing through the engine crankshaft and a single (after the 196th aircraft, two) 12.7mm Berezin UBS machine guns in the upper fuselage.

Powered by the same engine as the Yak-9 (1,300hp VK-105PF), the smaller Yak was a successful dogfighter - agile and easy to maintain. In the Eastern Front it excelled in low- to medium-altitude combat resulting in a Luftwaffe order that 'Pilots should avoid combat below 5,000 meters with Yakovlev fighters lacking an oil cooler intake beneath the nose' (Yak-3's distinctive recognition feature is it's oil cooler intakes are inside the wing roots).

One of the units operating the Yak-3 was the Free French Normandie-Niemen Regiment. Charles de Gaulle, the Free French Forces leader felt that French servicemen should serve in all fronts during World War 2 and on 1 September 1942, de Gaulle announced that the Groupe de Chasse (GC) 3 Normandie was to be sent to the Soviet Union. After the training period, the Groupe was declared operational on 22 March 1943.  They gave good account of themselves and became the focus of Soviet propaganda, so much so that Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel announced that any captured French pilots will be executed. In 1944, the Groupe was expanded into a Regiment. During the campaign around Dubrovka, Josef Stalin ordered the regiment to style itself Normandie-Niemen in recognition of its participation in liberating the Niemen River area. The Regiment fought all the way to East Prussia where it ended the war. The pilots, along with 37 of their Yak-3s (offered by the Soviets as their token of appreciation) returned to a heroes' welcome at Paris on 20 June 1945. The regiment claimed 273 enemy aircraft shot down and lost 87. Four of the pilots - Marcel Albert, Marcel Lefevre, Jacques Andre and Roland de la Poype were made Hero of The Soviet Union.

The Kit

This kit is a reboxing of Eduard's original Yak-3 (catalogue number 8028) in the 90s. While kit no. 8028 is a 'Profipack' (base kit plus PE, resin wheels and canopy masks) release, the Normandie-Niemen kit (catalogue number 8029) has just the plastic parts which came in two grey and one clear sprues. Or maybe one can say that it was the 90s equivalent of Eduard's own 'Weekend Edition' kits (but with more decal options). Moulding of the parts is very good with no flash. There is not much surface detail, after all the real thing was mainly wood - so no panel lines. There is no external stores either as the Yak was almost exclusively a dogfighter. Decals are provided for four machines. Also included is a small errata sheet.

Construction

Naturally, I started with the cockpit. Construction was a breeze as (i) Russian WW2 cockpit was a spartan affair and (ii) parts rendered in PE are now unavailable. The sidewalls and floor were painted Tamiya XF-22 RLM Grey with details picked in white, black and dark grey.  The fuselage halves were then mated together, followed by the wing assembly. The fit was very good although the same cannot be said of the tailplanes. The engine upper cowling was also attached - also not a good fit, resulting in an overhang on the right side. Before attaching the canopy, I glued the gunsight mount, the gunsight and the armoured glass. I then painted the wheel wells Tamiya XF-22 but left the landing gear assembly until later. Before painting commenced, I masked the canopy and the wheel wells.

Painting and Decaling

All the the painting options have the same colours (albeit of differing patterns) : AMT-11 and AMT-12 Greys and AMT-7 Blue. I painted the greys using Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey and XF-54 Dark Sea Grey. The blue was a bit problematic; in a previous built, I used a mixture of Tamiya X-14 Sky Blue and XF-1 Flat White. I have run out of X-14 and have to look for a suitable, or at least, the closest match. I eventually settled on Tamiya XF-23 Light Blue. The propeller spinner was painted the French tricolore using XF-7 Flat Red, XF-2 Flat White and a heavily lightened XF-8 Blue.

Eduard provided markings for the following planes:
- White 5, Lt. Roger Sauvage, Eastern Prussia Late 1944
- Yellow 40, Lt. Maurice Armager, Eastern Prussia late 1944
- Double circle, Col. Louis Delfino, CO Normandie-Niemen East Prussia Early 1945
- White 12, Armee de l'Air, Late 1945

I chose the markings for Lt Sauvage's plane. The decals are nicely thin but translucent, especially the arrows causing the colour demarcation line to show up underneath them. They are however quite fragile - the portside arrow broke when I moved them but I managed to patch it back. Finally Mr Mark Softer was applied to all the decals. The fiddly bits were then attached and the model was coated with Flat Clear.

Conclusion

This was my first Eduard kit and I was quite pleased with the experience although the overall finesse was lost with the deletion of the PE parts. It was easy to build anyway and I was hoping to build more kits from this company, especially their Bf 110 and Hawker Tempest kits.