The Magnificent "Seven" Yak-7B from Dakoplast By Ilya Grinberg

I am sure that all 72nd scale enthusiasts and, especially VVS fans had been waited impatiently for Dakoplast long awaited release – Yak-7B from their legendary Yak series.

I would not discuss here development and operational history of the type and will move to the model itself.

My kit is moulded in dark-green plastic and came in a typical Dakoplast box. Decal sheet is for three variants and is of an excellent quality (bright colors, everything is on register). Instruction sheet is easy to read and follow (well, I never use them anyway!). The kit resembles Dakoplast’s other Yaks in terms of detailing, industry-standard fabric imitation, showing care to modelers as well as real knowledge and passion for the subject.

From the very beginning I decided to superdetail my model with Part PE set (designed for Yak-9), Moskit exhaust pipes (also for Yak-9), and Equipage rubber wheels. All of these as well as reference material were ready since the kit was announced.

Since now I had everything ready I had no reason for excuse and started modeling my long-awaited kit.

Fuselage

The fuselage halves fit very well and I started detailing the cockpit using Part PE set. The pedal bridge itself consists of seven details including pedal harnesses. When the floor and the pedals were completed I installed side panels with various handles on them. The instrument panel followed the suite and was constructed form several parts including transparent film with dials and gun recocking handle. The panel was attached to one of the fuselage sides. The seat received harnesses and the oxygen bottle was painted in blue. The fuselage halves in the cockpit area were painted in gray to represent AE-14 interior color, washed, and drybrushed. As I mentioned, I decided to use Moskit exhaust stacks designed for Yak-9. However, they have double-pipes in the middle, which were removed easily by bending them several times. The stacks were fitted from the inside and some plastic was removed there to provide an easy fit. To save exhaust stacks from paint and varnishes I decided to install them at the very end of assembly and finishing process. To facilitate this I removed the front wall were the spinner is mounted. The fuselage halves were glued together with minimal amount of sanding and polishing. Small intake openings on the sides were drilled, although they are very well represented anyway. I also drilled the ports for machine guns and represented their barrels by fine tubing (well, these are not the barrels, actually. There are the pipes through which the ba

Wings

I attached the lower wing to the fuselage and realized that this is the area, which differs from absolutely stellar fit of the Yak-9 models. Some careful sanding and dryfitting is necessary, especially in the area of the wing trailing edge to fuselage junction. Some cleaning of the supercharger intakes in the wing roots was also done. The upper wing parts were fitted after that and some inserts were necessary to complete this subassembly. From my conversations with the owner of Dakoplast this resulted from the manufacturing flaw, which was somewhat improved but to eliminate it completely would require indefinite delays. I strongly believe that correcting the fit is not a big deal for most modelers and we all were starving for the new Yak, weren't we?

The wheel wells were boxed with a thin styrene (I use plastic lids from McDonald's cups - they are thin, flexible, and free!). I also imitated navigation lights from the sprue of CMK's navigation lights set. Actual lights from this set are of completely different design. As a matter of fact this colored resin is very easy to attach, send to shape, and polish.

Further Assembly

It was the right time to install radiators. I thinned their walls and inserted their matrices from the Part PE set. Radiators were attached to their respective places. The horizontal stabilizer was installed next as well as the rudder. A bit of filling in this area was required for a clean look.
I decided not to install the kit's aft canopy part and opted for the vacuumform replacement from the Falcon set. Some trimming was necessary to fit it. This part can be also easily formed from thin clear plastic. The aft canopy and the front canopy were dipped in Future and received this charming shiny and transparent look. After installing the gunsight the canopy sections were attached to the fuselage and masked.

Painting, Finishing, and Final Assembly

The model was cleaned (I use isopropyl alcohol for this purpose) and primed. Decideing on the painting scheme was another challenge. Decal variants provided interesting and appealing choices. My first choice was the whitewashed Red 65 displayed on the box. I painted my model in base green color and overspayed with white. Red stripes where added to the fin. However something bothered me. Available photographs showed only the back of the airplane. I had no clue how weathered was the aircraft in the engine area. Moreover, I had no evidence if it was Yak-7B or Yak-7A. The paint was stripped and another scheme was applied for White 1 "Death for death!". I used Gunze green (FS 34102) as closely resembling AMT-4 green. AMT-6 black was imitated by black-green Polyscale paint to account for scale effect. Unfortunately it looks too green on the photograph but is much closer to scale black in reality.
The model received a shower of Future and the panel lines were blackwashed. After thorough drying the decals were applied. They went flawlessly and deserve high regards for their quality and ability to take Solvaset. The model received a flat coat and I removed the masking tape from the canopy.
Moskit exhaust stacks were inserted through the opening in the front fuselage. The prop-spinner subassembly was attached with the gun barrel substituted by the fine tubing.

The landing gear was assembled with Equipage wheels and the tailwheel and wheel wells doors were made from the Part PE set. The sliding canopy was made from the PE frame included in the Part set and supplemented with transparent film.

Conclusion

The result of my work is very satisfying despite more fitting problems in the wing-to fuselage area comparing with Yak-9 kits. As of today (and I am sure that would last indefinitely) Yak-7B (as well as Yak-9 models) by Dakoplast are the best in the world in this scale and win 2 to 1 (or maybe 20 to 1?) over their larger counterparts by ICM.
I am getting ready for the Dakoplast next release (my hands are itching badly!) - Yak-1 (as a matter of fact an attentive observer will find that clear parts of the Yak-7B kit include aft windows for Yak-1 and share the front and sliding canopy with it).

My thanks to Dakoplast for the review sample.