From the archives(2009)
The kit review is here:
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/ayacucho-maquetas-yakovlev-air-7-in-box.html
As stated in the In-Box article previously posted here in
ARC, the detail of the parts of this resin kit is outstanding and the
instructions are very clear.
As per photos you can see that the parts were liberated from
the casting wafer and then some further cleanup was done. Just be careful and
take a little time. Beware that the rudder has its control horns molded, and
the Pitot, given its scale finesse, will need extra care when separating it
from the wafer. The fuselage sides show
a small part of the structure close to the front cockpit that should be
carefully cleaned. The shield and base of the engine need a thin wafer removed
from their centers. There are a number of parts that are indeed just tiny rods,
and you may possibly opt for replacing them with wire of the adequate diameter,
but I separated them anyway from the backing. I didn’t break a single one in
the process, which speaks for the robustness of the casting. But, again, be
careful.
Since the kit is molded (at least for this batch) in polyester
resin, there is certain time that the parts need to fully cure once cast, as
explained in the instructions. A certain minor stickiness remained in the
bigger parts, like fuselage sides, wings, tail and wheel pants.
I lightly sprayed these components with some automotive grey
primer (I used a Rus-Oleum spray can from Home Depot). That sealed the surfaces
and allowed for a much easier handling.
Since the interior is fully depicted and very well detailed only
painting was needed here.
The dedication on the making of the parts becomes evident
when you see that the cushion, a separate part from the seat, has a teeny tiny
arrow in the back pointing the right direction for its position, since the
cushions also have some relief depicted.
Although some components (fus sides, wheel pants) are keyed
(they do have pins and correspondent tiny holes) I opted for sanding the fuselage
mating surfaces carefully flat.
The guiding pins are very useful though regarding the tail
surfaces, wings and other pieces that need alignment.
You get about 60 parts.
Construction started with the engine, cleaning the parts
with a toothbrush, gluing the intakes, painting and adding pushrods cut from
wire.
The cockpit followed, and either primed or unprimed parts
took well acrylics and enamels. The front instrument panel -which should be
attached to one fuselage side via a recess before closing the fuselage- may
need just a tad of trimming on the corners to fit perfectly. The only additions
were photoetched seat belts. Once the floor and the front instrument panel were
attached to one side of the fuselage, the other fuselage side closed it up. As
I was dry fitting first I discovered I had to sand a bit the floor for the
fuselage to close tight. Then some bracing that backs the front seat and holds
the aft instrument panel was glued. The joint was puttied and sanded. The
detail on the parts is very fine, so be cautions when gluing, puttying and
sanding, in order not to erase panel lines or minute details. The
transparencies were carefully cut, and, swipe by swipe of the sanding stick,
adjusted to their positions and left aside.
Wheel pants followed. I removed the pin that allows the
wheel to rotate, because I had once a runaway model that ended up landing –not
very graciously- on the floor. Besides it is sort of uncomfortable to paint the
wheel inside the pants or mask it. So the wheels were painted and left aside to
be glued later inside the pants after general painting (they almost touch their
bays’ roof so there is a positive locking). The pants were drilled to provide
for the rigging (you will see those tiny reinforcement plates on the pants,
that’s where you have to drill). The joint line wasn’t covered, since the
original pants were also made of two halves and had a separation line shown on
plans.
At that time the rigging holes were drilled too –with a fine
drill bit- at the fin, wings and fuselage, since I planned to use monofilament
for that task.
The wings, rudder and stabs were glued to the fuselage,
using the dihedral indicator on the plans.
A word regarding gluing: Superglue seems not to cure as fast
on polyester resin, which gives you a few more moments to adjust, but also
calls for a longer waiting time before manipulating. I believe epoxy could be
used too, sparingly of course.
The rudder was painted white and the stripes masked. An
enamel gloss black coat was then given to the model, followed by Model Master’s
non-buffing aluminum, Future, and then masking and the red coat. During this
process wheel pants, struts and the engine-related parts were kept separated.
Secondary assemblies were then glued to the mainframe,
rigging was done, and using leftover photoetched parts some extra details were
added (rigging fittings and fuel caps).
Rods were placed over the rigging where indicated.
Transparencies were cut and Future-bathed. Beware when you
trim the canopy, you may need to leave some extra material at the front, or
otherwise it may fall short. Side windows presented no problem but, as said,
they are handed, so be careful.
Once the transparencies were glued their frame was depicted
with painted decal, cut in thin strips. The last detail was the Pitot.
Although I like to leave the transparencies until everything
else is done and painted, sometimes, no matter how much you previously adjust
it, it may leave a discontinuity. In this case that was at the front, which
could have being solved if I had chosen to glue the transparencies, mask them,
and then blend them with the surroundings.
No decals for this hot rod, since the original had no marks,
which comes as a relief.
Exquisite kit of a delightful plane, a true pleasure.
Matias' blog has a link at the right of this page.
Nice job
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