Yakovlev Yak-1b
Expert Set

Arma Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

The Yakovlev Yak-1was a World War II Soviet fighter aircraft.

Production began in early 1940. It was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings.

The Yak-1 was a manoeuvrable, fast and competitive aircraft. The composite-wooden structure made it easy to maintain, and the engine proved to be reliable. It formed an essential basis for subsequent developments from the Yakovlev bureau.

It was the founder of a family of aircraft, with some 43,000 being built.

As a reward, designer Alexander Yakovlev was awarded the Order of Lenin – the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union – a 100,000 rouble prize, plus a Zis motor car.

The improved Yak-1b featured a new bubble canopy with lowered rear fuselage, increased armor, ShKAS machine guns replaced with a single 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Berezin UBS, electrical and pneumatic firing of the weapons instead of the mechanical system, new control stick based on the Messerschmitt Bf 109 design, new gunsight, airtight fuselage, retractable tailwheel, improved engine cooling, Klimov M-105PF engine with better low-altitude performance.

The first flight of the Yak-1b (aircraft No.3560) took place in June 1942, with the type entering production in August. A total of 4,188 were built.

(Edited from Wikipedia)

Arma Hobby's 1/72 scale Yak-1b 44 parts in grey plastic, two parts in clear plastic, 17 photo-etched parts, markings for six aircraft and die-cut self adhesive masks.

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Thumbnail panels:

The grey plastic parts are all delivered on a single sprue. Moulding quality is excellent, with no flash, flaws or visible moulding imperfections on my sample.

The larger parts are moulded with a satin finish. Surface textures are just gorgeous. Panel lines, fastener heads and selected rows of rivets are very fine.

The stretched fabric effect on the fuselage is some of the best that I have seen.

The fuselage is supplied as left and right halves. The upper cowl is a separate part.

Frames and some details are moulded directly to the inside of the fuselage. These are supplemented by a plastic side console on each side with quadrants, levers and switches.

The cockpit is further supplemented with photo-etched parts for the sidewalls, instrument panel, harness straps and more. The radiator and oil cooler intake and outlet are photo-etched parts too.

With the exception of a filler cap and inspection hatch on each side, the wings are correctly featureless. The upper and lower wings are moulded as full span. The upper wings have the cockpit supports and other details including an oxygen bottle moulded in place.

A wing spar not only adds rigidity and ensure the correct dihedral, but it also acts as the rear walls for the main undercarriage bays.

The main wheels are beautifully detailed and subtly bulged. You won't need resin replacements here.

The canopy is quite clear but sadly is supplied as one part, so you won't be able to pose the sliding section open and display all that lovely cockpit detail.

Instructions are supplied in a 12 page stapled A5-sized booklet. Assembly is described over nine steps using clear diagrams.

Each of the six marking options gets a dedicated page with both side views plus upper and lower plan views.

Colour callouts are provided for Soviet paint numbers and Hataka Hobby model paint numbers. It might have been nice to have a few other widely available model paint brands too.

The kit is packed into a side-opening cardboard box. I am not a fan of side-opening boxes - access to the parts is more difficult, loose parts can easily be lost while retrieving instructions or a larger sprue, and the format is less structurally rigid, inviting the contents to be crushed when the box is inevitably at the bottom of a pile of kits. I know it is a nit-pick but I would prefer to see future Arma Hobby releases in a lid-style of box.

Marking Options

Six varied marking options are offered.

Decals are printed by Techmod. They are glossy, colours are well saturated and everything is in perfect register.

Details for the six subjects are as follows:

• Yak-1b, No. 4, 1 squadron, 1 Fighter Aviation Regiment, W/O Edward Chromy, Zadybie Stare, late 1944. Finished in two greys on the upper surface and light blue lower surfaces.

• Yak-1b, No. 13, 2 squadron, 1 Fighter Aviation Regiment, F/SGT Hugo O'Brien, Operation Berlin 1945. Finished in two greys on the upper surface and light blue lower surfaces.

• Yak-1b, No. 2, 148 IAP. Aeroplane flown by Regiment CO, Capt. Leonid Smirnov. After his death flown by Ltn. Mikhail Shkomplektov, who has mistakenly landed on German airbase in  Anapa on 11 May 1943. Finished in the early-war scheme of green and black upper surfaces over light blue lower surfaces.

• Yak-1b, in German markings. Probably in Erprobungsstelle Rechlin on Autumn 1943. German national markings and theatre markings over the early-war scheme of green and black upper surfaces over light blue lower surfaces.

• Yak-1b, No. 26, 31 GIAP, Major Boris Yeryomin , Solodovka, Stalingrad Front, December 1942. Overall grayish-blue

• Yak-1b, No. 6, GC3 Normandie, Albert Durand, Khatenki, Summer 1943. Finished in the early-war scheme of green and black upper surfaces over light blue lower surfaces with shark's mouth an a dark green squiggle on the engine cowling sides.

Two sets of stencil markings are included on the decal sheet. Remarkably, even in this small scale, the stencil lettering is fully legible under sufficient magnification.

Two sets of instrument panel overlay decals are supplied.

There are also decals for two boxes on the upper cockpit sidewalls.

This is the first time that I have seen Arma Hobby kit and I am suitably impressed.

Arma's 1/72 scale Yak-1b is very well presented - excellent surface texture, moulding quality, detail and inclusions.

I'll look forward to finding out if it as nice to build as it looks in the box!

Thanks to Arma Hobby for the sample

Review and Images Text Copyright © 2019 by Brett Green
Page Created 2 December, 2019
Last updated 2 December, 2019

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