FG Yak-3 recolor

[rockpaperscissor]

I was poking around in my Fiddlers Green files, and I noticed that their Yak-3 has only 1 model in the "versions" folder - the black and white drawing. I was looking for something to recolor, so this model fit the bill perfectly. From the Wings Palette site, I chose the Yak-3 flown by General Zakharov, commander of the 303rd Fighter Division. Besides being a really cool looking airplane, the illustration had both side and top views, which will help with the camo. I adjusted the scale to 1/72 at printing. I've gotten a little ahead of the thread photos, but haven't had the opportunity to take any more pictures. I'm not happy with the way the canopy looks, so I'm playing around with its profile now.

Cool crest - the Soviet version of St George slaying the dragon

The wing halves join up at the leading edge. I cut off the tabs and glued in paper Q-tip shafts to form a rounded leading edge.

The kit wing fairings were way too short. These have been lengthened to fit. The shape is complicated due to the root scoop, so I cut them into 2 pieces for ease of assembly.

Top view showing the camo pattern.

 

[Zathros]

I thought, wow, where did he get a Yak model from!?!

 

[micahrogers]

very nice so far...

 

[MilanX3]

Great model! You scaled it up to 1:72 from 1:144 I assume? That really gets the colour and emblems to show nicely with enough detail to make it look more realistic. Wonderful kit indeed!

 

[rockpaperscissor]

Thank you for your kind replies. I feel a little silly, though. My Yak-3 file from Fiddler's Green has been on my computer for probably 4 years. At the time I downloaded it, the only additional livery offered in the Versions folder was the B&W. This past weekend, I downloaded the file again from FG to my work laptop, and was surprised to see that in the intervening years, a new livery called "Camo" had been added to the Versions folder. Guess which livery it was? The exact same airplane that I spent time coloring. D'oh! Pretty nice job, too. My recolor has repaired some problems with the original kit (stretched wing fairings to fit, reshaped/resized canopy), but since the folder already has the same airplane, I won't be submitting mine to FG after all. Since my last post, the model has been completed, and I'll have photos up soon. Bummer.