Hobby Boss Yakolev Yak-3 Build in 1/72 Scale

The Hobby Boss “Soviet Yak-3” is a 2005 release in their easy assembly line. I was initially dismissive of this range of kits, but while they do present some compromises they are fun to build and come out better than you might expect.

Hobby Boss packs their kits in a vacuformed tray to prevent breakage and the design of the kit itself is unusually robust. The fuselage and the wing are molded as single pieces, how they manage to do this without shrinkage or sinkholes is something other manufacturers should study. Glue these two pieces together and major assembly is complete with minimal seams.

The limitation of this engineering method is the lack of detail in the cockpit. There is no sidewall detail, and the instrument panel is incorporated into a single bulkhead which goes all the way to the floor. What interior parts are provided glue directly onto the wing piece.

The kit provides a single piece closed canopy, but the canopy is well-molded and clear so the interior will be visible to some degree. I added some basic details to the side walls and other places, and trimmed out the excessive forward bulkhead. This doesn’t take long and will really go a long way to address the barren cockpit.

The cockpit painted up and with a set of 3D printed belts from Metallic Details in place. This is not a super detail job, but should be enough to make the cockpit look right through the canopy.

Major assembly is a breeze. I used a little putty along the wing root and lower fuselage, but as this was the only seam clean-up was easy. I went ahead and added the landing gear before painting as these will be the same color as the underside. I have drilled out the gear down indicator positions on the upper wings as well as the gun troughs. Wheels are some better detailed parts from the spares box.

The canopy mating surfaces were marked with a black Sharpie to eliminate glare. The canopy was masked the old-fashioned way with Tamiya Tape, which is probably for the best given the simple design and compound curves.

The VVS gray scheme is really straight forward, here are the Mr. Color paints I used. The AMT-7 underside blue does not have a good match, mine is Mr. Color 34 lightened with white.

I added structural components and retraction arms for the inner gear doors from Evergreen stock. Simple to add but hard to see on the finished model, I guess you’ll just have to decide how much such things bother you.

The finished model with decals from DP Caspar. More of the cockpit interior can be seen than you might expect so I’m glad I built that out a bit. This is fun little kit and you can get to the painting stage quickly. Don’t expect a magnum opus contest build but it will look right at home on the VVS shelf in the case.