Heller Yak-3, fictional unit, Soviet Air Force, 1943
The Subject
When I found this kit I had no idea what a Yak was. My reference library essentially was useless at the time, vaguely telling me that the Soviet Air Force, or VVS, did not really exist and was all shot down by the Luftwaffe until the US provided a bunch of Lend Lease aircraft — most of which were just the P-39 that the USAAF didn’t really want anyway. Talk about a paucity of facts!
In reality the VVS lost a lot of aircraft early in the war, most of which were obsolete or obsolescent. They had a very robust aircraft industry and were producing quite a few decent designs, even if not in sufficient quantities to stay ahead of the war of attrition that the Eastern Front had quickly become, which is where Lend Lease came in to help get ahead of the attrition as well as provide more raw materials enabling indigenous designs to be produced in quantity.
The Yakovlev Bureau produced a number of designs throughout the war, from the Yak-1 through to the Yak-9 with each having various sub variants. These designs were competitive to Luftwaffe fighters they faced, but the VVS suffered from training issues initially and the Yaks were sometimes put into service a bit too soon.
My Yak-3 is fictional, using decals from my stash because I was in the “representative” phase of my modeling — I rarely used the kit decals and preferred to mix and match markings to create a fictional but typically appearing machine. I could not read French so had no idea what colors it was supposed to be, but I did figure out that a green upper surface and a light blue lower surface was appropriate, simply because I could buy paints at the hobby store called “USSR Topside Green” and “USSR Underside Blue”. I know now these are not very accurate colors and when I make a new Yak-3 I’ll certainly use the most recent references and thinking on VVS fighter aircraft colors.
The Model
Having built this 40+ years ago, sometime around 1980-83, I remember it was a dream to construct. My typical kit to that time was Revell with an occasional Monogram, and if I was really lucky a bagged Frog or Airfix kit. I still completed construction within 48 hours, because back then I wanted to get to the paint stage. Lots of open space, no wheel wells to speak of, and a lot of space in the cockpit.
The model was fully brush painted using enamels and applied a bit thickly. I then applied the decals, which I believe are from an Esci sheet I also got from that Hobby Shop for about $1 that had a bunch of Polikarpov biplanes and monoplanes on it in Spanish markings, as well as a couple of VVS markings. I’d never heard of the Normandie Niemann unit and the kit markings meant nothing to me. After decals were applied I sprayed a thick coat of Dull Cote and the next day after the model had dried I stuck the canopy on. Done and dusted.
Summary
This is another subject (Yak-3) I need to refresh on my shelf. Additionally, I need a Normandie Niemann subject given the importance of that unit. I’ve also learned from John Thompson that a Yak-9 is seriously needed and I hope to someday have the entire lineup of Yaks on the shelf.