1:72 Yakovlev Yak-11 Soviet trainong aircraft - movie actor

The real subject

The Yakovlev Yak-11 is a single-engine trainer of Soviet design that came about shortly after the Second World War from the proven line of Yakovlev fighters. It has a two-seat cockpit with the seats in tandem, a radial piston engine and retractable landing gear with a tailwheel. It served mainly to convert pilots onto fighter equipment and, besides the Soviet Air Force, it was used by a whole range of other air arms. In Czechoslovakia it was built under license as the C-11, and surviving machines still fly today in the hands of private owners.

What the set contains

The kit is supplied unassembled and unpainted. The number of parts, the extent of the decal sheet and the range of marking options are in the instructions enclosed in the package, and you should follow them during the build as well.

Building and painting tips

It pays to work from the cockpit outward, because once the fuselage is closed you will no longer get inside it.

• Wash and degrease the parts before painting; the paint then holds considerably better.
• Dry-fit the parts before gluing and sand the seams as needed.
• Mask the cockpit glazing before spraying and take the mask off only once the paint has dried.
• Apply the decals, if they are in the package, onto a smooth gloss base.
• Glue the landing gear legs at the end of the build; they break off easily.

Who it is for

The set will please modelers who collect trainers and school machines of the postwar period or who build Eastern Bloc equipment in a small scale. Paints, glue, putty and other accessories are not part of the delivery, unless stated otherwise.