When I held in my hands the resin kit of the Yakovlev Air-7 I couldn’t believe
my eyes.
The beauty of the chosen subject, the flawless and well executed parts,
the degree of detail, all were superlative.
The maker of the kit, Matias
Hagen from
Argentina
, is a very meticulous and talented craftsman and artist.
The images attached may give
you an idea of the beauty of the parts, crisp and clean. Resin is a media that
naturally allows for high levels of detail, and on the other hand requires a
different approach than your usual injected styrene kit. A minimum and easy
cleanup of the parts (in this kit), the use of a mask when you sand and
carefully applied superglue is the way to go here.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The kit comes in a
sturdy and handsome box that includes the resin parts, vacuformed
transparencies and instructions. No decals are included since none are
needed for this plane. The box art is catchy. The instructions are
bilingual (Spanish and English) and include a history of the plane,
several tips and guidelines in dealing with polyester resin kits, several
very clear and detailed drawings of the step-by-step construction
sequence, a parts map, color guides, and the announce of a very welcome
second kit in the near future.
As you can see in the
images the parts are molded on a thin wafer. You have to remove them with
some care and caution in the case of the smaller parts. You have parts
here to make you very happy and achieve a truly well detailed rendition of
the original. I had some resin kits, and this is one of the best.
The plane:
The Yakovlev Air-7 was a single shot venture created in 1932 that had a
few mods done during its remarkable career. It conquered the Russian speed
record with passenger at 332 kilometers per hour in 1933. It was based on the
technical advantages of the fighter technology of the time (Polikarpov I-5) and
used the same engine, the M-22, a local interpretation of the Bristol Jupiter
VII. More about its story can be read in the kit's instructions.
The canopy, air intake and wheel pants had some changes as said before
during its lifetime.
A smart subject, a remarkable resin kit, a very fair price, what else
could you ask for?
I’ll start working and will post the full build article soon. Stay tuned.
You can reach Matias at
matihagen@gmail.com
Gabriel Stern
Click on
images below to see larger images
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