Iain

Thank you Richard, Kev, Iain, Jaro and Mike.
 
Well, the Yak 9 is almost finished.
I gave the whole model a coat of gloss varnish.
I did some very “light” chipping on the wing roots and fuselage.
The photos show a plane with little wear and I tried to reproduce this.
The same goes for the engine exhaust stains, which are barely visible.
At first I wanted to show the aluminum paint, but I changed my mind and settled for a chipping with light gray pencils for all the upper parts of the plane.
The photos were taken during the summer of 1944, and I preferred to reproduce a general dusting with light brown wash in the structural lines and on the parts of the plane in contact with the mechanics and pilots.
After weathering, I fixed these effects with 2 different varnishes to respect and highlight the Yak's multi-material construction:
-the metal parts of the aircraft (spinner/engine section down to the cockpit, the fixed part of the vertical stab and horizontal stab, central part of the underside of the wing, 3 hatches on the aft fuselage) with a semi-matt varnish.
-wood and canvas parts (all control surfaces, top of wings, underside of wings, rear fuselage) with matt varnish.
 
The overall effect is convincing, even if it's difficult to see on the photos. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Oooh - almost ready to close up the fuselage - a BiG step forward...
 
The Sutton Harness is by Airscale - ignore the 'jaunty' strap angles - they'll all be fixed later on.
 

 
I could add more detail - but I think she'll look fine with the fuselage joined and canopy sections on...
 

 

 

 
Can you read the instruments? Each is separately glazed and they really 'pop' when you get the angle right.
 

 
And then it will all be closed up!
 

 

 
I partly agreed to take this on as a bit of a 'straight kit' MoJo restorer - it's not quite straight kit, but it does appear to be restoring some MoJo.
 
More later in the week. Perhaps...
 
Iain

Control column assembled and painted - and some subtle paint wear/grime added:
 

 
Loosely placed in the starboard fuselage half - starting to look OK I think...
 

 
Seat section dry fitted - waited until the harness was done so I could fit the lap straps...
 

 

 

 
As I mentioned - have made more progress and will try and get some photos later.
 
With regard to change of scheme: we were thinking of doing Pierre Clostermann's airframe - but my client would prefer to have ML407 (the 'Grace Spitfire') in her wartime scheme, to go with the two-seater I built a few years back. A good pairing IMHO! 
 
Now - I think I'm going to have to make some assumptions on this aeroplane around D-Day...
 
From what I can ascertain so far, ML407 was built as a Mk.IX with a 'c' wing - but that was modified to 'e' spec fairly early on.
'e' wing modification - with outer machine gun openings in the leading edge retained - even though weapons removed Outer gun access panels still on the underside, or plated over? Bomb racks - option? Front oleo scissor/torque links (fitted to many airframes from '43?) Cut out in undercarriage opening to go with above Later, 'square cut' tailplane 'early' rudder, rather than pointed type 4-slot mainwheel hubs Still researching what mods I need to make - Spit nines are a bit of a minefield when it comes to details as there was so much variation! 
 
Back soon, blue skies!
 
Iain
 
 
 
 
 

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Here's mine after I went to town on it replacing engines, relocating wings, adding and subtracting parts and basically spending a lot of time and money.

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Oooh - almost ready to close up the fuselage - a BiG step forward...
 
The Sutton Harness is by Airscale - ignore the 'jaunty' strap angles - they'll all be fixed later on.
 

 
I could add more detail - but I think she'll look fine with the fuselage joined and canopy sections on...
 

 

 

 
Can you read the instruments? Each is separately glazed and they really 'pop' when you get the angle right.
 

 
And then it will all be closed up!
 

 

 
I partly agreed to take this on as a bit of a 'straight kit' MoJo restorer - it's not quite straight kit, but it does appear to be restoring some MoJo.
 
More later in the week. Perhaps...
 
Iain

A small update.
Btw, one of the trumpy's main landing gear legs broke meaninglessly. I have to slow down until the spare part arrives.
 
Tamiya's flaps are ready

 



 
 

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

A little progress over the last week - a mix of Airfix kit, Airscale and Quinta.
 
Photos have flagged up a few things I need to improve - but bear in mind most of these images will be showing at larger than life-size.
 

 

 

 

 
And with the seat section dry-fitted.
 

 
Now working on the seat - and the next two formers (partially drilled out).
 

 
Blue skies...
 
Iain
 
 
 

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Oooh - almost ready to close up the fuselage - a BiG step forward...
 
The Sutton Harness is by Airscale - ignore the 'jaunty' strap angles - they'll all be fixed later on.
 

 
I could add more detail - but I think she'll look fine with the fuselage joined and canopy sections on...
 

 

 

 
Can you read the instruments? Each is separately glazed and they really 'pop' when you get the angle right.
 

 
And then it will all be closed up!
 

 

 
I partly agreed to take this on as a bit of a 'straight kit' MoJo restorer - it's not quite straight kit, but it does appear to be restoring some MoJo.
 
More later in the week. Perhaps...
 
Iain

I do seem to gravitate to tough builds yes
I wasn't too thrilled with the sink mark running full circumference around the Revell tail pipe. I remembered I had an ancient Hasegawa kit collecting dust in the basement so with caliper in hand I did a quick measurement and decided the Hasegawa pipes were close enough for an organ donation
The Revell part in light gray and the Hasegawa kit coming in under the knife

Thats a hand painted 410 Cougars from waaaay back
with the Hasegawa part cut off it was tried for fit to the tail pipes

 

and found to be fairly close, enough to offer some optimism at least
and also test fitted to the airframe
which was also encouraging;

 
and that's a s far as I got tonight,
thanks for looking

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Oooh - almost ready to close up the fuselage - a BiG step forward...
 
The Sutton Harness is by Airscale - ignore the 'jaunty' strap angles - they'll all be fixed later on.
 

 
I could add more detail - but I think she'll look fine with the fuselage joined and canopy sections on...
 

 

 

 
Can you read the instruments? Each is separately glazed and they really 'pop' when you get the angle right.
 

 
And then it will all be closed up!
 

 

 
I partly agreed to take this on as a bit of a 'straight kit' MoJo restorer - it's not quite straight kit, but it does appear to be restoring some MoJo.
 
More later in the week. Perhaps...
 
Iain

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Fuselage now closed up - generally excellent fit - with just a little filler along some seams - area in front of canopy has a bit of a moulded 'step' from the slide mould tooling.
 

 

 

 
And a start made on the firewall/engine bearers/coolant pipes - fitting the latter takes some careful threading through the engine bearers!
 
The bearers are just a push fit into the firewall for now - not glued:
 

 

 
And dry fitted to the fuselage:
 

 
More later in the week - perhaps...
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Excellent work so far! Very nice looking cockpit!
 
Håkan