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Review: KEP Models 1/32 Yak-6


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I just got this little beauty in my hot little hands today, all the way from Russia via an intermediary from Romania I believe. I was able to order directly from KEP Models, and it took about three weeks to get here. Let's see what's in the box.

 

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Oodles and oodles of darker grey printed resin, and it is absolutely beautifully cast. The structures that support the larger pieces are quite impressive:

 

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The fuselage is molded into four main pieces; two tail halves with the horizontals already attached, and two almost complete fuselage halves.

 

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The fuselage and tail interiors have locating pins, which is a nice touch. They are quite large, and the  fit is very tight. What's tricky is the break between the tail and the fuselage coes along side some beautifully cast stretched fabric, so care will be needed to maintain the texture and hide the seams.

 

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The interior is fairly basic, but the structure provided on the walls in the cockpit is very nice. Some bulkhead pieces are included as well, which are quite nice. But here's a real gem for the interior, the instrument panel with attached throttle quadrant, complete with some very delicate and detailed levers.

 

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Wings are each one-piece affairs, and they too have some nice molding on them with some subtle oil-canning:

 

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Engine nacelles are also molded as one piece:

 

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Speaking of the engine nacelles, the engines are absolutely exquisite. They feature some very fine details, especially on the crank case and piston heads:

 

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The most important piece not to get damaged was the canopy, and I was fortunate there:

 

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Two vacform canopies are included. Here we also see landing lights, and a sheet of protected acetate to make the side windows, complete with a sticker designed so you can cut out the windows from the sheet.

 

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The other stabilizer is loose in the box, along with some other small bits. Speaking of bits...

 

Check out this fancy tail wheel, all one-piece:

 

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Other small bits included the landing gear pieces, optional skis, landing gear doors (not pictured, were lose in the box), and a really nicely molded machine gun for the top of the fuselage.

 

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Props, flaps, and bombs round out the bits:

 

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The bombs are beautifully cast as single pieces with separate bomb shackles.

 

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Decals are included for one option, with a color profile to aid in painting it properly.

 

Instructions are two sheets, with clear pictures of the assembly sequence so that you don't have to worry about reading the Cyrillic. 

 

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In it's trip from Russia, I only had one broken piece, which is a big surprise considering how brittle these 3D printed resin kits are:

 

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Fortunately for me, this means I get to navigate the fabric texture and a panel line three times, rather than two like the rest of you.

 

That's what comes in the box, for roughly $106US shipped. I can highly recommend this kit, and anything else that KEP produces! This is a real gem.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

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15 hours ago, TankBuster said:

Thats looks fantastic, and not a layer line to see. Cheers.

 

You know, you're absolutely right. I hadn't even thought of that, but correct, I didn't see a single layer line. It really is quite impressive.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

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Hopefully when large 3d printed parts are broken in two parts the break is generally "clean". This means that with some extra thin CA glue the repair is often invisible without need for putty and sanding. However, we are not always that lucky! I just got a badly packaged 3d printed resin part that has exploded in more than a dozen of tiny pieces ...

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1 hour ago, thierry laurent said:

Hopefully when large 3d printed parts are broken in two parts the break is generally "clean". This means that with some extra thin CA glue the repair is often invisible without need for putty and sanding. However, we are not always that lucky! I just got a badly packaged 3d printed resin part that has exploded in more than a dozen of tiny pieces ...

 

Yikes :-/ Yes, fortunately this break is very clean, and it goes back together with relative ease. It will need some work, as there's some chipping on the break so there are some slight gaps.

 

I do love this 3D printed stuff, it's quite fun, but it is a really brittle medium.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

 

 

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16 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

 

What was the ordering process like?

 

 

 

Matt 

Pretty straightforward other than that their VK page is totally in Russian, which called for the assistance of one of my employees both for translation and payment. I do not yet know which route the kits will follow but been informed that they should arrive within a month or so.

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