Model Airplane International – September 2019

KIT BUILD

50 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - September 2019

not easy to get into due to their shape.

Fortunately if you don’t want to go that trouble,

you have options; Zvezda kindly provide FOD

guards which will shield the intake trunkings

from view, or you can opt to drop the variable

intake doors that serve to direct the airfl ow for

the engines from the top of the fuselage, thus

blocking off the front of the intakes (stopping

the ingestion of foreign objects by the engines,

allowing the Yak-130 to be used on roughly

prepared airstrips). I however decided to make

life much harder for myself by choosing to

show off all of the Yak-130’s idiosyncrasies,

opting for half open variables intake doors,

coupled with fully open auxiliary intake doors,

meaning the entire length of the intake

trunkings can be seen. from any angle.

With the intakes complete, my attention

swiftly moved to the main landing gear bay

which is exceptionally detailed straight out of

the box. This was painted with Tamiya XF-23

Light Blue overall prior to construction, then

the details picked out prior to fi tment to the

intake trunks.

It is at this point that test fi tting of parts

becomes your main priority as any errors

here can have potentially catastrophic

consequences further down the line.

Fortunately, the fi t of the parts is excellent, with

hardly, if any adjustments being needed. The

onus here is fi rmly on the builder to ensure

they go in the correct place, correctly aligned,

which is why this kit is not for the novice

builder. Test fi t numerous times, glue once,

should now be your mantra!

The two completed intake trunks were

then bought together, adding one small tab,

made from a piece of scrap plastic between

the compressor faces, just to ensure perfect

alignment.

The instructions would have you attach

the main landing gear at this point, but I was

able to leave them off as it was my intention

to show all the doors for this bay in the fully

opened position. Be aware though, that should

you intend to show the aircraft in its normal

state, with most of these doors closed, you will

have to fi t the main gear legs at this point.

Moving On

It was only now that I turned my attention

The decal sheet is comprehensive, highly detailed and perfectly

printed.

Box art for Zvezda’s superb Yak-130.

The parts are well moulded and the runners sensibly laid out. Engine fan detail. Precious few stones have been left unturned

when it come to detail within this kit.

Finer details show off for the camera. It’s great to see pilot fi gures being included in kits once more... Close up of one of the pilot fi gures. Detail is superb.

The fuselage is broken down in a less-than conventional way!