Scale Aviation Modeller International – April 2019

YAK-9

First look at Silver Wings 1/32 YAK-9 by James Cann

S

ilver wings have been

producing a wide range

of boutique resin and

photo etch limited run kits

since 2008, with a selection

of unique kits in 1/72 and

1/48 but most of their range

are in the larger 1/32 scale.

Silver Wings focus on esoteric

and interesting subjects that

aren’t usually covered by

traditional kit manufactures

which is great for modellers

who like to do something a

little out of the ordinary.

Their latest release multi

media kit is the Yakovlev

YAK-9 M/T in 1/32. The kit is

supplied in a very compact box

with plenty of bubble wrap to

protect the resin parts. The kit

contains 90 resin parts, 4 ilm

parts for the instrument panel,

70 photo etched parts and 3

brass parts.. There are 7 decal

schemes supplied, 6 of these are

in the standard Soviet late war

AMT-11 blue grey AMT-12 dark

grey and AMT-7 greyish blue

while the last option is in the

earlier AMT-4 Dark green, Night

Black and AMT-7 greyish blue.

No paint manufacturer colours

are called out but a nice addition

is a printed colour swatch. The

decals are well printed with

no registration issues and the

stencilling is legible and inely

printed. The fuselage artwork

for some of the schemes is

supplied in 2 parts, a white decal

in the shape of the artwork,

and a full colour decal to place

over the top to maintain colour

strength. The instructions look

a little more challenging than

usual due to the lack of parts call

outs, only the ilm and photo

etch parts are numbered so care

must be taken in identifying

the parts before committing

any glue. The instructions can

be a bit unclear at times but

with some careful studying

and test itting construction

should be straightforward.

The resin parts came in a few

polybags, sorted by size with the

usual casting blocks attached to

the parts. The fuselage halves

came loose in the box and have

no noticeable casting blocks

and have some inely moulded

interior detail. All of the resin

parts are nicely detailed with

very little bubbling on the

visible surfaces and no warping.

There is a little lash in some

areas but this is to be expected,

but will only take a little efort to

clean up. The detail is where this

kit really shines, the cockpit is

supplied with a full framework

and a very nice seat, which

includes etched brass seatbelts.

The instrument panel

is supplied in etched brass

and ilm afair with the dials

printed on ilm which is then

sandwiched between 2 photo

etched pieces.(Do not forget

to paint the rear of the ilm

white to make the dials pop

out ED) The textures on the

exterior of the aircraft are

equally nice, with some reined

fabric texture on the rear of

the fuselage and some decent

rivet detailing around the metal

panels. The wheel wells are

moulded into the underside

of the fuselage and 1 piece

wings, which are suitably deep

and again nicely detailed. All

of the movable surfaces

are moulded separately

so they can be positioned

as the builder wishes. The

resin cockpit glazing will

need a little polishing but is

otherwise blemish free.

To top of the package the

kit comes with a fantastically

sculpted standing pilot

in 2 pieces to place with

your inished model.

CONCLUSION

The fuselage halves measure

up nicely to my references and

the wings are the right shape,

something that you expect

from a £100+ kit. Coupled with

the detail on tap this is the

ultimate yak 9 M/T kit in 1/32

highly recommended for the

hard-core soviet aviation fans.

This kit has illed a historically

essential gap left in the market

by mainstream manufacturers.

Being a resin kit I would

recommend it to those with

a few kits under their belts, it

would make a great irst resin

kit due to the low parts count

and I’m thoroughly looking

forward to getting stuck in.

48 APRIL 2019 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

FIRST LOOK