Valom 1/72 Yak-7B & Yak-7V
|
 |
Overview
 The
Yak-7 was a development from the two-seat variant of the Yakovlev I-26.
Made of similar construction as other Yakovlev fighters, mainly a steel
tubing fuselage with fabric sections and wood wings, the Yak-7 first flew
in 1940. During the summer months of 1941, nearly 200 Yak-7As were built.
A modification of the standard aircraft resulted in the Yak-7V, an aircraft
that featured a lightened airframe and fixed landing gear. Nearly 600
of the Yak-7V were produced.
The majority of Yak-7s produced, however, was the Yak-7B variant. Using
the more powerful Klimov M-105PF engine, over 5000 of these fighters were
produced. The first versions had a similar fuselage construction to the
Yak-7A, but later ones featured a cut-down rear fuselage deck and a bubbletop
canopy. The Yak-7 proved to be a popular aircraft within the VVS, resulting
in many interesting and colorful schemes.
The Kits
 Both
the Yak-7B and Yak-7V kits share quite a bit, with the main differences
being in the resin parts. As such, I’ll review them together and
just highlight the differences. The plastic parts are molded in a gray
plastic and feature petite detailing throughout. There is not much surface
detail on these aircraft, given their construction, but what is there
is nicely done. A handful of resin parts add detail to the cockpit and
provide other useful bits, such as rockets in the Yak-7B and the skis
for the Yak-7V. Each kit comes with both a vacuformed and an injection
molded clear canopy, leaving it up to the modeler to choose which one
to use. The small decal sheet provides two options in each kit.
 Starting
with the interior, this is a creative blend of plastic, resin, and photoetch.
This combination is probably the best solution from a cost point of view,
and the results will look quite good under the canopy. For those who like
to go to town on interiors, there is still room for improvement, but out
of the box, most will be quite happy. The Yak-7B has just the front office,
while the Yak-V has both the front and rear cockpits provided. Interestingly,
the fuselage halves are the same between the two kits, and there is no
mention of cutting back the upper fuselage in the instructions. You will
need to do this to make the two-place canopy fit. I would recommend making
rough cuts on the halves, then doing the final cleanup and trimming once
the fuselage is together. That way you can test fit the canopy as you
go to make sure you have the proper fit.
 While
on the subject of the fuselage, the upper section to the nose is separate.
This is to allow for the different armament choices found on the Yak-7
family. For the Yak-7B, you will use the twin gun top, while the Yak-7V
has the smooth top. Other fuselage details include a separate rudder (with
an optional extended trim tab provided in photoetch) and separate exhaust
stubs. The latter need to be fitted before the fuselage goes together,
which could make painting a bit of a challenge. I would recommend painting
and detailing those exhausts before adding them to the kit, then masking
them off with liquid mask. That should protect them nicely while you finish
the rest of the model.
Once the fuselage is together, the rest of the assembly is straightforward.
The wings are in three pieces, with the one-piece lower wing having the
proper wing angle. A separate wing light cover and pitot tube are provided.
The propeller is made up of three main pieces, including a separate spinner.
The landing gear is nicely done, with resin wheels in the Yak-7B and resin
skis in the Yak-7V.
 The
decals in both kits are nicely printed and present two options per kit.
For the Yak-7V, you get white outlined stars and black outlined stars.
There are no other markings, so these two options are rather bland. The
one with white outlines is Normandie-Niemen Yak-7V seen at Tula in December
of 1943, while the black outlined stars go on an unnamed trainer unit’s
Yak-7V from the winter of 1942-43.
 The
Yak-7B kit has two aircraft from the 29 GIAP for its options. The first
is A.A. Matveyev’s White 29 from the autumn of 1943. It has the
guards badge centered on the fuselage number and has black-outlined stars.
The second aircraft is the well known White 34 from the spring of 1943.
It has a white temporary winter camouflage painted over the black and
green camouflage. It also has black outlined stars.
Conclusion
These are welcome additions to the 1/72 Soviet aviation realm, as the
Dakoplast kits are not easy to come by. Accuracy-wise, they appear to
be quite good, measuring up well to published data. If you have an interest
in building a Yak-7, these kits are well worth picking up. My thanks to
Valom for the review samples. |
|
