Yak-26 "Firedrake"

[JayBee]

The Yak-26 "Firedrake" was the Soviet Union's response to the high altitude overflights by western reconnaissance aircraft.
Essentially it was a fighter development of the Yak-25/26 "Mandrake".
To keep the aircrafts weight down, and therefore not compromise it's height capability, it was not radar equipped but relied on the aircraft's optical sensors and ground based radar interception.
It was equipped with IR seeking missiles. Two medium range AA-10 Alamo D and two short range AA-11 Archer missiles.
There are no records of any successful kills, but certain sources believe that the famous downing of Garry Powers U-2 was achieved by one of these aircraft and not by SA-2 missiles as is generally believed.


The basis for this build is the A Model Yak-25 Mandrake.

Right at the beginning of the build a problem has arisen with the kit, the wings. The upper and lower surfaces do not fit together very well in that there are serious gaps between the upper and lower surfaces at the leading edge and trailing edge.









I have already decided how I am going to tackle this. This is not to be a model to serious competition standard, in fact it is a WhatIf, so I am just going to squidge some filler into the gaps, tidy them up a bit, and Hey Presto!

[Dizzyfugu]

That's the right spririt! 

[kerick]

Is there something protruding up like a mold defect? Doesn't take much of a high spot to produce a gap.

[PR19_Kit]

If JayBee's Mandrake is anything like mine the wing moulding itself is warped chordwise and convexly, so the LE and TE have no chance of meeting each other.

I never finished mine (Wow, what a surprise....) but I think I did the 'hot water and bending' trick to sort it out. A Model's styrene seems quite amenable to such treatment I'm pleased to say.

[Librarian]

Hope this works out as this family of aircraft are absolutely up there within the all-time faves...been waiting yonks for the Bobcat Models 1/48 Yak-28P That will be a definite 'real' build for me.

Kudos for picking up an A Model kit...good luck

[JayBee]

For Kit's benefit the wings in my model are pretty straight. It is just the design of the mould that is the cause of the problem.
If anyone wants to make an accurate model of a Mandrake they have quite a job on their hands.

I also forgot to say that Firedrake is a medieval name for a fire breathing dragon, Rather appropriate I think.

Jim

[PR19_Kit]

I've just noticed the wing in the background of your pics Jim the ones with the characteristic aileron linkage bulge. 

These MB5s are becoming ubiquitous. 

[Snowtrooper]

It was equipped with IR seeking missiles. Two medium range AA-10 Alamo D and two short range AA-11 Archer missiles.
There are no records of any successful kills, but certain sources believe that the famous downing of Garry Powers U-2 was achieved by one of these aircraft and not by SA-2 missiles as is generally believed.

So it came with a time machine too, or missile technology in your timeline advanced much faster than airplane design? At the time of the Powers incident (1960), the only Soviet AAM's in service were AA-1 Alkali (K-5),  AA-2 Atoll (K-13), and AA-3 Anab (R-8) - granted, the short-range AA-2 was IR homing (being a copy of Sidewinder B) and the medium-range AA-3 had a choice between IR and SARH seekers. AA-10 and AA-11 however are several generations newer 80's missiles...

Of course, in the real modelling world, the whiffery might be limited by what things you have available to put under the wings

[zenrat]

A Model plastic is also quite soft IM(limited)E.

[JayBee]

The Wing LE's and TE's have now been filled prior to PSR. For this I used Vallejo acrylic filler which comes in a tube with a wonderfully thin nozzle for applying.
Also being Acrylic it is water soluble so a damp finger can be used to smooth it a bit. In this case I just licked my finger. You should be able to tell which bit I did that way and which I have left for normal PSR.
The licked finger method is good but you do have quite a time of it cleaning your finger afterwords!

[Captain Canada]

Firedrake sounds like a Bob Seger song

[JayBee]

OK Firedrake is actually a medieval name for a fire breathing dragon.

[TheChronicOne]

Nice....  this is a great idea. 

[JayBee]

Kudos for picking up an A Model kit...good luck

Well I have built a couple of A Model kits before but they were 1/144 scale and gave me no real problems.

However I am becoming well and truly hacked off with this kit.
All praise to A Model for giving us a Mandrake, I have wanted one for so many years, but..................

The wings are now looking fair and after rather a lot of work the engine nacelles are on them. Oh there is more PSR yet to be done.

I have been working on the next stage of the instructions, the interior bits. These are the Cockpit and forward wheel bay and the main wheel bay.
To use the old saying they fit where they touch.
Unfortunately they do not touch in that many places! 
Also where you have two opposite parts i.e. left and right, they do not match, in other words they are not the same shape  .

So then I thought I would calm myself by dry fitting the tailplane. This fits into a slot in the fin, which is moulded in one piece with the port/left fuselage half. Clean out the moulding in the slot with a nice sharp No. 10A blade and push in the tailplane.
CRACK!
The top of the fin has almost completely broken off.
I am not getting hacked off with this kit, I am getting thoroughly P155ed of with it.



Jim

[PR19_Kit]

'Standard A Model-it-is' in my experience Jim, I feel your pain. 

My Mandrake kit is a Broplan vacform which fits together quite well, and if they can do it for a vacform how come A Model can't make a better fit with proper tooling?