Austria's Forgotten Fighter - The Yak-1

[nönöbär]

Austria's Forgotten Fighter

In 1955, alongside Yak-11 and Yak-18 trainers, Austria secretly received twelve surplus Yak-1 fighters from the Soviet Union. Rebuilt, repainted, and modernized, these veterans became the Austrian Air Force's first single-seat fighters, bridging the gap between wartime aviation and the nation's new era of neutrality.


Ok, I thought this would be a good idea for a one week GB, a simple Mistercraft kit of a Yak-1. Not too many parts, so this should work.



Well, I was wrong. This kit is just horrible. You could maybe get a more or less ok result in a one monthe GB, but in one week, this will be something very bad I fear.



My engineer has run away, sceaming about this mess.....

[Old Wombat]

I've never owned one but, from what I've read, your engineer's response is fairly normal for someone attempting a MisterCraft kit.

[Charlie_c67]

It's an old ZTS Plastyk mould. I need say no more...

[nönöbär]

Well... Mistercraft, Mastercraft, Plastyk—whatever name they use—these Polish kits all have one thing in common. They are, let's say... *challenging*. Calling them "basic" is probably being generous. They're more like a bag of plastic parts that only vaguely resemble an aircraft and don't seem to have any intention of fitting together. But they are cheap, I think this one was 3€ or so when you order it in Poland (where I get most of my model stuff now as its much cheaper than here).

Anyway, I'm not sure why my engineer has started searching the workshop for heavy tools. I could have sworn I saw her looking for a hammer. Judging by the expression on her face after inspecting the kit, she's beginning to lose hope.

Despite the kit's best efforts to resist assembly, the fuselage and wings are finally together. It took a fair amount of brute force, but we got there in the end. The Austrian flag has been painted onto the rudder, and the model is now ready for the main paint job. I'll be using a colour scheme inspired by the Austrian Yak-11 trainers.

[zenrat]

Look on the bright side.  There are no tiny parts or PE to loose and it's come together quickly.
 

[nönöbär]

Look on the bright side.  There are no tiny parts or PE to loose and it's come together quickly.
 

Quickly is very relative. it took a lot of attempts to put it together. It was close of flying out of the window..... I fear, the result will not be so nice

[Dizzyfugu]

Oh, I like that idea! 

[nönöbär]

I'm honestly a bit confused by the instructions. The part numbers in the manual don't match the numbers on the sprues, several parts look completely different from the drawings, and some parts shown in the instructions don't seem to exist at all. They're not missing from the sprue—they're not even listed on the sprue map.

At this point my engineer has given up trying to make sense of it and is busy banging her head against the nearest wall. 

[Dizzyfugu]

What do you expect from a MisterCraft kit? Usually, the decals in the box do not match the painting instructions, either! 

[PR19_Kit]

Sometimes the contents of the boxes have NOTHING to do with the box art either! 

[kerick]

Are these kits design, manufactured and boxed by very small children?

[Charlie_c67]

The upside is, generally their decals are quite high quality. Have heard of the kits being bought solely for them and the rest being discarded!

[nönöbär]

The upside is, generally their decals are quite high quality. Have heard of the kits being bought solely for them and the rest being discarded!

The declas look ok, but I need different ones anyeway. But maybe I can use them on other models.