Yakovlev Yak-3 - the USSR fighter

The Yakovlev Yak-3 design is recognized by most historians, interested in aviation history, as the best fighter of the USSR during World War II. It was the result of further development of the good Yak-1 fighter. This development was aimed at increasing speed, improving altitude characteristics and increasing maneuverability. These goals were achieved by improving aerodynamic shapes (removing all possible protruding elements), smoothing surfaces and reducing the weight of the glider itself. The air intakes of the oil radiators are located at the leading edge of the wing-fuselage joint, the tail wheel is retractable, the windshield is stamped from a single sheet of plexiglass, the wing span is also reduced, a number of structural details have been changed: the engine mounting frame is made integral with the fuselage frame, the wooden wing longerones have been replaced with duralumin ones. Thanks to these changes, the mass of the aircraft has decreased by 200 kg. The first Yak-3s appeared on the battlefield in the summer of 1943 during the Battle of Kursk. They were so much better, than the German Bf-109G-2 fighter, used at that time by the German pilots, were ordered to avoid fighting fighters, that did not have a radiator under the engine (the main external difference from the Yak-1). Soviet pilots achieved a number of victories, fighting with these fighters. For example: A. Yershov shot down 10 enemy aircraft during six air battles. The famous French squadron "Normandy - Neman", created in the USSR, also fought with the Yak-3. A total of 4,848 Yak-3 fighters of various versions were produced over 4 years of production. The last test copies of this fighter with VK-108 engines reached a speed of 740 km/h. Yak-3 fighters were also flown by the Polish Air Force, which was created as part of the USSR Army. On May 1, 1945, they had 16 fighters of this type, which, after the war, remained in Poland and for some time were the best fighters of the Polish AF

A simple, well-designed and moderately detailed model for modelers of any experience. Even a complete beginner can assemble it perfectly, if he works under the supervision of a more experienced colleague, makes the cabin's canopy opaque, retracted landing gear, does not detail the cockpit equipment. All this is worth doing, but as a test: maybe You will succeed... There are no color reserves, both - the textual (in Polish) and graphical instructions are average, not very large, but quite informative, only the graphic one is difficult to read. The model depicts a machine, painted in one of the typical camouflage patterns of the USSR AF during World War II.