Yak-23 Flora repaint by MacSongLi

[Isaac]

Back in the early to mid 2000's, I purchased a whole bunch of Modelik kits ( from Poland ) and especially their entire series of Soviet early jets of Yak 15, Yak 17, Yak 17W and Yak 23. These were relatively simple models and easy to build while providing good realism compared to the real planes.

One of them, the Yak 23 was printed on silver metallic paper which presented some issues, but went OK.



Here it is



In the meantime, I gave away the Yak 17, Yak 23 as well as many more built models at our 2018 mini paper convention in Dayton, Ohio.


but, I wanted to build the Yak-23 in a more realistic natural metal scheme and with the Soviet stars instead of the Polish red and white Checkers.


so.......

I remembered that I scanned the pages back then as a back up in case I screw up the original print. As it turned out, I never had to use the scanned parts.
here is one page of the original. Notice very little surface detail:



also, I dabbled in repainting this kit as well as the Maly Modelarz version with poor results.

Original Maly version was in some sort of brown ( unrealistic )


and my feeble repaint attempt:


Our fellow modeler Gary ( aka MacSongLi ) came to the rescue and performed a superb job in fixing, enhancing and repainting the original Modelik model.

Our first attempt will be shown soon here resulted in a surface that was too light and needed to be darkened. After some tries it worked. Details will follow.


Isaac

[Isaac]

Here is the original Modelik Yak 23 cover page


and my build back in 2009




and all four built Yak jets



interesting airplane that resembles a tadpole more than a sleek jet. It was the last of the Pod and Boom jet concepts as swept winged planes like the Mig-15 and La-15 were being built by the Soviets as well as Sabres in the USA.


Isaac

[Butelczynski]

I might be mistaken but didn't Soviets paint all their jets (that left factory) with some kind of alu paint/silver dope? Every source I have seen and read has this information reproduced in one way or another.

It does make sense considering climates and conditions those Migs operated.I know Polish made Migs (LiM) were always painted,maybe not all panels and not at all times but as general rule paint was a "must have".

[Isaac]

Originally Posted by Butelczynski

I might be mistaken but didn't Soviets paint all their jets (that left factory) with some kind of alu paint/silver dope? Every source I have seen and read has this information reproduced in one way or another.

It does make sense considering climates and conditions those Migs operated.I know Polish made Migs (LiM) were always painted,maybe not all panels and not at all times but as general rule paint was a "must have".

None of the Soviet Yak 23 were painted. They were in natural metal.same in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. The Yak 15 and 17 were painted green on top. That was it. Since then they went mostly natural metal. Mig 21 started getting painted again.


Some were painted grey or metal color overall.


I'm sure there are some painted examples, but those were not common


Isaac

[hyair]

Hi Isaac - I build this model some15 years ago and the color is not correct as it is more brown
then the silver it should be . I have the same Mali model in Silver but it is not in my wish list currently.
Your model looks real good !

Yair

[MacSongLi]

Thank you Isaac. I'm not too sure about a superb repaint. I wanted to thank you for your patience, and for all of the printing, testing, feedback and support.



Gary

[Don Boose]

I enjoyed reading the back story on this model and seeing the images.

Don

[Isaac]

Originally Posted by hyair

Hi Isaac - I build this model some15 years ago and the color is not correct as it is more brown
then the silver it should be . I have the same Mali model in Silver but it is not in my wish list currently.
Your model looks real good !

Yair

Yair

This is the Maly Medelarz version you built. I too tried to modify it years ago and built 3 repaints of it that I did.

However, the subject of this repaint is from Modelik. It is a better start point for repaint and accuracy.

Stay tuned for my updates and build log here.


Thanks

Isaac

[Isaac]

Here is the original of the Modelik model. As can be seen, there is minimum surface details. No rivets and the panels are simple.


Gary then added those nice details and rendered the surfaces in metalic coloring. Here is a sample of the built version.

1st finished attempt.




Isaac

[Isaac]

Here is the Soviet subject of this repaint. Just for reference.


You can see the natural metal finish.


The Yak 23 was not a roaring success in Soviet service ( barely served 3 years ), but did serve longer with other Warsaw pact forces.

Did you know one of the Romanian Yak 23 that defected in Europe was flown to the USA Wright field in Dayton and evaluated ?

from Wikipedia :
" A single Yak-23 was acquired by US intelligence via Yugoslavia in November 1953. The aircraft was a Romanian Yak-23 flown by Mihail Diaconu who had defected with it. The aircraft arrived disassembled and was shipped to the U.S. Air Force Test and Evaluation Center at Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio.[5] It was reassembled and made operational for several test flights, during which time it was disguised with U.S. markings ".


Isaac