Yak-38M Cockpit (for Hobby Boss)

[Mike]

Yak-38M Cockpit (for Hobby Boss)

1:48 Pavla (C48023)

The new HB kit of the “Harrierski” V/STOL Forger A has a reasonable cockpit provided, but for those wanting a little more detail, Pavla have mastered a drop-in replacement set that adds all those missing parts that just aren’t possible with injection moulded styrene.

The set arrives in a small blister pack and consists of four discrete resin parts. The cockpit tub is the largest, and improves on the kit part by adding floor detail, and some additional raised and engraved detail on the side consoles. The rear bulkhead is still curiously devoid of detail, but most of that will be covered by the seat part once installed.

The seat is an impressive piece, being cast as one moulding, and yet incorporating the pull-handles between the pilot’s knees and the leg restraints and fine detail on the seat controls that would require a number of parts under normal casting conditions. Quite impressive, both to look at and from a casting point of view too. If I were to level any criticisms at it, it would be the rather regular, tidy looking seatbelts moulded into the back cushion. They’re very well moulded, just a little to “arranged” for my tastes.

The coaming part requires the modeller to remove the kit coaming from the nose halves, but the area required to be removed is shown on the accompanying instructions, along with a small portion of the supports for the kit cockpit tub. The new part is very well detailed, showing all the pipes and cabling behind the top of the coaming, and the windscreen de-misting hose that runs round the inside of the windscreen. The instrument panel is covered with raised dials, in much the same style as the kit part, so the instrument panel decal from the kit could still be used to provide the dial faces. The modeller will need to find a small piece of clear acetate to replicate the HUD glass, as this is not supplied with the set – a minor point, but it would have been nice to have a piece in the box, or at least a template to get the right shape and size.

The remaining part is a “sprue” containing all of the small parts, most of which are to add detail to the coaming, but also the control column to finish off the cockpit tub. There is a small lever to add to the instrument panel, but it is so tiny that mine was either victim of a bubble, or broke in transit. It’s not too tricky to replicate with a little piece of wire and a blob of PVA on the end though, so I won’t lose any sleep over it.

Conclusion

The Forger’s cockpit is a cramped affair, and this set will accentuate this with the extra detail on the seat, cockpit and coaming. Casting is excellent, and there are no bubbles anywhere with the possible exception of the tiny lever mentioned earlier, but it’s hard to tell. How they have achieved such good moulding with such delicate parts is a mystery to me, but from a technical point of view it’s impressive.

The instructions are concise and show where everything should sit in the kit, and gives detailed colour call-outs throughout for everything from the seat to the coaming. The colours are generic names and mention no manufacturer however, so colours like Grey-Blue and Dark Grey are best cross referenced with your references.

Its release is timely, and detail is good. Heartily recommended.

Review sample courtesy of