Yaklovlev Yak-130 by Zvezda
1/72 scale
Kit No. 7307
Cost: $28.00
Decals: Two versions – both for pre-production versions of the respective Russian and Italian aircraft
Comments: Engraved panel lines; detailed cockpit and pilot figure; two-piece canopy; abundant external stores (air-to-air missiles; air-to-ground missiles; bombs; rocket pods); optional position landing gear
History
The Yakovlev Yak-130 (NATO reporting name: Mitten) is a subsonic two-seat advanced jet trainer/light attack aircraft jointly developed by Yakovlev Design Bureau of the former Soviet Union, and Aermacchi of Italy. It was specifically designed to replace the Czech-built Warsaw Pact jet trainers which by the 1990’s the Russian Air Force had relied upon for the previous three decades — the Aero L-29 Delphin and L-39 Albatros. Development began in 1991, and the first prototype design was completed by September 1993. That same year, Yakovlev entered into an agreement with the Italian firm Aermacchi for a joint venture on the project, with the new designation Yak/AEM-130. The Yak-130 version was to be offered for the Russian market and the M-346 version for the Italian market.
The maiden flight occurred on April 26, 1996 at the Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, a major testing and design facility for the Russian aerospace industry located 25 miles southeast of Moscow. In 2005, Yakovlev won a Russian government contract for the new trainer, beating out the MiG-AT, and in 2009 the first planes entered service with the Russian Air Force. As an advanced trainer, the Yak-130 can emulate several fourth generation fighters as well as the fifth-generation Sukhoi T-50. It can also perform light-attack and reconnaissance duties, carrying a combat load of 3,000 kg (6,613 lbs). According to U.S. defense analysts, the new trainer’s introduction has profound implications for the Russian air force’s tactical capabilities; it is an indicator of reforms to the entire pilot training process. The first new jet trainer to enter service in Russia in 50 years, the Yak-130 is also the first domestically produced jet combat trainer for the Russian Air force, which has relied on the Czech-built Aero L-trainers since the early 1960’s. The introduction of the Yak-130 is reportedly part of an effort to close the gap between these older jet trainers and the Russian Air Force’s advanced front-line fighters such as the Sukhoi Su-27 and MiG-29. The service intends to buy at least 72 Yak-130’s, enough to equip four training regiments.
The Kit
Zvezda’s Yak-130 is injection molded in grey and consists of 158 parts, including a two-piece clear canopy. The airframe bears engraved panel lines, but like many engravings from East European manufacturers, they are so delicate in many places that some modelers may want to reinforce them with a scribing tool prior to any sanding. Assembly begins with a complete, detailed pair on intake trunks for the jet engines, and before this step is complete you will need to decide whether to build the kit with the landing gear up or down, for the trunking assembly includes parts for the walls of the gear wells as well as the landing gear doors.
The cockpit is highly detailed with raised instruments on the side panels of the cockpit tub, complementing detailed ejection seats, control yokes and main instrument panels with panel hoods for the instructor and student pilot. There is a paint guide for each assembly identifying Humbrol colors only. The fuselage is rather complex, and not merely because of the intake trunking assemblies; it consists of four main pieces (there is a separate nose assembly which includes the cockpit), plus a fifth part that can best be described as an interior component forming the upper wall of the intake trunking which spans the spine of the aircraft immediately aft of the cockpit, plus a sixth, separate part for the upper half of the wing covering both the center of the plane’s spine and the top of the intake trunking.
The engraved panel lines extend to the weapons pylons and the extensive array of under wing stores which Zvezda provides. The various forms of ordnance are not identified, but include up to four air-to-air missiles, two rocket pods, a 23mm cannon in a centerline gun pod on its belly, two cluster bombs, four iron bombs, and what appears to be a pair of guided air-to-ground missiles. All this hardware is not an exaggeration by Zvezda; the Yak-130 is a state-of-the-art trainer that can do more than double as a light strike aircraft. Western analysts suspect it was designed to also fulfill the need for a low cost multi-role fighter. Two detailed pilots and a large dive brake located on the dorsal spine (with detailed interior should the door be cemented open) round out the kit.
Markings
Decals are provided for three versions, one of which is a trainer in a natural metal scheme assigned to the Borisoglebsk Training Center of the Russian Air Force, circa 2015; a second aircraft is in a camouflage scheme of duck egg blue, aircraft blue and gull grey over duck egg blue undersides, assigned to Kubinka Airfield for the 2017 Victory Day Parade (commemorating the May 1945 surrender of Nazi Germany); the third aircraft sports a camouflage scheme of light green, gull grey and U.S. dark green over medium grey, and is assigned to the 116th Guards Ground Attack Force of the Belarusian Air Force, circa 2017.
Conclusion
This is a highly detailed kit of a trainer that looks as if it has been designed to hold its own under full combat conditions, and a marked improvement over the only other Yak-130 that is available in this scale, offered by Amodel. Highly recommended.
References
- “Yak-130 delivery goes hand in hand with Russian training overhaul,” March 4, 2010, www.aviationnews.eu
- www.wikipedia.org
- “This tiny Russian plane has a ridiculous number of weapons,” by Thomas Newdick; June 10,2015, www.theweek.com
- “Russia’s Lethal Yak-130 Fighter: The Tiny Terror NATO Should Fear” by Thomas Newdick; published September 5, 2015 ~ www.nationalinterest.org
