Azur + Lift Here 1/72 scale Rogozarski IK-3 by Aleksandar Andric

Azur + Lift Here 1/72 scale
Rogozarski IK-3

by Aleksandar Andric

Rogozarski IK-3

Czech Master's 1/72 scale IK-3 is available online from Squadron

Introduction

This is one of my models built to commemorate the 70 anniversary of the April war and all the Yugoslav aviators who gave their lives to protect the homeland.

History

The Rogozarski IK-3 was an indigenous Yugoslav design, designed by a design team of Ljubomir Ilic and Kosta Sivcev as a successor to their IK-2, also assisted by ing Zrnic. Due to it's relatively underpowered engine (Hispano Suiza 12Ycrs rated at 920hp), it was slower that Bf-109E, but had far better manoeuvrability. Before the war, special tactics were developed in mock dogfights against Bf-109E-3s, which were also purchased by the YRAF. Using IK-3's agility, the pilot would make a series of tight-turns, quickly evading the pursuer ang getting on his "six". The turning radius of IK-3 was 260m, while for 109E it was whole 320m!

Axis attack began on April 6th 1941, overrunning the country in just two weeks. Out of 12 machines produced, only 6 were ready to fly; one crashed before the war, and others were in workshop for scheduled maintenance. IK-3 pilots achieved a relatively high success (11 planes shot down, and 4 IK-3s lost). Sadly, the planes that were captured, were damaged by sabotage and subsequently sent to the scrapheap; while the remaining RYAF machines were burned at Veliki Radinci airfield on April 12th 1941, to prevent them falling into enemy hands.

Construction

Azur's new 1/72nd kit is currently the best choice of an injection-moulded kit, but has several accuracy issues:

The most apparent mistakes are the vertical rudder (trailing edge not slanted enough), and the spurious central flap (unless if you have the Azur FR014 kit, where you also get the correct lower wing half with two flaps).

Other minor mistakes include the canopy (the border frame between windshield and main glass should be slanted); cowling shape (upper contour a bit flat, and a dreadful spinner, which should be more pointed); the prop blades (that turn the wrong way) and the missing gun openings at the top of the nose.

Plenty errors I agree, but still it is far better choice than AZ kit (which has poorly moulded fuselage sides, horrible canopy, wrong rear fuselage section and spine shape; and completely fictional color schemes).

Also, most of the errors are pretty straightforward to fix (except the canopy).

It also helps to have Lift Here detail set, comprising of a resin spinner and etched details...

List of modifications:

scratchbuilt new rudder (lower “fork” had to be extended)
cockpit frames scratchbuilt, using the boxes from the etched ones
seat taken from Hobby Boss MS.406 and modified.
new vac canopy made by vacforming over modified AvUSK kit resin master
upper cowling reshaped (really a subtle error)
exhaust pipes scratchbuilt from 0.9mm syringe needle
scratchbuilt radiator flaps and rear grill
wheel wells sanded (sides are inclined, should be perpendicular to the surface)
repositioned elevators and trimmers
scratchbuilt wingroot intakes
scratchbuilt landing gear (wheel forks and various small details) and tires "flatened" a bit over hot stove
propeller reshaped and thinned

Painting and Markings

The IK-3 had two painting schemes: a prewar overall-gray, and with upper camouflage consisting of ochre, dark green and brown. The overall (later only underside), and interior color was called Siva (gray). It was hand-mixed at the factory (as were the cammo colors), so the shades varied slightly from plane to plane. The argument still rages over the correct shade(s), but it is generally accepted to be bluish-green-gray close to FS14424. The aircraft was then varnished and polished to a high gloss, to squeeze out an extra few km/h.

Colors were mixed to my own preferences.

Rogozarski siva: matt white + Revell matt 55 light blue + Zync chromate green in 8:1:1 ratio
ochre: Revell matt 16 (should have been somewhat darker...)
green: Revell gloss 61 + Revell matt 48
brown: Humbrol Hu 98

Decals are a combination of kit decals and home-made serials printed with a laser printer on a transparent decal film.

Work-in-progress pics (in Serbian)

http://www.maketarskikutak.com/index.php/topic,11666.0.html

This build (along the Do-17K) was completed exactly on April the 6th 2011. Plus, it is my birthday, so double the fun!