Introduction

The following introduction is as supplied by ICM:

As part of the agreement between the National Committee of Free France and the government of the Soviet Union, Air Group No. 3 was formed in September 1942, which soon became the Normandy Squadron. On December 4, 1942, the squadron was included in the Soviet Air Force, and in April 1943 it began combat operations. On July 5, 1943, the squadron was formed into the 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment “Normandy”, which later became known as “Normandy-Neman”. Marcel Lefevre was one of the first pilots to join the unit. After training on Soviet aircraft, he scored his first victory on the Eastern Front in May 1943, shooting down an Hs-126 fighter and then an Me-109 fighter. Lefevre was an inventive and virtuoso pilot in combat, energetic and proactive. His experience and skill allowed him to be a kind of teacher for the new French pilots arriving in the regiment.

Review

This offering is the third Yak 9 released in 1/32nd scale by ICM and the second release of the Yak-9TThis offering from ICM arrives in the usual flip top cardboard tray with an additional card cover with the artwork on it. Inside there is a single re-sealable plastic bag containing all of the sprues with the clear sprue in its own bag, with the rest of the kit parts. The instruction booklet is loose with the decal sheet protected between the covers. An examination of the parts reveals no obvious concerns, but there are some flow lines in the larger mouldings, but they do not look or feel to have caused any defamation to the parts. 

The interior of this model has a portion of the tubular frame that gives the aircraft its strength, and these also have a good number of parts to dress the cockpit up. The seat has a nice level of detail, but ICM has again not provided any harness detail, which I feel is a must for models in this scale. The instrument panel has a good level of moulding were dial detail is concerned, with a decal provided to lift that detail further. I myself would look for an aftermarket instrument panel, as I feel this would improve the office greatly. 

Also included in this release, is a model of the engine that incorporates that large cannon that made this aircraft such a formidable tank killer. The moulded detail is good by my judgement, but extra work will be required to dress the engine up such as wiring and fuel lines. The barrel of the cannon, will also need the muzzle drilled to improve the detail of this 1/32nd scale offering. However, I also suspect, that a replacement barrel or set of barrels will become available for this model in time. 

Looking at the exterior of the model, and the hard and soft areas you will find reasonable texture and very nice small and shallow panel lines. ICM has considered the modeller who wishes to display the engine bay, providing ammunition cans for the weapons mounted in the engine bay, and even the support frame underneath the top engine cowling is provided as an option. The intakes have a reasonable level of detail as regards the radiators, but again this could be lifted via the addition of aftermarket parts. An aspect of this model that I like, is that the lower half of the wing is provided as a single moulding to which you add one of the wing spars and also panels that sit within the wheel base, adding a particularly nice level of detail to this area. The wing spar that is included helps support the upper wing surfaces, and interestingly also the pilots controls are mounted to the lower wing before being mated with the fuselage.

The flight controls of this model aircraft are provided separately, enabling the modeller to decide how they wish to represent. Moving back to the main undercarriage, the legs have reasonable detail having separate torsion links and nice detail on the doors on both faces. The wheels are provided in two halves, which could make it difficult to hide the seam line between the parts due to the nice detail provided. However, the wheels are not weighted and I do not know if the torsion links are correctly angled for a vehicle in flight or on the ground. One thing I would like to bring to your attention is that the rear underside of the fuselage is provided as a separate part and this screams at me that other versions are in the works. ICM has provided one finishing option for this release which is as follows:

Yak-9T of pilot Marcel Lefevre, 1943

The decals provided have been printed to a high quality, and running a finger over them I can only just feel them on the carrier paper.

The figure of Marcel Lefevre looks to have a very natural pose which is relaxed. The uniform looks to be Soviet in nature with the exception of the cap. I like the detail in the leather flying jacket and carful painting should help it pop. The face of Marcel Lefevre is something that I struggle to match to images and is likely to be confirmed or denied by modellers with better knowledge of the man.

Conclusion

This is an interesting release from ICM who are known for making the most from their moulds, but a Yak 9 with a French pilot is not the most expected by me. The pilot has good detail on the uniform, but I cannot say his facial detail is perfect for Marcel Lefevre and I am not best qualified to judge. The aircraft is a fair representation of the Yak-9 but the detail in the cockpit needs to be raised to 1/32nd scale expected standards.