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Yak-130 Zvezda vs Kitty Hawk


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I don't own neither kits yet.

I didn't read anything bad about the Zvezda kit (which doesn't me it doesn't mean there are no problems) but the KH seems to have several bugs:

- fit isn't stellar

- the seats aren't accurate (standard "heavy" K-36 while the Yak-130 uses the lighter K-36L)

- decal designer borked the no-steps zones  decals... two left instead of left+right

 

Edited by Laurent
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If you Google the subject matter, you will find several reviews on the Internet related to both kit's. Also, if you look on YouTube you will find several  Video reviews,  some are in Russian.

 There's a good review on the website "The modeling news", on the Kittyhawk kit.  Hope this helps.

Edited by B.Sin
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Yes, KH have improved in recent releases.

 

Having built both kits, there is no contest. The Zvezda kit is fantastic! Clean moldings, with precise engraved detail,  excellent fit through out. The assembly sequence works! Breakdown of the airframe is sensible. The ejection seats are great representations of the K-36L, and appropriate weapons are included in the box.

 

Where-as the KH has soft engraved detail, fit is "okay" for the most part (the engine air inlets are not great) and airframe breakdown just doesn't make sense. The K-36 seats are a joke. There is an overabundence of weapons in the kit, but there are not many that are actually appropriate to the aircraft. Yes, the decal sheet is a travesty! Not only are the wing walk lines incorrect, there are several other major markings where 2 identical markings are provided instead of left/right. The red markings have no white backing and are translucent. 

 

Generally speaking, the Zvezda kit was obviously well researched, and great care was taken in the production of the kit, including someone actually making it to ensure fit and finish. The KH kit is very "approximate" in construction, feels very "rushed", and obviously no one actually built the thing before releasing it. (If someone "did" build it, and they still released it, then KH should be ashamed!)

 

The Zvezda kit is a little jewel. KH? Not so much...

 

M

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Also have both kits and agree the Zvezda kit is better.  The KH weapons sprue is a generic sprue from another kit, with most of the weapons inappropriate for the Yak-130 (seriously, a Kh-31?).  Also, the KH kit is only designed to have the canopy closed, which is strange since they give you a seated backseater pilot and the front pilot climbing the boarding ladder, so the GIB is sitting there roasting in the sun while the front guy is climbing in, but the canopy isn’t open.

 

One slight niggle on the Zvezda instructions is that the instructions for configuration 3, the sitting-on-the-ramp configuration, show all of the gear doors full open.  Photos show that normally, only a small section of the gear doors where the extended gear leg passes through is open.  The other sections of the gear doors only normally open during the gear cycle.  The simple fix is to use the gear instructions for Configuration 2.

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Adding to what others have said, another borked detail on the KH kit:

- Retraction mechanism in the main landing gear is incorrect. KH put a single solid arm that's supposed to rotate? It would never retract the MLG due to its geometry. (Photo taken from Modeling News review). Also its joint with the mainlanding gear strut should outboard, not inboard. Zvezda is correctly represented with a Y shaped arm that folds while rectracting the gear.KittyHawk+48th+Yakovlev+Yak-130+%2527Mit

 

Another detail that Zvezda kit wins over the KH's.

-Both sets of auxiliary intakes can be depicted open or closed. Front ones, the ones that also function as FOD covers, can be moved open or closed after assembly. Although the rear ones are glued open or shut.

 

Edited by Inquisitor
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