Yak-12 - Amodel

In 1952, the Hungarian People's Army received ten used Yak-12's from the Soviet Union. The NATO designation of the Yak-12 is 'Creek', but in the Hungarian military service, the aircraft was called 'Gém', meaning "heron" (the bird). They were used for liaison and VIP transport services, meteorological observations and initial pilot training. During the short and brutally quenched revolution against the Soviet occupation in 1956, one of the aircraft was used by the insurgents to spread propaganda flyers to the Hungarian people.

The Yak-12 was finally decommissioned from its military service in 1964, but a few aircraft remained for civilian duties, like medical transport purposes all the way up to 1972. One of the surviving aircraft in its former military livery can be seen on exhibition in the RepTár Aviation Museum in Szolnok in Hungary.

It's interesting to note that the aircraft was equipped with a primitive arrestor hook just in front of the tail wheel. When landing on grassy fields, the hook could be lowered, which then shortened the landing distance to only 50 meters, while presumably also leaving a long and narrow ditch in the grass. Also, during its military service in the Hungarian People's Army, the aircraft did not have any side numbers painted on, just the national insignias. The aircraft were painted in the standard Soviet olive green top surfaces and a light blue underside, plus a few red markings here and there, such as the trim tabs and the head of the arrestor hook.

Hungary used the early R-version of the Yak-12, but this version is not offered by any manufacturer. The only currently available kit of the Yak-12 is the late A-version, manufactured by Amodel. The differences between the R-version and the A-version are pretty significant: amongst other things, a completely different, trapezoid wing and stabilizer, enlarged vertical fin, one wing strut instead of two, additional side windows, a slimmer fuselage and engine cowling. The entire cockpit area is different too. I could probably try to alter the model's parts to resemble the R-model, but knowing the limitations of my modeling skill set, I won't do that. Instead I will proudly and unashamedly build this kit more or less straight out of the box, although in Hungarian colors, and simply ignore the differences by calling it a "what-if-project".